EMERGENCY Management

December 2014

Helping You To Help Yourselves

Newsletter of the County Emergency Planning Service Page 1

Winter is coming...Communities

There are practical steps you can taketo support your community in preparingfor winter weather.

• View the latest weather warningsby visiting the Met Office severeweather warnings, so that you and yourcommunity can plan how to bestsupport those affected by bad weather

• Does your community have anemergency plan or an emergencyflood plan? Your local authority will beable to advise on developing one.

• Sign up for free flood warnings byvisiting the Environment Agencywebsite.

• Find out if there is a communityflood group in your area or how to setone up by contacting the NationalFlood Forum.

• Check on neighbours andrelatives who are elderly or unwell andsee if they need anything. This can beparticularly important if the individual isunable to leave their home.

• Keep up to date with localevents and winter heath guidancefrom your local authorities andvoluntary sector bodies.

Health and Well Being

The following are some suggestions tohelp keep you warm and healthythroughout the winter months:

1. Get your free flu jab. If you areaged 65 or over, pregnant, havecertain medical conditions, live in aresidential or nursing home, or are themain carer for an older or disabled

person.

2. By setting your heating to the righttemperature (18-21 °C, 65-70 °F), youcan keep your home warm. Ensurewindows and doors are closed toprevent heat escaping.

3. Look after yourself and check onolder neighbours or relatives to makesure they are safe, warm and well.Layer your clothing to stay warm andwear shoes with a good grip if youneed to go outside

4. Food is a vital source of energy,which helps to keep your body warm.Try to make sure that you have hotmeals and drinks regularly throughoutthe day and keep active in the home ifyou can.

5. Get your home ready for winter.Get heating and cooking applianceschecked, flues and chimneys sweptensuring ventilation points are notblocked. If you use heating oil, LPG orwood products as the main heatingsource, make sure that you have asufficient supply to avoid running out.Fit an audible carbon monoxide alarmwhich is EN50291 compliant, but fittingan alarm should not replace regularmaintenance of appliances.

6. Good hand hygiene can helpprevent the spread of norovirus

7. Learn a few simple first aid steps;such as how to deal with strains andsprains or broken bones, as trips andfalls can increase in icy weather. Thereare a number of accredited first aidproviders and useful educationresources available.

8. Check the forecast and ensure youhave enough food and medicines.

Protecting your home

There are certain practical steps thatyou can take to protect your homefrom winter weather.

Some tips if you are planning to leaveyour property empty over winter:

• Leave your heating on for at leastan hour a day while you are away fromhome

• In severe weather, or if severeweather is forecast, you should leaveyour heating on day and night at yourusual temperature setting

• Check that loft insulation is laidover, and under pipes in the loft

• Make sure that you know whereyour stop cock is, and that it works sothat you can turn off the water supply ifneeded

• Consider asking a friend orrelative to visit your home every daywhile you are away. This will mean that,if you do suffer a burst pipe, it will bedetected as soon as possible. Makesure that they know where the stopcock is located.

• If high winds are forecast, makesure objects such as garden furniture orladders are fully secured.

More information at:

http://bit.ly/get-ready-for-winter

http://bit.ly/DCC-winter

http://bit.ly/DCC-flood-recovery

http://bit.ly/communities-prepared

Newsletter of the County Emergency Planning Service Page 2

What is risk assessment and whyis it important?

Risk assessment for us in the DCIOS(Devon, Cornwall, Isles of Scilly) LRF(Local Resilience Forum) is the first stepin the emergency planning processand aims to identify those risks whichcould result in a major emergency inour area. Each risk once identified isthen quantified on its likelihood tooccur and the probable adverseconditions / impacts which could result.

Risk assessment is important as itenables us to ensure that our plans aresound and proportionate to the risksthat exist in the DCIOS area, andenable us to take preventative actionwhere appropriate.

The Civil Contingencies Act 2004 placesa statutory obligation on all Category 1responders to carry out risk assessmentsand to maintain a ‘community riskregister’ (i.e. a register of assessmentscarried out). The DCIOS LocalResilience Forum has adopted a multi-agency approach for this work and hasengaged a wide range of stakeholdersand partner organisations in theprocess.

Community Risk Register (CRR) –how it was developed

The generation of the community riskregister has been subject to a six-stageprocess as recommended in thedocument Emergency Preparedness(guidance document produced bycentral Government to support Part 1of the Civil Contingencies Act).

Briefly this process consists of thefollowing steps:

• Contextualisation – (i.e.defining how the process willbe undertaken);

• Identify Hazards & Threats;

• Risk Analysis;

• Risk Evaluation;

• Risk Treatment;

• Monitoring & Review.

The Government have published aNational Risk Register which sets out ourassessment of the likelihood andpotential impact of a range of differentrisks that may directly affect the UK ona National scale. The National RiskRegister is designed to increaseawareness of the kinds of risks the UKfaces, and encourage individuals andorganisations to think about their ownpreparedness. The register also includesdetails of what the Government andemergency services are doing toprepare for emergencies.

DCIOS Local Resilience Forumrisk scenarios

As part of the hazard review process arange of natural and man madescenarios have been considered whichhave then been assessed for both thelikelihood of them occurring and theimpact that would result if they were tohappen.

The inclusion of these hazards orparticular scenarios (i.e. the outcomedescription) do not however mean thatthe LRF believes the risk will materialise,or that if it were to do so, it would be ofthat scale. The risk scenarios arereasonable worse case scenarioassumptions upon which we havebased our risk assessment work.

All of the scenarios have one thing incommon in that they are incidents thatwould occur as a result of an accidentrather than deliberate or maliciousaction, for example terrorism. Despitethis however malicious scenarios havealso been subject to furtherconsideration for example:

• Conventional explosions;

• Chemical / Biological /Radiological attacks;

• Transport incidents;

• Electronic attacks – e.g.affecting utilities,communications or otherservices.

Given the sensitivity of the informationsupporting these risk assessments and

the potential for use by terroristorganisations, specific details will not bemade available, however, we wantedto highlight that both non-maliciousand malicious incidents have beenconsidered as part of the riskassessment duty.

Terrorism

In line with national guidance and theRegional Risk Register, the Devon,Cornwall & Isles of Scilly LRF CommunityRisk Register only covers non-maliciousevents (ie, hazards) rather than threats(ie, terrorist incidents). This does notmean that we are not consideringthreats within our risk assessment work,but given the sensitivity of theinformation supporting these riskassessments and the potential for useby adversaries, specific details will notbe made available generally. Threatscenarios that are being consideredinclude, for example, Chemical,Biological, Radiological attacks andElectronic attacks, eg, affecting utilitiesand communications.

Review

Risk assessment is by no means a staticprocess and is subject to constantreview as local and nationalcircumstances dictate, though we dointend to undertake a formal review ofour risk assessment work every 3 years.

Publication

There is a legal requirement to publishthe CRR, although this does not extendto Individual Risk Assessments or othersensitive documents. In order to complywith our legal requirement, the Devon,Cornwall & Isles of Scilly CRR is availableon the LRF website:

www.dcisprepared.org.uk

Community Risk Register

Newsletter of the County Emergency Planning Service Page 3

As well as producing day-to-day site-specific forecasts and long rangeforecasts, the Met Office, through theNational Severe Weather WarningService (NSWWS), is responsible forwarning the public, businesses,emergency responders andGovernment of severe or hazardousweather which has the potential tocause danger to life or widespreaddisruption.

Warnings for rain, snow, wind, fog andice are issued through the NSWWS.These warnings are given a colour,depending on a combination of boththe likelihood of the event happeningand the impact the conditions mayhave on daily life, travelling, property,and infrastructure

The Met Office has a team of Advisorsacross the UK who provide weatherinformation to emergency services,local authorities, resilience groups andGovernment, when severe weather isforecast or is occurring. The Met Officeadvice is used by the emergencyresponders to support localcommuntities.

The aim is to give advance warning of

potentially disruptive weather to the

public, businesses, emergency services

and Government.

Weather warnings are published here:

www.metoffice.gov.uk/public/

weather/warnings

In the countdown to Christmasthousands of people living acrossDevon will go online to buy presents forfriends and family, search for holidays,book tickets for a big gig or send anelectronic Christmas card.

What many do not realise is the hiddenthreat we now face from criminalsonline. They are targeting internetshoppers with scams which, on thesurface promise to save them time andmoney, but in reality only deliver festiveheartache and misery. Tens ofthousands of people sadly fell victim toan online fraud in the weeks leading upto last Christmas and even more are atrisk of suffering the same fate this year– being left hundreds, and sometimeseven thousands of pounds out ofpocket with no presents to give on thebig day and their electronic devicescorrupted with a computer virus.

1. Online shopping2. Christmas e-cards3. Auction fraud4. Holiday fraud5. Loan and investment scams6. Ticketing fraud7. Donating to charity8. Mobile malware/malicious apps9. Money transfers10. Social media scams11. Dating/romance fraud12. Molbile payments

To make life as difficult as possible forthe cyber fraudsters, Devon andCornwall Police is running ‘The 12 onlinefrauds of Christmas’ campaign workingin partnership with the City of LondonPolice, which is the National PolicingLead for Fraud, and supported by GetSafe Online, The Home Office,

Crimestoppers, National TradingStandards and Victim Support.

Together, we are raising awareness ofthe major internet threats and providingtop tips on how to surf and shop safely,which will help ensure everyone gets toenjoy a very merry Christmas.

And if you do unfortunately fall victimto an online fraud, please report it toAction Fraud on 0300 123 2040 or atwww.actionfraud.police.uk.

To have the 12 online frauds explainedgo to:

http://bit.ly/1HKJk5A

Weather Warnings &Community Resilience

The 12 online frauds ofChristmas

For assistance with communityEmergency Planning your first point ofcontact is your City, District or BoroughEmergency Planning Officer.

You will find them listed below forreferenceand remember theyareall thereto help you!

Don't forget, the Devon County Councilwebsite has lots of useful information forboth individuals and communities:

! www.devon.gov.uk

! Safety and Emergencies

! Emergencies

! Emergency Planning -

Community (Parish) Planning

Editor - Dom Maxwell-Batten dom.maxwell-batten@devon.gov.uk

Mid Devon East Devon North Devon Teignbridge South Hams/West Devon Torridge Exeter

Amanda Palmer01271 388760amanda.palmer@northdevon.gov.uk

Ian Flood-Page01626 215835iflood@

teignbridge.gov.uk

Peter Dale01803 861278peter.dale@

southhams.gov.uk

Jude Hardiman01392 382634judith.hardiman@

devon.gov.uk

Richard Haste01237 428963richard.haste@torridge.gov.uk

Pam Harvey01395 516551pharvey@

eastdevon.gov.uk

Julia Ryder01884 234997

jryder@middevon.gov.uk

First point ofContact

Page 4

Environment Agency www.gov.uk/flood

Consumer Council for Water www.ccwater.org.uk

National Flood Forum www.floodforum.org.uk

Blue Pages Directory www.bluepages.org.uk

Association of British Insurers www.abi.org.uk or 020 7600 3333

British Insurance Brokers Association www.biba.org.uk or 0870 950 1790

Royal Institute of Chartered Surveyors www.rics.org/flooding

Know Your Flood Risk campaign www.knowyourfloodridsk.co.uk

Floodline 0845 988 1188

When an emergency incidentoccurs the blue lights (Police, Fire andRescue and Ambulance services)generally take the lead for theresponse phase and set the strategy fordealing with the initial impact.

Almost as soon as the incidentoccurs the local authorities will belooking at the longer term recoveryaspects. Of course sometimes there islittle or no significant impact and thereis no need for a formal recovery group.

Other times whole communities canbe devastated and the recoveryperiod may take months or even yearsto complete. The rebuilding, restoringand rehabilitating the community

following an emergency or disaster,continues until the disruption has beenrectified, demands on services havebeen returned to normal levels, and theneeds of those affected have beenmet.

One of the most distressing events isa flood where possessions may havebeen lost and damage to the homemeans residents face an extendedspell in temporary accommodationwhile the property is dried out andrepaired.

Almost as soon as an emergencyincident occurs the local authorities willbe looking at the longer term recovery

aspects. One of the difficulties faced isgetting relevant information to thoseaffected.

To try and address that we haveadded some useful links on the DevonCounty Council website about whereto obtain additional information foranyone who has suffered from flooding.

http://bit.ly/flood-recovery

Useful information:

CLEAR Plan www.dcisprepared.org.uk/a-clear-plan

Recovery from Flooding