1.10 Emergency Planning

Prompt action needs to be taken in the event of an emergency at Bath Spa University. The actions to be taken will depend on the nature of the emergency event. In the case that there is potentially a major incident the response needs to be managed by the University Emergency Team. This document provides an outline of the key actions required to be taken to control an emergency, to mitigate its effects and, subsequently, to facilitate the return of the site to normal operations.

Introduction

The University is faced with the possibility of sudden, unplanned and unwanted incidents that could threaten the health and safety of the staff, students and others on its premises. The risks could arise from a natural disaster, human error or malfunction of equipment or systems.

In order to meet its statutory requirements to manage health and safety on its premises the University needs to be prepared to respond by taking charge with effective and efficient command and control. The phased response to an emergency is specified in the University's Contingency Plan.

The response arrangements need to be proportionate to the risk and will depend on the area at risk and the nature and severity of the emergency. A major objective of the Contingency Plan is to expedite the planning of the actions to be taken directly after the event so minimising any delay by the University to respond in a fit manner to the emergency.

The Aim Of The Managed Response Is:

• Foremost, to safeguard all personnel at risk on University premises
• Secondly, to minimise damage to property, the environment and the functioning and reputation of the University.

The Emergency Could Include Any Of The Following:

• Fire
• Injury Accident
• Loss of electrical power due to supply interruption or failure/malfunction of distribution system on site
• Mains water supply interruption/failure of containment on site
• Sewerage system breakdown
• Severe weather disaster - flooding, gales, lightning, black ice etc
• Bomb threat/ suspect post or packages
• Terrorism / sabotage
• Explosion - accidental or bomb
• Release of hazardous or dangerous material that threatens the site
• Loss or restriction of access by road to the site
• Loss or failure of part or all of the site telephone system
• Loss or failure of the IT system hardware or software
• Building subsistence or collapse
• Food poisoning or contaminated drinking water
• Outbreak of communicable disease or infection

Contingency Plan

In the event of an emergency the severity of the emergency needs to be judged so that the appropriate level of response can be made.

Severity Of Incident

There are three levels of an emergency event:

• Level 1 or Minor Incident - no reportable injury or effect on property, no external assistance required
• Level 2 or Reportable Incident - reportable injury or effects building operation, external assistance required
• Level 3 or Major Incident - serious disruption to University operations, high media and reputation implications.

University Emergency Team

In the event of an emergency an early decision needs to be taken as to the severity of the event. If the event is potentially a Major Incident then the University Emergency Team needs to be assembled as soon as possible at the Incident Centre for the site.

The Vice-Chancellor needs to identify the members of this Team.

It Is Appropriate That The Following Are Included:

• A Deputy to the Vice-Chancellor
• Estates/Premises Manager
• Head of Finance
• Head of Network Services
• Health Safety and Environment Adviser
• Head of Human Resources
• Head of Marketing and Public Relations;Student Union Membership Services Manager
• Student Union President.

The Team may co-opt other members as required

Responsibility for summoning the Emergency Team rests with the standby Emergency Duty Officer, who is nominated by the Vice-Chancellor.

Site Information Provided

The Contingency Plan Needs To Contain The Following Information:

• Plan of the site and all buildings on the site
• Plan of water, sewerage, mains electricity systems on site
• Location of main control valves and isolation devices for water, electricity and gas supplies
• Sitting of dry riser inlets in buildings
• Location of Transformers and High Voltage equipment (> 450 volts)
• Position of gas, particularly, acetylene, LPG and propane cylinders
• Details of building key holders.

The full information needs to be kept in the Directorate and the Premises Site Manager's office, information for the Sion Hill campus in the Area Safety Manager's Office and selected information in each location's Security Office. The full information needs to be accessible to the Emergency Duty Officer.

Immediate Actions following An Emergency Event

Any person discovering an incident must:

• Ensure their own safety
• Alert Security by telephoning 5555 (Newton Park) 5700 (Sion Hill/ Somerset Place)
• Evacuate if appropriate to a safe place but be available to give information to security, fire warden, Area Safety Manager and emergency services that come to the site of the emergency
• Inform Security of contact phone number at evacuation point.

The Site Security provide generally the first response to an incident and they need to respond without delay when informed of or discover an emergency incident:

• Summon, if appropriate, the relevant emergency service
• Inform the Area Safety Manager or his/her nominated deputy of the even;
• In the event of a fire, the fire response is automatic and Security must be available to direct the Fire and Rescue Service to the relevant location.

The Area Safety Manager for the incident should decide the level of the incident and act accordingly.

• In the event that the Incident is recognised to be a Major Incident (Level 3), the Emergency Duty Officer should be contacted and the Incident Team assembled at the designated Incident Control Room. The Incident Control Room should be adequately equipped with telephones and computers in a location that is not under threat following the emergency incident.

The Emergency Duty Officer should contact the relevant officers to form the Incident Team and to set up the Incident Control Centre.

Subsequent Actions

The control of the response to an incident is the responsibility of the University management.

the following actions need to be addressed:

• Secure the incident area
• Provide first aid
• Notify incident to relevant external agencies
• Set up an incident control point
• Monitor and log incident and the control actions
• Maintain communications with personnel on site, external agencies and the media through recognised and approved channels
• Initiate recovery to secure the long term operation of the University
• Implement the recovery plan
• Review the incident to establish what lessons have been learnt, what improvements should be made to prevent a recurrence of the incident, what changes are needed to the arrangements to deal with incidents and what amendments should be made to the Contingency Plan
• Issue a closing statement.

Communications

Communications need to be maintained internally with all staff, students and others on the site and any outside service that is helping to deal with the event. There may be a need to contact other organisations other than the emergency services, such as the Local Authority, HSE (Health and Safety Executive), Environmental Agency, Insurers. In addition there is a need to ensure that any press or media inquiries are dealt with through the Head of Marketing and Public Relations.

In the event of a Major Injury or Dangerous Occurrence as recognised by the HSE, the HSE and needs to be promptly informed, whereas in the case of a Reportable Environmental Incident, the Environmental Agency should be notified.

Specific Procedures

The Following Procedures Have Been Established To Deal With Specific Events.

• Fire including Fire Evacuation Procedure;
• Meningitis Action Plan.

Disaster Recovery

When the emergency has been brought under control there may still be a need to continue to take action so that the University can return to normal operation. The recovery evidently should be undertaken as soon as is practicable. The Emergency Team should take charge of this final phase of the contingency plan. When the recovery issues have been adequately dealt with, the incident should be declared closed out by the Emergency Team.

Review

A review of the contingency plan should be made by the University Directorate on an annual basis and after any major incident.

January 2008