Emergency planning

About emergency planning

What is the Civil Contingencies Act and what does it mean?

The Civil Contingencies Act (CCA), and related measures, delivers a single framework for civil protection in the UK. Under this legislation, we are designated a “Category 1 responder” meaning we have a duty to:

• Assess the risk of emergencies occurring and use this to inform contingency planning
• Put in place emergency plans
• Establish business continuity management arrangements
• Put in place arrangements to make information available to the public about civil protection matters
• Maintain arrangements to warn, inform, and advise the public in the event of an emergency
• Share information with other local responders to enhance co-ordination
• Co-operate with other local responders to enhance co-ordination and efficiency
• Provide advice and assistance to businesses and voluntary organisations about business continuity management

What is the Community Risk Register?

The Community Risk Register looks at the likelihood and impact of a range of risks to the whole of Hampshire and the Isle of Wight. The main categories considered are:

• Natural events
• Human and animal diseases
• Major accidents
• Malicious attacks, rather than threats like terrorist incidents

The Community Risk Register assesses only those risks most likely to happen, and the impact they would have across the county. Even within the county, a risk such as coastal flooding can have a very different impact.

If a risk is included in the Community Risk Register, it does not mean it will happen. It means it is known to be a possibility, and organisations have made arrangements to reduce its impact. The register is updated annually.

View the Community Risk Register.

The Community Risk Register is informed by the Government's National Risk Register, and is produced by partners, including Southampton City Council, as part of the Local Resilience Forum - Hampshire and Isle of Wight.

Prepare your family

You should have a plan for what you and your family would do if you are ever caught up in an emergency.

A sudden emergency could mean that your home loses power. You could be without electricity for hours, or even days.

Some emergencies could require you to leave your home in a hurry. A return to your property may not be possible for an extended period, and your property could experience damage.

Ensuring you have suitable buildings and contents insurance in place is a great first step. Knowing how to contact your insurer in an emergency is important.

We have worked with the Hampshire and Isle of Wight Local Resilience Forum to develop a Household Emergency Action Plan template to help you think through your own emergency procedures at home.

Prepare your business

What is business continuity?

Business continuity means planning what you would do to keep the essential activities of your business operating despite disruption. This disruption could affect:

• Your staff availability, for example, sickness or industrial action
• Access to your systems, for example, IT or communications
• Access to your premises, for example, building fire
• Your supply chains and other interdependencies

What are the benefits of having a business continuity plan?

The benefits of having a business continuity plan include:

• A clearer understanding of how your organisation works and where it is vulnerable
• Minimising the impact of a crisis on yourself, your contractors, suppliers and customers
• Protecting the reputation of your business by being in control despite adverse circumstances
• Reducing the cost of any disruption by having planned for how to manage it in advance
• The possibility of a reduction in your insurance premiums

How can I get started?

Some useful resources for you to get started are:

• Business Continuity Management Toolkit – How prepared are you?
• Business Continuity Institute - introduction and free resources

We can offer further assistance with your organisation’s business continuity planning, training ,and exercising on a paid-for consultancy basis. For further details, please contact BC@southampton.gov.uk.

Prepare your community

The emergency services have to prioritise those in greatest need during an emergency. Communities may need to rely on their own resources until professional help arrives.

Many communities readily help one another in times of need, but communities who have prepared in advance cope better and recover faster. If a community is prepared for possible risks you can reduce the impact on your homes and businesses.

Further advice on how to put together community plans can be found from the Hampshire and Isle of Wight Local Resilience Forum at prepare your community.

Emergency Preparedness, Resilience and Response (EPRR) at Southampton City Council

We share a joint Emergency Preparedness, Resilience and Response service with Portsmouth City Council. This facilitates the planning for, responding to, and recovering from a range of emergencies across the two cities. The team develops and maintains emergency plans, including ours:

• Coastal Pollution Plan – an emergency plan focussed on our response to pollution incidents
• Adverse Weather and Health Plan
  • Handbook one – Heatwaves
  • Handbook two – Cold weather
• Emergency Response Plan  – generic emergency plan setting out how we will respond to an emergency in the city

Reactor emergency documents

The Reactor Emergency Plan is required under the Radiation (Emergency Preparedness and Public Information) Regulations. It describes the multi-agency response to a reactor emergency on board a nuclear-powered vessel visiting the designated berth in Southampton Docks. View the Reactor Emergency Plan. 

This is complemented by an information leaflet that is distributed to residents who live within the designated emergency planning zone around this berth, and by a leaflet made available to those living within the outline planning zone.

Information is also available through the businesses in the detailed emergency planning zone leaflet.

Partner organisations and contact

The team works closely with partner organisations across Hampshire and are an active member of the Local Resilience Forum – Hampshire and Isle of Wight where joint work is undertaken to plan for a wider variety of emergencies requiring a “multi-agency” response.

If you wish to contact the team please email emergency.planning@southampton.gov.uk.