Incident management
Following the declaration of a major incident, the council supports the Emergency Services through the response and consolidation phases.
The coordination of the recovery and return to normality phase is usually our responsibility.
We supply a wide range of assistance and resources:
- Road closures and diversions
- Transport
- Reception, evacuees and friends and relatives centres
- Plant and equipment
- Building safety inspections
- Sanitation
- Maps and building plans
- Temporary accommodation
- Counselling for victims
- Interpretation
- Helplines
- Appeal fund arrangements
- Environmental health services
- Emergency lighting
- Clearance of debris and restoration of highways
- Provision of accommodation / equipment for temporary mortuaries
- Information bureau and media handling services
We work within the multi-agency arrangement developed for dealing with major incidents in Sussex.
Emergency Evacuation
In the event of a major incident it may be necessary to evacuate all, or part of, the town centre.
- Messages will be broadcast on the ºù«ÍÞapp Radio Link Scheme to those that have joined the scheme
- Requests to evacuate may be broadcast using other public address systems in shopping centres, bus and rail stations
- Police Officers will coordinate the evacuation of required zones and assist your building management and security staff
- Implement your appropriate building evacuation plan immediately
- Inform others who do not appear to be responding to the evacuation request
- Use security staff or nominated company representatives to escort everyone away from danger
- Follow police advice
You should prepare an evacuation plan for your premises and:
- Inform your staff of the plan
- Identify staff with specific responsibility for building evacuation
- Set up fire assembly points, a safe distance from your building
- Pre-identify bomb assembly points, possibly outside the town centre
- Establish how to alert your staff and visitors of an evacuation and how to inform them of the assembly points
- Ensure that all of your staff can reach assembly points
- Create specific procedures to assist staff and visitors with physical or visual difficulties
- Establish how you will account for all of your staff at the assembly point
- Decide how you will communicate with your staff while they are out of the premises
- Regularly test your evacuation plan