United Kingdom's Emergency Planning Arrangements - Term Paper Example

UNITED KINGDOM”S EMERGENCY PLANNING ARRANGEMENTS Student’s Name Course Professor’s Name University City (State) Date United Kingdom’s Emergency Planning Arrangements 1.0 Introduction Emergency management is the development of plans that help communities reduce their vulnerability and able to cope with the disasters. The aim of disaster management is not to eliminate or avert threats associated with disasters but to reduce its effects. Failure to plan could lead to revenue loss, human mortality, and assets damage among others. The United Kingdom has Emergency Response, and Recovery plan has evolved after years since the Second World War to come to its comprehensive level today (O'Brien & Read 2005). The plan set guidelines on the suitable practices on recovery from and responding to emergencies. The goal of the guidance is to share the information on emergency planning and identification of responsibilities and roles of particular organisations. It also aims to determine the role of the emergency response at the national, sub-national, and low levels and how they integrate. The document also acts as a reference framework, especially language and concepts for the players responding to the emergencies. Some of the current emergencies that the United Kingdom is trying to avert include terrorism acts, communication failures, industrial accidents, public disorder, fire, industrial sabotage, and natural disasters such as hurricanes and earthquakes. The United Kingdom’s emergency management plan has got eight guiding principles: anticipation, preparedness, subsidiarity, direction, information, integration, co-operation, and continuity (Government of United Kingdom 2013). 2.0 Key Organizations Involved in Disaster Management The United Kingdom emergency response framework does not give a sole responsibility of a particular agency or organization on disaster management. Instead, it has several organizations and agencies that are given the responsibilities to conduct the emergency management activities. The responsibilities and roles of the main sectors and agencies in disaster management are clearly stipulated in the emergency framework. The players' main roles are responding to and recovering from the emergencies. Wales and England have an elaborate structure showing the key organizations and their roles in emergency management. The responders are divided into three categories: Category 1 and 2 responders, and the communities’ resilience (Government of United Kingdom 2013). 2.1 Category 1 Responders The first category one responders is the police services. The main goal of the police is to coordinate the activities of the people or organizations responding to the emergency. The priority of the police is to protect and save lives. In addition, they preserve the scene for further investigation and possible criminal proceedings. In case a criminal act is linked to the emergency, the police conduct the criminal investigation. Further, they can engage with the other disaster managers in maintaining and establishing cordons. In case, it is a terrorist attack, the police with engaging in protecting the scene and take control of the incident. They also engage in the processing of the casualty information and responsible for identification and removal of the fatalities. Second are the fire and rescue authorities whose main role is to put off the fire and save anyone trapped in it (Government of United Kingdom 2013). They can also help the police in the controlling of the cordon's entry. Fire and rescue authority also engage mass decontamination in case there is exposure to nuclear, radiological, biological, or chemical substances, the fire and rescue authority. Third is the ambulance services offered by Ambulance Trust. Its main responsibility is to provide sudden or short notice impact emergencies. They can prioritise the issuance of the emergency services at the scene. Ambulance services can also seek the help of other voluntary organizations such as St John Ambulance and Red Cross. They can also save lives in the hazardous environments through the Hazardous Area Response Team. Furthermore, Ambulance Service can develop a Casualty Clearing Station near or at the scene. Another organization is the Foundation Trusts and Acute Trusts that give the receiving hospital for further treatment of the casualties. Other health services can be received from the community and primary care services, port health authorities and independent health authorities. The role of the Maritime and Coastguard Agency is to start and control the search in the civil maritime with the intention of searching and rescuing the casualties and fatalities. There are also the local authorities whose role is to provide public health functions and enhance collaborations. Lastly is the environmental agency that responds to emergencies that might affect the environment. 2.2 Category 2 Responders First, the transport, telecommunication, and utility providers which are a vast array of providing sectors whose role is to respond and recover from disasters affecting their sectors. The group entails the transport companies, sewerage and water companies, telecommunication providers, and the electricity and gas distributors and transmitters. Second, the Highways Agency’s role is to minimise the potential environmental impact caused by the emergency through managing the traffic, tackling congestion, and informing road users of the occurrences. As a result, they improve journey reliability and safety. Third, the Health and Safety Executive aims at protecting the safety and health of the people through ensuring that the work place’s risks are managed (Government of United Kingdom 2013). They regulate health and safety in workplaces such as oil installations, offshore gas, schools, hospitals, farms, factories, mines, and nuclear installations. 2.3 The Wider Resilience Community The Lead Government Department represents the central government and comes into the emergency management practice to assist category 1 and 2 players only when needed. They play the coordination role to the emergency management process. The specific roles differ across the government departments. However, the core framework of the United Kingdom government is the National Resilience Capabilities Programme that ensures the there is a comprehensive response infrastructure that helps to deal flexibly, effectively, and rapidly with the impacts of emergencies (Government of United Kingdom 2013). The Animal Health and Veterinary Laboratory Agency ensures that the domestic animals are protected, healthy, and disease-free. It is the lead agency that responds to incidents and outbreaks of exotic animal diseases in the Great Britain. It works with other national and international health institutions to conduct its activities. The Department of Heath provides for coordination and support of the Secretaries and Health Ministers in addressing the disaster. Furthermore, it coordinates the health departments in areas that they are fully-devolved. The Public Health provides advice relating to health in case of a public health emergency. The institution offers leadership, support, and advice on how to manage the emergency. There is also the Coroner whose role is to identify the fatalities, their causes and of death. In summary, its role is to determine the dead person, how he or she died, when and where it happened. There is also the civil society which includes the faith groups and the voluntary sector. The civil society can provide practical support which includes first aid and support of the hospital personnel. It can also offer psycho-social support, equipments, information services, and disaster appeal services and funds. The Armed Forces can also be instrumental in the management of disasters. Their training, equipment, skills, organizations, and national structure are critical in the management of disasters. The Ministry of Defence can provide the Search and Rescue facilities to address the disasters in the United Kingdom (Government of United Kingdom 2013). The Air Accidents Investigation Branch, which is under of the Department of Transport assists in the investigation of incidents linked to aircraft accidents and other serious occurrences within the United Kingdom. The Rail Accident Investigation Branch investigates the railway incidents and accidents in the United Kingdom. There is also The Marine Accident Investigation Branch whose role is to investigate and examine all the marine accidents in the United Kingdom territorial waters and the United Kingdom's ships. The community is also given a vital role in the management of emergencies in the United Kingdom. They have the mandate to plan and prepare so as to recover and cope with the local and national emergencies. 3.0 Deficiencies of the United Kingdom Emergency Preparedness The United Kingdom’s emergency plan is a comprehensive framework. It has ensured that no one organization or agency is solely with the responsibility of managing disasters and emergencies. The framework calls for collaborative and involvement efforts of the addressing the emergencies (O'Brien 2008). As a result, different agencies and organizations have specifically defined roles to play. The United Kingdom’s emergency plan ensures that the all the relevant stakeholders are involved in the management of the emergencies both in the prevention stage and upon occurrence. The national framework ensured that the diverse multi-agency recovery and response are managed under one umbrella (Kahn & Barondess 2008). The framework has given each of the agencies their responsibilities and roles in a rather detailed manner as a way of responding and recovery from disasters. However, the framework has got some elements that can lead to conflict. There are potential conflicts on determining when the central government should engage in the management of the disaster. In explanation, the United Kingdom’s emergency management framework is decentralised. The incidents and emergencies, based on complexity or scale, are handled at the local level without the involvement of central government. However, it is not defined on how the complexity and scale will be measured. The emergency policy of United Kingdom has left the issue to be vague with its definition based on the mercy of the stakeholders (Civil Contingencies Secretariat 2009). There is, therefore, the likelihood that the local stakeholders might overlook the seriousness of the disaster and fail to consult the central government. On the other hand, the central government might be forced to rush into an emergency call just to realise that it was a false alarm. For instance, the local and central government might fail to agree on the threshold to which support should be offered to a disaster occurrence. Since the local agencies are the first responders and often carry the most of the burden of emergency management, they might call for a false alarm due to financial issues. The emergency plan framework indicated that the central government should only be involved when the emergencies and incidents' impacts are more consequential. The threshold is relative depending on the stakeholders' view. There also might be a conflict on who is to be given the task of responding to the disasters. According to the emergency management framework, the police or the local offices of the lead agencies can conduct the coordination role (Kapucu 2009). The framework goes ahead and illustrates that the police conducts the emergency response task under the leadership of the Police Gold Commander, who is appointed by the Chief Officer at the local level. The Police Gold Commander also chairs the Strategic Coordination Group that comprises of the executive authority and senior representatives of the local organizations. On the other hand, the lead governments have the mandate to be the prime responding agencies in case the disaster is unique and involving other things such as the disease outbreak among animals. In such circumstances, the appropriate government departments should offer support to the lead authority. However, the framework does not cater for the scenario in which the disaster has both human casualties and other unique impacts such as disease outbreak. In such circumstances, which party will play the leading role: the lead government or the police? In case it is both entities, they might be conflict in decision making thus making the process ineffective. The United Kingdom emergency framework is prone to challenges associated with the division of labour. In explanation, the emergency framework does not give the responsibility to a particular organization or agency on the management of disasters and emergencies. Instead, it calls for the collaboration and involvement of the relevant agencies and organizations. It goes ahead and defines the roles of each of the agencies and organizations thus making it similar the division of labour principle. The problem with such an arrangement is that the whole process might fail due to the failure of a particular agency or organization (O'Brien 2008). For example, if the police were to protect the scene after a terrorist attack, their failure would mean a failure to the whole process. Even though they can be held accountable since it is a defined role in the framework, it will be an argumentative concern. Another example is; in case the military were expected to assist in the removal of debris after a landslide to save lives, unfortunately, they had a function, or something came up in the process, it will mean more lives will have to be lost. In addition, most of the agencies identified might have specialised in some particular sections but not disaster management (Kahn & Barondess 2008). In explanation, the element of the division of labour limits the specialisation in the field. Most of the agents and organizations that have defined roles in the framework are not specialised in disaster management thus their activities might be questioned. Even though they are crucial and of much impact to the emergency preparedness process, disaster management is an independent field such as medicine and more professionals in the field would be appropriate. 4.0 Conclusion and Recommendation The United Kingdom Emergency Response and Recovery Plan has evolved over years since the Second World War. Today, the plan is a comprehensive one with well-defined roles for each of the entities or organizations involved. It calls for a devolved system with responders divided into category 1 and 2 responders, and the communities’ resilience. Within the three tiers, there are specific role players as defined by the emergency response framework. Each of the players has specific roles. Even though the emergency plan is comprehensive, its structure comes with some few conflicts. Some of the conflicts include; (i) determining when the central government should take over the role of conducting emergency management from the local government, (ii) there is also a problem on who is to take the leadership role in case of disasters, and (iii) there are conflicts associated with the division of labour in the framework. I would recommend that; 1. The framework is adjusted so that a single entity or organization is given the overall mandate United Kingdom emergency management. The entity or organization identified should, therefore, have individuals representing all the relevant sectors that would be involved in the management of the emergencies. 2. The emergency management framework should also clearly define when the central government should engage in the management of the disasters. The number of casualties or fatalities can be used to indicate the threshold. However, the threshold should be in quantifiable values thus easy to determine instead of leaving it vague as ‘complexity and scale.’ 3. Formation of a particular entity managing all the disasters at the national, sub-national, and local level would also prevent the challenges associated with determining who is to be in control of the scene or occurrence. Instead, there will always be a particular entity or organization being the overall coordinator with the other organizations being just role players. 4. The framework should also be adjusted to allow for flexibility of the entities or organizations. Flexibility will ensure that other organizations can assist when its counterpart is occupied or not in a position to conduct its roles. Reference List Civil Contingencies Secretariat 2009. The Lead Government Department and its role – Guidance and Best Practice.Available from: < https://scholar.google.com/scholar?um=1&ie=UTF- 8&lr&q=related:f4ba5_Zp3vCM-M:scholar.google.com/ > [22 May 2016]. Government of United Kingdom 2013, Emergency response and recovery. Available from: < https://www.gov.uk/guidance/emergency-response-and-recovery > [22 May 2016]. Kahn, LH & Barondess, JA 2008, ‘Preparing for Disaster: Response Matrices in the USA and UK’, Journal of Urban Health, vol. 85, no. 6, pp.910-922. Kapucu, N 2009, Emergency and crisis management in the United Kingdom: disasters experienced, lessons learned, and recommendations for the future. Available from: < https://webcache.googleusercontent.com/search?q=cache:WLGOmW_a9uEJ:https://traini ng.fema.gov/hiedu/downloads/compemmgmtbookproject/comparative%2520em%2520b ook%2520-%2520chapter%2520 %2520emergency%2520and%2520crisis%2520mgmt%2520in%2520the%2520uk- disasters,%2520lessons%2520and%2520recomm.doc+&cd=8&hl=en&ct=clnk >[22 May 2016]. O'Brien, G & Read, P 2005, ‘Future UK emergency management: new wine, old skin?’, Disaster Prevention and Management: An International Journal, vol. 14, no. 3, pp.353-361. O'Brien, G 2008, ‘UK emergency preparedness: a holistic response?’, Disaster Prevention and Management: An International Journal, vol. 17, no. 2, pp.232-243. Read More