Crisis Management - Ewood Park Crisis Plan - Case Study Example

Table of contents Table of contents 1 Introduction 3 Legislative framework that control Ewood Park 3 The regulatory reform order 2005 4 Consequences of legislative controls on Ewood park crisis management 4 Ewood park compliance with safety legislation 5 Level of Ewood park safety agreement 5 Ewood park safety policy for spectators 6 Ewood park crisis plan 6 Critical areas of safety covered for Ewood park safety regardless of occurrence of crisis 6 The scope of Ewood park crisis plan 7 Incidents not fully exploited by Ewood park crisis plan 7 Measures in place to address incidents not covered presently by the crisis plan 7 Challenges that safety management team could face if crisis plan cannot provide for incident escalation 8 Agencies involved in Ewood park crisis management 8 Relevant missing agencies for crisis management 9 Importance of inter-agency liaison 9 Incident types and crisis control 10 Threat of bomb attack 10 Control of bomb threat information 11 Safety measures for immediate implementation 11 Public address system crisis 12 Safety procedures for implementation 12 Gas leakage crisis 12 Safety procedures for implementation 12 Safety measures towards persistent gas leakage 13 Failure of gas crisis 13 Safety procedures for implementation 13 Safety measures if gas failure persists 14 Electrical supply failure crisis 14 Safety procedures for implementation 14 Failure of control room crisis 14 Safety procedures for implementation 15 Criteria for match abandonment 15 Postponement of a match 15 Procedures for postponing a match after public admission 15 Criterion for refunds following postponement of a match 16 Criterion for delayed kick-off of the match 16 Fire outbreak crisis 16 Safety procedures for implementation 16 Emergency evacuation 17 Safety procedures for implementation 17 Criterion for emergency evacuation 17 Methods of evacuation 18 First aid following crisis 18 Decontamination facilities 18 Procedure for decontamination 18 Post crisis management 18 Conclusion 19 Bibliography 19 Introduction Ewood Park is a football stadium in Blackburn, Lancashire. Ewood Park has been a home stadium to Blackburn Rovers football club from 1890 when they migrated from Leamington Road. Ewood Park is a multi-event facility but it is primarily developed to host football championships. Ewood Park opened its doors in 1882 and is a 31,367 setter. Ewood Park has four stands on every face of its football pitch that measures 115 by 69 yards. Three of the stands are two tier and they are The Jack Walker End, The Blackburn End and Darwen End Stand. The fourth stand is a single stand and is known as Riverside end stand. The structure is made of steel and the steel was provided by industrialist Jack Walker. The seating capacity of the four stands namely Blackburn end, Jack Walker end, Darwen end and Riverside end are 8000, 11000, 8000 and 5000 respectively. Presence of retractable seats has made it possible for the Ewood Park to host a variety of events. Legislative framework that control Ewood Park Public safety during use of Ewood Park is protected by legislations that work towards ensuring public health and safety is guaranteed. The regulatory reform order 2005 It is also known as fire safety order 2005. Fire safety order 2005 provides that Ewood Park should be certified for user and spectator safety. Under section 1 of safety of sports ground act 1975 (amended). Ewood Park should also satisfy section 26 clause 5 of fire safety and safety of places of sports Act 1987. Legislative controls and policies demand Ewood park management should liaison with local authority, and directed by chief of police, Lancashire fire and rescue service, building control authority for enactment of building regulation act, architects and designers if she needs to apply for safety certificates, amendment of safety certificates, transfer of safety certificates or needs to be issued with a special safety certificate. Consequences of legislative controls on Ewood park crisis management Ewood Park is bound by legislative framework to prioritize on health and safety of users of the premise. Ewood Park is bound to carry out risk assessment and dynamic assessment 24 hours prior to event to ensure there are no threats of crisis developing during the course of its use. Ewood park management should lay down strategies for implementing health and safety of all users and strategies managing crowd riots and incidents that can threaten health and safety of the users. According to legislation policies subject to certification, Ewood Park should only host activities as per terms of certification. These certified events hosted by the Ewood Park should have their crisis plans arranged for before the stadium opens its doors for use. Ewood park safety management should make all efforts to seek agencies and other safety authorities in order to effect efficient crisis management and this should be advised by the nominated safety officer in conjunction with the chief of police. Ewood park compliance with safety legislation Ewood Park as a multi-event hosting stadium complies with section 1 of safety of sports ground act 1975 (amended) that is confirmed with issuance of safety certificate for large sports stadia and section 26 clauses 5 of the fire safety and safety of places of sports act 1987 that is confirmed with issuance of safety certification for stands at sports ground. This is a product of consultation on safety and health of users of the stadium and agreed upon by Blackburn council licensing service, Lancashire council licensing service, building control service, Lancashire fire and rescue service, ambulance agencies and health institutions. Level of Ewood park safety agreement Ewood park crisis plan is a product of consultation on public health and safety arrived at among Ewood park safety management team, Lancashire fire and rescue service, Lancashire council licensing authority and building control service for implementation of building regulation act. Ewood park safety policy for spectators The spectator safety policy is signed by Ewood park safety officer and covers spectator first aid and medical treatment following crisis, Ewood park contingency plan, maintenance of records and agencies involved. Ewood park crisis plan The crisis plan covers all types of events and activities including public tours of the stadium that take place at Ewood Park. Ewood park crisis management plan complies with legislative controls on public safety for any activity. Critical areas of safety covered for Ewood park safety regardless of occurrence of crisis Inspection and safety reviews of Ewood park stadium Stewarding arrangements Crowd management during exit and entry Ewood park organizational structure for implementing safetry The scope of Ewood park crisis plan Haddow and Bullock (2007) indicate that the crisis plan applies for all types of incidents from minor crisis to major crisis. The response strategy for the incident control and incident management is determined by nature of the incident, location of the incident with respect to stand involved, cause of the incident, possible risk factors of the incident to public health and safety and its possible consequences with respect to economic costs of the incident. Heath (1998) argues that the crisis management plan adopted for every form of crisis involves strategic and tactical processes and should provide for possible escalation of the incident from minor to major. Incidents not fully exploited by Ewood park crisis plan The crisis plan does not fully address compensation of users’ goods that may be lost or stolen and injuries that spectators may incur subject to their conduct at the venue. The crisis plan does not fully address the potential of the Ewood park safety management team to handle incidents involving Chemical, Biological, Radiological and Nuclear (CBRN) materials. Measures in place to address incidents not covered presently by the crisis plan Ewood park safety management team is on the path to fully address incidents involving CBRN materials but Ewood park crisis plan contains only safety measures and precautions without including any laboratory investigation of the biological and radiological materials in order to determine their identity. Ewood Park is working with the community partnership projects through adoption of SARA methodology in order to effect efficient incident management. This is made possible through joint training on matters of crisis management with different partner agencies and authorities. Challenges that safety management team could face if crisis plan cannot provide for incident escalation Moore and Lakha (2002) indicate that failure of the crisis plan to allow for incident escalation and incident development from minor to major could amount into increase in incident economic costs. Ewood Park would loose her public good will. In the event the stadium is completely destroyed, after it is rebuild, restoring public confidence would be hard and its re-sale value would not be worth its construction costs. Such scenario can affect frequency of its use and its annual returns would decrease making it a not economic investment. Agencies involved in Ewood park crisis management The following agencies are involved directly with Ewood park crisis management Hospitals and healthcare centers Research institutions on community safety Ambulance agencies both private and public Police Lancashire fire and rescue service Lancashire building control service Architects and designers for fire proof building structures Standards organizations Relevant missing agencies for crisis management The crisis plan does not include environment management agencies that should advise on methods of environment friendly crisis management. This means that Ewood park crisis plans although may adhere to public health and safety, its impacts to the environment could be affecting biodiversity and ecosystem. The crisis plan does not factor partnership of international agencies in crisis management involving CBRN materials. Importance of inter-agency liaison Audit commission (2002) and Gillings (1994) indicate there exists numerous advantages exist for effecting inter-agency liaison in crisis management. These include Use of common terminologies and response culture Facilitate clear lines of authority Facilitate formation of unified structure for coordinated planning among agencies involved To ensure efficient incident information is evaluated and analyzed during dynamic risk assessment To enforce same emergency response organizational structure To coordinate resources used in crisis response To facilitate assigning of goals to crisis response structure To facilitate establishment of crisis priorities To pave way for collective approval of crisis operation, crisis logistics and crisis planning To pave way for sharing of crisis response facilities hence reducing crisis response costs and maximizing crisis efficiency and minimizing communication breakdown Incident types and crisis control Threat of bomb attack Association of chief police officers (ACPO) (2001) suggests that in the event of a suspected item is seen within the stadium premises, the safety officer, who is on radio and has access to all channels, should be informed. The call should be recorded to include all relevant details of the suspected item. The safety officer should seek guidance of chief of police or police incident commander. Either of the two can inform the council safety advisory group that may carry out assessment of the suspected item in conjunction with nominated bomb experts. Any safety information regarding the suspected item should be relayed to the control room and security office. Control of bomb threat information Information on a bomb threat should be handled with care to prevent fans from going into panic and distorting plans for emergency evacuation. The information should not be conveyed over the public address. Safety measures for immediate implementation The site of suspected bomb item should be cordoned. This should be implemented by police, stewards, supervisors, team leaders, incident commanders and head of stewards. Immediate investigation should be carried out to determine if the suspected item lies in the family of CBRN materials and its threat to health and safety of spectators should be determined with high degree of precision. Information relating to the suspected bomb item should be communicated to stewards, police, turnstile operators and safety assessors. It should also be communicated to referee to adjourn the match on safety grounds. If the suspected item is found to be a threat to public health and safety, immediate evacuation should be implemented. Public address system crisis Safety procedures for implementation Failure of public address system should be communicated to safety officer and chief of police or police incident commander through all radio channels 1 to 5. Nominated engineer or electrician by Ewood park safety management should carry out initial assessment to trouble shoot the crisis and restore the system. Otherwise a call should be made to TG Baker who is nominated contact engineers for Ewood Park. As assessment of the fault is carried out, loudhailers mounted on gate office at Darwen end and security office should be activated and used. Gas leakage crisis Safety procedures for implementation Fire service inspectorate (2002) indicates that the crisis should be reported to safety officer and police incident commander onsite. The engineer on duty should confirm report and close all valves Fore assessors and stewards should carry out risks of gas to public health and safety. Safety measures towards persistent gas leakage Immediate evacuation should be implemented. This decision should be advised and directed by the safety officer and police incident commander and should involve all stewards, turnstile operators, safety volunteers and police. Lancashire fire and rescue service should be informed through a 999 call Public address system should inform the public on gas leak incident and should not lit any matchsticks or gas lighters. Switching on of all electrical switches should be stopped to avoid electrical; sparks that can ignite fire Representatives from the gas supply company should be contacted Failure of gas crisis Safety procedures for implementation The crisis should be reported to the safety officer as well as police incident commander. The report should be relayed to the control room All pilot lights should be switched off by the duty engineer The gas supply company should be informed of the failure Safety measures if gas failure persists Failure of the gas does not amount to any risks to public health and safety and therefore procedures for evacuation or abandonment of the match should not be implemented. Electrical supply failure crisis Safety procedures for implementation The crisis should be reported to the safety officer and the police incident commander. Stewards, police and supervisors should be made aware in order to handle spectator queries A call to united utilities should be made to inform them about the failure of mains electricity Emergency lighting should be switched on The Jack Walkers flood lights should be turned on The generators at jack walker end, Blackburn end and riverside end should be turned on as well as back-up battery electrical system at riverside end stand. Failure of control room crisis Safety procedures for implementation The crisis should be reported to the safety officer and police incident commander Transfer of the control room to the security office should be implemented Criteria for match abandonment The authority to abandon a match lies on safety officer in conjuction with police incident commander and is depended on nature of the incident and its possible outcome with regard to public health and safety. Postponement of a match A match can be postponed on grounds of health and safety to the public. This move should be communicated to the public through the media, automatic information to the public through 08701 or the club switchboard and ticket office. Procedures for postponing a match after public admission All turnstiles should be closed to prevent public access Public address systems should communicate relevant information on why the match had to be postponed Public address system should communicate information on need for spectators to retain their tickets, or on refunds Stewards should be informed on safety grounds for postponing the match in order to handle spectator complaints and their queries Criterion for refunds following postponement of a match Funds will be refunded if the first half was not over Funds cannot be refunded if postponement of the match was due to weather conditions as advised by referee. Criterion for delayed kick-off of the match A match can be delayed due to risks factors associated with a crisis with respect to priority on public health and safety. This process is under the advice of the safety officer and the police incident commander. Fire outbreak crisis Safety procedures for implementation The crisis should be reported to the fire safety officer and police incident commander. Baldwin and Thomas (2007) argue that installed fire alarms should open all exits and evacuation should be implemented with stewards helping the disabled persons. The fire alarm also calls Lancashire fire and rescue service automatically. This should be followed by a manual call to the Lancashire fore and rescue service and all ambulance agencies. Ewood Park has passive and active fire protection. These include heat detectors and smoke detectors. The passive fire protections include the automatic water sprinklers. Emergency evacuation The authority for emergency evacuation lies with safety officer on advice of police incident commander. This is depended on risk factors of the crisis and priority on public safety. Safety procedures for implementation Following multi-agency response, every agency incident commander should report to the control room. In case an agency incident commander is absent, the first senior incident commander should report to the control room Ambulance incident commander should be contacted by radio Lancashire fire and rescue service should be contacted by 999 call. Criterion for emergency evacuation Presence of a crisis in the premises or its circumference Threat or increased risk of a crisis to public health and safety Referee recommendations Safety officer and police incident commander authority Methods of evacuation Baldwin and Thomas (2007) indicate that every incident has its own evacuation method depending on its threat to public safety, nature of crisis, severity of incident following assessment by safety officer in conjunction with police incident commander. First aid following crisis Decontamination facilities According to Smith (2003) Ewood Park owns forklifts for delivering decontaminants to affected areas. The rescue team should be armed with personal protective equipments. Ewood Park also has tents for carrying out decontamination. Procedure for decontamination Baldwin (1994) and Smith (2003) argue that the contaminated victims are provided with personal protective effects including new cloths. They are they made to pass through a decontaminant shower that contains solutions that can detoxify the contaminant without affecting health of the victims. The solutions should not have scorching effect on the skin, eyes or be toxic once swallowed. The process of decontamination should be immediate to reduce exposure time of the victims to the contaminant. Post crisis management Baldwin (1994) and Gustin (2007) indicate that the affected people should be given psychological counseling to help then recover from the crisis. Compensation of the victims through the insurance should be carried out fast to enable families that loose their breadwinners in the crisis to cope with the situation. A post crisis fund should also be set to help victims and their families. Conclusion Although Ewood park crisis plan seems to cover every detail of safety and precaution measures, more effort need to be made to ensure Ewood Park carries out her crisis management and control through methods that cannot have adverse effects to the environment. Ewood Park should also install automatic electricity switches that can detect presence of users to switch on and off. This will help to reduce the cost of electricity bill and reduce energy output that can lead into environmental pollution by contributing to global warming. Bibliography Association of chief police officers (ACPO). (2001, August 14th). Blue print. Retrieved January 23rd, 2009, from Blue print for policing in the 21st centruary: http://acpo.police.uk/policies/blueprint.doc Audit commision. (2002). community safety partnerships. wehterby: audit commision publication. Baldwin, R. and Thomas, P.H. (2007). passive and active fire protection-the optimum combination. fire technology , Vol. 10 (Issue 2 ), pp. 140-146. Baldwin, R. (1994). Training for the management of major emergencies. Disaster prevention and management , Vol. 3 (Issue 1), pp. 16-23. fire service inspectorate. (2002). incident command (fire service manual 2). London: stationery office books. Gillings, G. (1994). Multi-agency crime prevention: some barriers to collaboration. the Howard journal , Vol. 33 (Issue 3), pp. 246-257. Gustin, J. F. (2007). Disaster and recovery planning: A guide for facility managers (4th edition ed.). Liburn, Georgia: Fair Mont press Inc. Haddow, G. and Bullock, P.H. (2007). Introduction to emergency management (3rd edition ed.). London: Butterworth, Heinemann. Heath, R. (1998). Crisis management for managers and executives. Financial times, Prentice Hall . Moore, T. and Lakha, R.. (2002). Tolly's Handbook of Disaster and Emergency management: principles and practice (3rd edition ed.). London: Butterworth, Heinemann. Smith, D. (2003, February 20th). To be ready to decontaminate people, the fire service is getting an initial 53 GBP million. Retrieved January 25th, 2009, from Public voices 2: http://www.guardian.co.uk/society/2003/feb/18/publicvoices2 Read More