Emergency Planning Children and Young People’s Services

Timetable 1:30Introduction Deborah Brownlee 1:40Critical vs Major Incidents Simon Jenner 1:50Flu Pandemic Paul Turner 2:20Local Authority Plans and Responsibilities Tim Carroll 2:40Break 2:55School Plans and Responsibilities Simon Jenner 3:20What would you do? Simon Jenner 3:50Next steps 4:00End

Aims To raise awareness of the expectations / duties for schools in relation to emergency planning To disseminate central government guidance To be aware of local authority requirements in regard to emergency planning and support available to schools To help schools revise/write their emergency plan To be aware of actions required should a flu pandemic arise

Major Incident "An event or situation which threatens serious damage to: human welfare in a place in the UK, the environment of a place in the UK, or, the security of the UK or a place in the UK". A major incident is characterised by the nature and scale of the response required, rather than the circumstances surrounding the incident itself. Characteristically it will mean the following:- An external event caused by circumstances outside of the Council's control; The implementation of special arrangements by one or more of the emergency services, the NHS or local authority;

Major Incident cont… The involvement either directly or indirectly of large numbers of people; The handling of large numbers of enquiries likely to be generated from the public and media; The need for large scale combined resources of two or more of the emergency services or supporting organisations; The provision of a response to an event which threatens death, serious injury, displacement, or homelessness to a large number of people.

Critical Incident A critical incident is one which is below the level of a major one but still of significance. Examples would include the death of a pupil, or significant fire within a school. Yule and Gold (1993) define a critical incident as "a sudden and unforeseen incident which has a significant and negative impact upon the emotional well-being of pupils and/or adults of a school and/or upon the effective funding of a school." Within Wigan we would wish to widen this definition to include all educational settings.

DCSF website on emergency plans Writing a plan Arson risk evaluation l Security Risk Assessment

Wigan Critical Incident Web Site htm Flu Pandemic Guidance for Schools handsafety/Influenza/

Local Authority Emergency Plan Plan to address major incidents Allocates responsibilities for actions Held/actioned by key officers of the authority Public document available

Emergency Plan - Content Initial contact procedure Emergency control centre details Outline of departmental functions and responsibilities Media and information handling Information on other agencies Resource directory Principles for training and exercising

LA Responsibilities Have emergency plans in place Have business continuity plans in place Support key services (eg schools) in planning for emergencies and critical incidents Provide specialist support as required (eg premises-related support, psychological support

Rest Centres Provide shelter and basic welfare to people who have been evacuated, or made homeless because of a major incident or disaster. They are set up and manned by the Local Authority. The local authority rest centre plan has recently been updated.

Rest Centres - continued Premises are chosen based upon the size and circumstances of the emergency, but day centres, high schools or sports centres are generally used. Schools have been identified in different areas of the borough as possible rest centre locations. Awareness raising, including rest centre exercises are planned with schools.

Case Scenarios 1.A flu pandemic has arisen, but with few casualties. Central government and the local authority are asking schools to remain open, as far as possible, to enable other services to continue. A quarter of your staff call in sick/ to look after relatives/ are unwilling to come into work. What do you do:- -Immediately -Within the day -Within the week (if the situation continues)

2. A flu pandemic in February has led to significant casualties. Advice is to close schools (possibly for ten weeks), but to keep the curriculum going, especially for Y6/Y11, via alternative means such as IT. What would you do? Case Scenarios

3. At lunch time a man with a machete climbs over the fence and threatens staff/children. You see this as it happens. What do you do:- -Immediately -In an hour -In the day -In a week -Longer term Case Scenarios