Emergency Planning
This page provides details of the work of the Emergency Planning team. To find out more click on one of the links below:
ABOUT EMERGENCY PLANNING
North East Derbyshire District Council has entered into a Service Level Agreement with Derbyshire County Council to undertake its duties in line with the Civil Contingencies Act 2004. As part of this agreement, an Emergency Planning Officer has been appointed to work 2 days per week on emergency planning issues. Support on other issues such as Risk Assessment e.g. Hazardous Site Plans, is also provided by Derbyshire County Council.
Emergency planning is part of the Planning and Development Service based at Council House, Saltergate, Chesterfield, S40 1LF.
The aim of the service is to prepare emergency plans and make arrangements to protect people and the environment in North East Derbyshire and/or reduce the impact on them from an emergency.
We liaise on a regular basis with the Police, Fire, Ambulance and Health Services in preparing its emergency plans.
Joint training and rehearsals take place with these services and other agencies to ensure that these plans will work.
The following information shows the areas of work that the Emergency Planning Service is currently involved in.
If there are any areas of particular interest to you please contact the Emergency Planning Officer who will be more than happy to give further details.
CONTINGENCY PLANS
The Emergency Plan is designed to cope with any emergency irrespective of how, where or when it occurs, and for this reason the Plan must retain a degree of flexibility.
The Emergency Planning Unit’s role is to act as the contact point for the emergency services. It provides expertise and other resources to assist the County Council, Police, Fire, Ambulance and Health Services.
However, some emergencies can be anticipated and the contingency plans mentioned below have been drawn up to deal with these.
BUSINESS CONTINUITY PLAN
The Council delivers many vital services to the people within our community. Therefore a Business Continuity Plan to respond to incidents that may affect our capability to continue our own services has been drawn up.
This plan identifies critical functions and the steps that need to be taken to ensure continued service delivery.
The Strategy supporting these arrangements is attached below.
What would happen to your business if you were affected by a fire, flood, storms, theft, fraud or vandalism?
In 1996 the Manchester bombing affected over 600 businesses. Within six months 250 of these had gone out of business. Many of those that survived had a business continuity plan.
Businesses affected by a disaster that do not have a plan in place only have a 50 per cent chance of surviving the next 12 months.
Developing your own business continuity plan could help you to be one of those companies that survive.
Depending on the size and nature of your business will depend on how comprehensive your plan needs to be. By following the links below you can self assess your business to see how prepared you already are, and find out more information on whether you need to take further action.
London Prepared gives an assessment on what you would need to consider. Then it gives guidance and advice for any size of business, whether you employ less than 10 people or more than 250, through a five-step guide.
The Business Continuity Institute provides the Good Practice Guidelines which are available to download.
UK Resilience has further guidance on business continuity and gives the latest news on any issues affecting the UK.
Preparing for Emergencies gives information to businesses, voluntary and community groups on what you can do to prepare for emergencies.
HAZARDOUS SITE PLANS
The Emergency Planning Unit at Derbyshire County Council helps prepare and maintain off-site emergency plans for hazardous sites in North East Derbyshire.
The plans are designed to deal with the consequences of an incident which could have an affect beyond the site boundary.
They set a framework for co-ordinating the response by the emergency services, Local Authority and the company to an incident at the site.
Provisions are included for warning the public, the possible effects on the environment and, where necessary, evacuation.
Emergency Planning is involved in: advising occupiers of public buildings on emergency procedures and during an emergency keeping them updated, and providing support for the County Council and Emergency Services.
EVENTS
Plans are prepared for events attracting large crowds to ensure, as far as possible, the safety of spectators.
The arrangements include: control points, stewards, first aid, fire precautions, emergency announcements, signing, layout of site, access/egress for spectators and emergency services and the procedures to be implemented if there is an incident at the event.
PIPELINES
There is a statutory duty on the Council to prepare plans to deal with a major accident occurring on a pipeline carrying dangerous substances which are identified by the Health and Safety Executive.
There is approximately 200 kilometres of this in Derbyshire.
TUNNELS
Procedures have been prepared for dealing with an emergency in a railway tunnel in the County which include evacuation and support of those involved.
FOOTBALL GROUNDS
Plans are prepared for designated sports grounds detailing the joint response to a major incident, including our role of providing temporary accommodation in an evacuation and support for those involved.
RABIES CONTINGENCY PLAN
The Rabies Contingencies Plan details the actions to be taken in the event of an outbreak of rabies affecting Derbyshire.
We would co-ordinate the local authority’s response in support of the Department for Food and Rural Affairs.
The main role of the council is to catch and detain stray animals.
WELFARE PLAN
The Welfare Plan has been prepared to detail the practical assistance (shelter, clothing, feeding, etc), social and psychological support to those people affected by an emergency.
The Plan includes statutory services (health, education, social services) and the voluntary services.
We will call out the appropriate agencies.
RADIATION EMERGENCY RESPONSE GUIDANCE
A response plan has been prepared to cover a possible radiation emergency affecting the county.
This involves providing information to the public on the Emergency.
INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY:
RESOURCES DATABASE
A Resources Database has been developed by Derbyshire County Council to provide resources in support of the emergency services that are not currently available within the local authority.
Three hundred and fifty firms have agreed to be part of this database and to be available to provide resources 24 hours a day.
GEOGRAPHIC INFORMATION SYSTEM
A Geographic Information System (GIS) is used by the Emergency Planning Unit.
This computerised system displays information against a mapped background, e.g. properties, infrastructure, resources or population statistics in a given area.
This is particularly useful in responding to emergencies but is an important planning tool.
RADIATION MONITORING SYSTEM
The Emergency Planning Unit has access to a Radiation Monitoring System which involves five outstation monitoring sites around the County communicating information to a central computer at County Hall.
This system allows the monitoring of background radiation levels, meteorological information and other gases.
In such cases as Chernobyl this system will allow Derbyshire County Council and the Emergency Planning Unit to monitor the radiation levels.
The system will also provide accurate local meteorological information allowing an accurate gas dispersion model to be plotted in the event of a chemical / gas leak.
RESPONSE TO EMERGENCIES
The Emergency Planning Unit supports the response by the emergency services to incidents by providing resources (plan, equipment, premises, expertise, etc).
The Unit also helps to co-ordinate the response from Parish Councils and voluntary agencies.
In some emergencies, e.g. flooding, the Emergency Planning Unit takes the lead role in the response supported by the emergency services.
DERBYSHIRE LOCAL RESILIENCE FORUM
The Derbyshire Local Resilience Forum (LRF) is responsible for the overall direction and policies of emergency planning and preparation in Derbyshire to ensure the effective delivery of the duties under the Civil Contingencies Act 2004.
Terms of Reference
The Terms of Reference of the Derbyshire LRF are:
- The compilation of agreed risk profiles for Derbyshire, through a Community Risk Register;
- A systematic, planned and co-ordinated approach to encourage Category 1 responders, according to their functions, to address all aspects of policy in relation to:
- Risk;
- Planning for emergencies;
- Planning for business continuity management;
- Publishing information about risk assessments and plans;
- Arrangements to warn and inform the public; and
- Other aspects of the civil protection duty, including the promotion of business continuity management by local authorities; and
- Support for the preparation by all or some of it’s members of multi-agency plans and other documents, including protocols and agreements and the co-ordination of multi-agency exercises and other training events.
CONTACT DETAILS
Contact details can be found at the bottom of the page.
If you are wishing to report an emergency situation, please see our Emergency Contacts page.
Downloads
Strategy for compiling a Business Continuity Plan for dealing with major emergency incidents (155 KB)
| ||||||
