Public Services Level 3 - Unit 15: Planning and Managing of Major Incidents
P6: EXPLAIN THE MAIN CONSIDERATIONS WHEN PLANNING AND PREPARING FOR MAJOR INCIDENTS
Introduction
In this task, I am going to cover P6 by explaining the main considerations when planning and preparing
for major incidents. I will include the agencies involved and considerations during the planning process.
The Importance of Major Incident Planning
First of all, it is important to understand why a planning process in necessary. The planning process for
major incidents is very important, because it allows the senior members from agencies to prevent the
major incident from escalating in to a disaster on an even larger scale in the future. It is also important
for each agency to know what they have and don’t have, and what they can and can’t do. If they can’t
do a specific thing, they will be able to rely on another agency to use their resources instead. Planning
for major incidents means that everyone knows what to do, and how to do it with great organisation.
Scenario
There has been a devastating terror attack in Piccadilly Circus, this has shaken the nation and the Prime
Minister has called a COBRA meeting. There have been around nine thousand confirmed deaths and
twelve thousand people who are critically injured. This attack took place on New Year’s Eve, when the
centre of London was it its busiest time. It is unconfirmed how many people are attacking citizens and
there are fears that there may still be armed terrorists in the area. This is instantly declared as a major
incident and a meeting is now taking place to discuss considerations and an action plan. There were
around seven explosions and catastrophic damage to buildings, vehicles and the subway stations in the
surrounding area. Mi5 have confirmed that the terrorists are armed, and more are out there.
Left: is a photographic demonstration of what an
attack on Piccadilly Circus would look like from an
armed Police Officer’s point of view just moments
after the initial detonations took place. This shows
how serious and difficult a solution to this attack
would be, which is exactly why it is important for
agencies to perform a meeting to build a plan.
Main Considerations when Planning and Preparing for Major Incidents
When the senior members of public service agencies perform a meeting to prepare and plan their
approaches towards major incidents, they will take a wide range of elements into account. Due to the
seriousness of major incidents, nothing can be missed out, which is why these things are considered;
- The main thing that will be considered during a terrorist attack like this is the safety of the
public, if there are people injured or trapped in buildings, they need to be evacuated from the
danger as soon as possible, many people will need treatment and will need to be rushed to the
local hospital which will already be overcrowded with current casualties.
, - In order for the casualties to be evacuated, the area must be secured. It is vitally important that
the Paramedics are not in direct danger when evacuating the casualties so the Metropolitan
Police will deploy armed units to patrol, secure and closely watch the evacuation process,
eliminating any further danger if it occurs.
- Another consideration which will be brought up is the likelihood of another explosion, there
were around seven explosions from suicide bombers but other members of the group had guns
and were shooting anyone in sight. This means that the British Army will need to be involved.
- Another main element taken into account during this meeting is the damage to surrounding
buildings, raising questions as to whether it is even safe enough to access the subway station.
- Another crucially important element taken into consideration will be whether the agencies
involved have enough members, equipment and commanders to tackle this situation. If not,
they will need to deploy units and teams from elsewhere in the United Kingdom to help. If they
do call other agencies, they can bring their members and equipment and are all trained in the
same way which makes it easier to meet with them and tackle the situation.
- The next important element is the time frame, raising questions about how long it will take to
secure the area, how long it will take to evacuate to casualties, how long it will take to counter
attack the ongoing threat, how long it will take for the military to deploy its troops. Everything
takes time so it is much better if the agencies are aware of what is to happen next.
- Another important element that will be taken into consideration is who will receive this
information and enforce it. For example, the senior member of the London Fire Brigade who
attends the meeting will pass this information to all of the Station Managers in the local area,
this means they can brief their individual teams, which is much quicker than calling for a big
group meeting, which is unrealistic as response needs to be very fast.
- Recent training will also be an element taken in to consideration during the meeting, covering
the recent multi-agency training exercises, bringing up skills that the agencies have gained. If the
Police did best on the day, they may be put in command of certain things when responding.
What examples do we have of recent public service training where agencies worked together to respond
effectively to a terrorist attack? Operation Strong Tower; which was set up by the Metropolitan Police to
realistically recreate a terrorist attack scenario, there were many other agencies involved and the main
objective was to evacuate injured casualties in any way possible. This operation lasted multiple days as it
would in real life and allowed the public services to gain skills and become more confident in case of
future terrorist attacks that happen in the United Kingdom. This is a very important part of public service
training where all of the agencies worked hand-in-hand to overcome such a big threat, which is why it
would be mentioned and taken into consideration during the meeting as it shows the pros and cons.
- Another element taken in to consideration will be what other agencies will need to be relied on
and introduced to help. Water providers will be called upon to increase the pressure of water in
the local area so the Fire Service can deal with fires. Gas companies will be called upon to stop
the flow of gases through buildings so the Police aren’t affected by gas leaks as they try to hunt
for further threats hiding in buildings. The senior members will already have the contact
numbers for these companies so they will need to distribute and use them amongst each other.
