Emergency planning
Emergencies
An emergency can occur unexpectedly, anywhere, at any time and can take many forms, such as flooding, storms, fires and transport incidents.
To comply with the Civil Contingencies Act, we have plans in place and we train our staff to respond in an emergency. For example, we may need to set up a rest centre for people that have been evacuated from their homes. Our aim is to ensure that we are prepared for any emergency, supporting the emergency services as required and assisting anyone affected.
We are part of the Gloucestershire Local Resilience Forum (LRF) which provides a multi-agency environment to identify risks, plan and train for incidents and respond collectively when required.
Gloucestershire Community Risk Register
The Gloucestershire Community Risk Register identifies the potential hazards for the county, the impacts they might have and the mitigation put in place.
Business Continuity Management (BCM)
Business Continuity Management (BCM) is a process that helps to manage the risks of the running of an organisation and aims to ensure it can continue to operate during a disruption.
Advice and guidance is available for businesses and the voluntary sector:
Community resilience
Many communities already help one another in time of need, but experience had shown that those who have spent a bit of time preparing a simple Community Emergency Plan are better able to cope and recover more quickly from emergencies.
The LRF Community Resilience Group multi-agency partners work together to promote community resilience in Gloucestershire. The group has developed a simple Community Emergency Plan template and supporting guidance to help communities produce a plan. The group also held two Community Emergency Plan workshops in April 2022 to which all Parish and Town Councils were invited.
For further information, you can view the workshop slides and recordings (Community Emergency Plan workshop, part 1 and Community Emergency Plan workshop, part 2 after break).
Help preparing for and responding to an emergency
The LRF has produced the ‘Are You Ready’ booklet to provide clear practical advice to help you prepare for and respond to an emergency. You can significantly reduce the risks for you, your family, and your property by being informed and ready to respond to events.
You can also find advice on the LRF's website on how to prepare your family for emergencies.
Government resilience website
The government is encouraging people to think about what they would do if they or those around them were exposed to risks ranging from floods to fires to power cuts.
Their website provides simple and effective steps people can take to be more prepared, at GOV.UK/prepare.
Taking action in advance will make it easier to manage an emergency if it does happen. The site is designed for residents in England. The devolved governments in Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland also provide advice for their residents.
Five simple things you can do now
- Find out if you are eligible to sign up to your gas, electricity and water supplier’s Priority Service Registers, so companies know that you need additional support.
- Set a reminder in your phone or make a note on your calendar to check your smoke alarm once a month.
- Write down important phone numbers on paper such as the number to report a power cut (105) and the numbers of anyone you might want to contact in an emergency.
- Talk to your children about how and when to call 999 and what they should do if there’s an emergency, such as a fire at home.
- Check your long term flood risk and sign up for flood warnings and weather warnings.
Weather advice
The Met Office provide advice and guidance on what to do in severe weather including seasonal tips. They also provide weather warnings throughout the year when the forecast requires them, check the Met Office app or website for more information.
The Environment Agency website provides flood alerts and warnings you can sign up to receive these by email, phone or text if your property is potentially affected by flooding.
There is further advice on reporting, preparing for, what to do during and recovering after a flood on our flooding pages.
Waste collections are sometimes disrupted due to winter weather. If this is the case, please visit our waste collection in bad weather page.