Major Incident Plan - Jan 09

Written on: Thursday, Jan 1 2004 at 12:00 GMT
Written by: Chief Executive's - Emergency Planning

Summary

Recent years have seen a number of major emergencies both domestic and international, brought about either by natural causes or through human intervention. All these have highlighted the need for agencies with responsibilities for public safety to plan and prepare for a wider and increased range of risks. Factors such as climate change, international terrorism, health risks posed by greater global mobility along with those arising from the increased complexity of the society in which we now live, all need to be considered.

The plan contained in the following pages has been developed by the Scottish Borders Emergency Planning Working Group and is based on the principles of "Integrated Emergency Management." It is intended to provide a generic framework to allow Scottish Borders Council, along with its many partner agencies, to respond effectively to any major civil emergency or indeed to any lesser emergency requiring a multi-agency response.

To ensure flexibility the plan outlines a management and communications structure that can be adopted in full or in a modified form to meet the needs of a particular event or situation. Senior managers will need to be prepared to interpret and apply the plan as circumstances dictate.

During any civil emergency Scottish Borders Council has a range of statutory and discretionary responsibilities to fulfill including the protection of our communities and supporting the work of the emergency services. This document provides an effective tool to assist us in meeting these responsibilities.