Uniformed Public Services Level 3
Unit 15 - Planning and Managing of Major Incidents
P3 - OUTLINE THE EFFECTS OF RECENT MAJOR INCIDENTS ON PEOPLE, COMMUNITIES AND
THE ENVIRONMENT
INTRODUCTION
In this task, I am going to cover task P3 by outlining the effects of recent major incidents on people,
communities and the environment. I’m going to complete this by talking about the three major incidents
that I covered in task M1 which included the Orpington Bus Crash in London, Belgrave Garage Workshop
Fire in Leicester and Flooding in Powys, Wales and how these incidents affected their local communities.
EFFECTS OF RECENT MAJOR INCIDENTS ON PEOPLE
When major incidents happen, people will always be most affected by the incident, this is why the
emergency services are responding, to save the lives of people who are affected by the incident. I am
now going to outline the affects that the three major incidents I researched have on people.
MAJOR INCIDENT HOW PEOPLE WERE AFFECTED BY THIS MAJOR INCIDENT
Orpington Bus Crash 15 people were affected during the incident with injuries and one of them died
in the crash. However, these are not the only people who were affected by the
incident. The families of the casualties were also affected, especially the family
that lost a relative; this would have caused great sadness. Police Officers, Fire
Fighters and Paramedics would also have been affected by the crash as they
had to see the injuries of the people and even the body of the person that had
died. Witnesses would also have been affected by seeing the injured people
and this would have been a horrifying experience for them. The driver of the
bus would also have been affected because they would have felt guilty for
being in control of the bus, even if it wasn’t their fault. This incident was
serious enough to cause psychological trauma to members of the public,
casualties and members of the emergency services.
Belgrave Garage Although there were no casualties from this fire, several people would still
Workshop Fire have been affected by it. The owner of the garage had a collection of classic
motorcycles which are not as important as his self, but they still held great
sentimental value to him. He was also affected by the lack of business because
his workshop had been completely destroyed by the blaze. Members of staff
who work at the garage would also have been affected by this incident because
they would no longer be able to work there until the place was repaired and
reopened. Fire Fighters may also have been affected by the blaze because they
could have picked up injuries from the fire. However, this wasn’t reported but
Fire Fighters are always at risk of losing their lives when they respond to an
incident as fire is very dangerous and unpredictable. People who lived nearby
were also affected by this incident because they had to be evacuated from
their homes and also lost access to gas and electricity for a few days because
electric cables were damaged by the fire.
, Flooding in Powys The flooding in Powys also had a big effect on people locally. There were no
casualties but over 300 houses were evacuated so families had to live in other
places for over a week, their homes were also damaged and some will have to
be rebuilt because of water damage. People who own local businesses will also
have the same problem with their buildings as they will be damages, they also
won’t be able to sell things as the stores will be closed and have to electricity.
The members of the emergency services who were working in the water may
have been affected by diseases carried by the floodwater as it was mixed with
sewer water.
EFFECTS OF RECENT MAJOR INCIDENTS ON COMMUNITIES
Certain major incidents can affect communities in more ways than you think; to outline these effects I’m
going to show how the local community of Powys was affected by the recent flooding.
When flooding happens in Wales, it has a big effect on
the local community; this is because a lot of towns in
Wales are more remote and often far away from each
other, so if the local supermarkets are closed due to
flooding, the community will be very low on food and
water meaning that food will have to be brought in by
the emergency services as it will be classed as a major
incident and people could become ill from this.
Another effect that flooding has on the local community is that it will make it hard for children to go to
school, this means that if parents are able to get to work, they may have to cancel plans anyway due to
having to look after their children instead, this almost isolates the whole community. Local bus services
also won’t be able to run meaning that bus drivers won’t be working and the bus services will not be
making money. There will also be a big effect on the public services because they have to stick to their
target response times but that will be impossible to achieve in these conditions as their vehicles won’t
be able to get to everywhere, this could be dangerous, especially in the event of a bad incident. The
emergency services will also have used a lot of their resources responding to the flooding so if there was
another major incident, the services would be low on workers and equipment. If the local community
has sports teams, they will most likely have to cancel plans and this can cause disruption to things such
as football leagues and other sports tournaments. A lot of buildings lost power during the flooding
because there was a high risk of electrocution as water was making its way in to houses where there are
a lot of electronic appliances. As flood water is mixed with sewage water, it may find a way in to the
main water system and give dirty water to houses, which people may drink; this can cause a lot of harm.
As I have outlined above, there are a lot of things that are affected within a community by flooding and
other major incidents. This shows the importance of having the emergency services to assist with the
incident because public service workers are there to help communities in the event of a bad incident.
For example, the Air Ambulance delivered emergency food to Powys after supermarkets were forced
shut by flooding; this shows that the emergency services will go out of their way to assist communities.
