Emergency plan

Within the borough of Reigate & Banstead, it is inevitable that most staff will be involved either directly or indirectly with responding to a major incident. This is because even those with unspecified roles, or those who continue their normal duties, will be supporting the response by maintaining the normal functions of the council, perhaps having to take up tasks from other officers whilst staff resource is at a premium (Business Continuity).

There are, however, pre-identified roles that will be at the forefront of the Council’s response. Coordinating efforts will be the Incident Management Team (IMT) who will ensure that Reigate & Banstead Borough Council is responding effectively in its own right, and in conjunction with other agencies. A full description of other agencies involved, and their roles, can be found in the Operational Plan.

5.1 The Incident Management Team (IMT)

The IMT will co-ordinate Reigate & Banstead Borough Council’s response to a major incident. The IMT will consist of the Management Team (MT), Communications, appropriate Heads of Service, if appropriate Leader of the Council and anyone else the team deems necessary to assist. The main responsibilities are outlined in the Operational Guidance Plan. All members of IMT are expected to provide staff as required to support the response.

5.2 The Incident Liaison Officer (ILO)

The ILO will attend Tactical Briefings at Multi Agency Tactical meetings (usually near the scene of the incident) and receive up-to-date information on the situation as it unfolds. They will also take requests for Local Authority assistance/involvement to pass on to the Borough Tactical Control (see section 5.6 below). ILOs pass on Borough actions and developments to the Tactical Commander (BECC - Borough Emergency Coordination Centre Coordinator).

5.3 Elected Members

Often during an incident, members of the local community turn to elected officials for support and guidance. The roles of Elected Members during an incident are as follows;

• Enhance local community liaison with Reigate & Banstead Borough Council
• Focus community concerns in a constructive manner
• Encourage and support recovery teams working within their community
• Visiting affected residents
• Assisting with debrief sessions with the community

5.4 Command, Control and Coordination (C3)

The C3 structure for emergency response is the same at both an internal organizational level, and at a multi-agency level. There are three levels of command and control: Operational, Tactical and Strategic. The titles do not convey seniority of service or rank but represent a function. See Figure below for diagrammatic view of command and control.

5.5 Operational Command (Bronze)

This is the front-line level of response for each of the responding agencies at the scene(s) of a major incident. Each service will nominate operational commanders who will control and deploy the resources available and implement the decisions of the tactical commander.

5.6 Tactical Command (Silver)

Tactical command determines priorities in allocating resources, plans and co-ordinates when a task will be undertaken and obtains resources as required. Tactical commanders should not become involved with the activities at the scene but concentrate on the overall general management. They implement the strategy set out by Strategic Command.

5.7 Strategic Command (Gold)

Multi-agency Strategic will normally establish a Strategic Co-ordinating Group (SCG). This could be a virtual group or hosted at a physical location depending on the nature and scale of the incident. Other emergency services and local authorities will nominate senior officers to attend the SCG to agree upon policy and strategic direction for managing the incident. SCG meetings will be chaired by the lead agency, which has been pre-identified based on the type of incident. The Incident Management Team (IMT, see Section 5.1 page 16) will act as internal Reigate & Banstead Borough Council Strategic. Figure below depicts the C3 structure as it relates to both Reigate & Banstead Borough Council internally (left-hand column) and at a multiagency level.

Figure: C3 structure internally and at multi-agency level

5.8 Lead Agency

The Lead Agency will depend on the type of incident. In many cases, Surrey Police will initially take a lead role. However, the lead agency role may then be handed over to another agency as identified in the SLRF Emergency Response Protocol. District and Borough Councils have been pre-identified as the lead agency for earthquakes. Once the immediate dangers have subsided, in most cases the Local Authority will formally act as the Lead Agency during the recovery phase. In a cross-border incident, this will most likely be Surrey County Council, however in an incident that only affects the borough of Reigate & Banstead, Reigate & Banstead Borough Council will most likely be the lead agency. It is difficult to predict at what point this will happen in any given emergency, as the decision will be heavily influenced by context. For further information, please see the SLRF Recovery Protocol.

5.9 Decision Making in an Emergency

Decision making in an emergency or major incident is different from business as usual (BAU). Structures must change to meet the challenge; to ensure effective, and time critical decision making is achieved. Some emergencies will require difficult choices to be made, including rapid and significant decisions to scale back or stop some services. It is therefore important that all decisions are:

• Consistent – in line with the agreed Local Resilience Forum strategy and Reigate & Banstead Borough Council’s own agreed strategy for responding to the incident.
• Corporate – owned by Reigate & Banstead Borough Council as a whole and taken with a clear view of the bigger picture and any knock-on implications known and understood.
• Communicated – appropriately to those affected by decisions (service users, staff and other stakeholders) and understood by all key stakeholders.
• Timely – decisions must be capable of being made quickly, given any rapidly changing natures of an emergency. Making the right decision at the right time can result in lives being saved.
• Recorded – decision makers are accountable for the decisions that they take. They could be required to account for them in a court of law at a later date. It is important that all such decisions are logged and recorded, including a clear rationale for why the decision was taken, the factors considered, and the alternative options considered and dismissed.
• Lawful and accountable – made under appropriate authority structures and within the Council’s constitution and scheme of delegation, as well as being in full conformity with the law.

The table below summaries the different decision logging which would happen during an incident, all command levels, and the differences between a rapid onset or rising tide emergency. Full detail can be found in Appendix H.

Table: Decision making schema