What does Emergency Planning mean to you? To some it conjures up a picture of someone sitting at a desk waiting for emergencies to happen. Some have never heard of it and others think we are the service that deals with giving planning permission for building houses.

Emergency Planning includes the systematic assessment of threats and risks to the Island and putting plans in place to respond to incidents and then assist in the recovery.

Emergencies happen frequently on the Island – traffic incidents, fires, etc – but the Emergency Planning Team aren’t necessarily always involved. We step in to assist, when events happen that are beyond the capacity of the emergency services to deal with unaided and we co-ordinate the local authority response. We can help with things like specialist equipment, evacuation, housing and emergency feeding, extra manpower. We can’t always provide the resource ourselves, but generally ‘we know someone who can’.

The Emergency Planning and Business Continuity Team

Emergency preparedness is co-ordinated by a small specialist Emergency Planning & Business Continuity Team. The Team comprises:

Emergency Planning Manager
Emergency Planning Officer
Business Continuity Officer
Assistant Emergency Planning Officer

This response is ensured through staff training and exercising, through each department of the Council having its own Business Continuity Plan and through agreed general (generic) and specific plans (e.g. a specific plan for an incident on Sandown Pier).

So, what do we do?

Well, the response to any major incident will inevitably be multi-agency and could involve the Emergency Services, Public Services, Military, Voluntary Agencies, Industry, Local Authority – which of course includes us – and a host of other organisations within the public and private sector.

The success of the response will depend to a great degree on how we all work together at times of extreme pressure. We therefore need to form good relationships across the board and continually plan, train, exercise, consult and laise/network across both the Island and mainland, to ensure the most appropriate, co-ordinated and effective response to any incident is provided.

Whatever the incident, the role of the Council is always to provide support and care to the Island community and the environment, and to get things back to normality as soon as possible.

What type of incidents do we get involved in?

We have assisted in dealing with a wide range of incidents such as:

Suspect Packages/Explosive Devices
Disposal of dead whales/porpoises
Foot and Mouth outbreak
Chemical canisters washed ashore
Oil/Chemical/Diesel spills
Asbestos incidents
Flooding
Fuel Crisis
Evacuation of people from their homes
Landslip
Incidents involving schoolchildren
Suspected SARS outbreak on the Island

How can we help?

We can do this in a variety of ways.

Open our Emergency Control Room
Co-ordinate the Local Authority and Voluntary Sector response
Liaise with outside agencies ie Emergency Services, utilities, military etc
Provide support to the Emergency Services
Arrange for rest centres to be opened, equipped and staffed
Arrange for the provision of food and welfare support within the rest centre
Organise contact with a Translation Service if required
Organise extra communication links
Organise transport
Provide information to the public and set up help-lines, if required
Responding to the press and opening a Media Briefing Centre, if necessary
Organise the setting up of a Temporary Mortuary

The Emergency Planning Team is a good information source and can offer a wide range of advice and guidance. We also have extensive Resources Database containing information ranging from Air Transport to Weather.

Isle of Wight Council Logo
County Hall, High Street
Newport, Isle Of Wight.
PO30 1UD
Tel. 01983 821000

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