Bath & North East Somerset Council and the Emergency Services need to make sure they are ready for any major  incident involving the Combe Down Stone Mines.

The Emergency Management Unit has written the Combe Down Stone Mines Emergency Response Guidance that can be used in the event of a major incident. As well as advice on the condition of the Mine area it contains outline procedures for those people likely to be notified, together with contact details of key staff, a telephone directory and specific contact procedures for those other organisations involved.

Meetings and exercises involving individual response groups take place on a regular basis. These groups feed back the results of their exercises so that their experiences can also be incorporated in the Guidance.

Work to improve communications between key personnel has been completed with a customised pager system and call out rota. During a gas leak incident in the area of the mine, we were able to quickly contact mine engineers and safety personnel to ensure the incident did not affect the Mine. The Guidance is constantly being reviewed and revised to ensure that it reflects any changes in the mine operations and procedural data.