Duty to maintain emergency plans

Mandatory requirements

Category 1 responders must:

1. Maintain plans for the purpose of ensuring that, if an emergency occurs or is likely to occur, the organisation is able to continue to perform its functions so far as is necessary or desirable for the purpose of:

• preventing the emergency
• reducing, controlling or mitigating its effects
• taking other action to be taken in connection with it - Section 2(1)(d)

2. Maintain plans which relate to more than one emergency or particular kind of emergency and may maintain plans relating to a particular emergency or kind of emergency – Regulation 15.

3. Consider whether it would be appropriate to plan by way of a multi-agency plan – Regulation 16.

4. In planning for emergencies, have regard to the activities of the relevant voluntary organisations – Regulation 17(1).

5. Include a procedure for determining whether emergency or business continuity plans require to be implemented, and must identify the person or persons responsible for taking that decision – Regulation 18.

6. Include arrangements for the carrying out of exercises to ensure the plan is effective – Regulation 19(a).

7. Provide training to an appropriate number of staff considered necessary to carry out plans effectively – Regulation 19(b).

8. Consider whether plans should be modified in the light of guidance and/or assessment made by Scottish Ministers under Regulation 11 – Regulation 20.

9. Have regard to the importance of not alarming the public unnecessarily when undertaking its duty to publish plans – Regulation 21.

Issues to consider and recommended good practice

10. Ensuring that plans:

• are concise and easy to use. (Plans will need to be read and understood in challenging situations. They should introduce the reader to the topic in logical steps)
• use consistent unambiguous terminology – avoid jargon, especially any which is unique to an organisation
• include references to other sources of information and supporting documentation
• allocate ownership for key tasks
• contain realistic planning assumptions
• have a review process and version control

11. Including information on:

• Why the plan is needed – plan description, its purpose and, where appropriate, some reference to the risk assessment on which the plan is based
• How the plan works – the main elements of the plan in hierarchy of importance, how activities will be coordinated, main facilities, equipment, locations and communications, how additional resources may be obtained if required
• Who has responsibility in the plan (by title) – the main emergency teams (from both within and outside the organisation), their roles and responsibilities
• When the plan will be activated – procedures for alerting, placing on standby and activating teams and a procedure for determining when an emergency has occurred
• What will be done and by whom – specific actions to be taken and how these contribute to the overall response, check-lists or aide memoirs
• include a communications strategy - i.e. a communication plan, including contact details and how to communicate with stakeholders
• How to support staff – training, exercising, briefings
• A measure or standard against which performance can be assessed
• Crisis management from response through to recovery

12. Whether to produce generic plans which relate to more than one emergency, specific plans which relate to a particular emergency or type of emergency or a mixture of both.

13. Considering the extent to which particular types of emergencies will place demands on your resources and capacity.

14. Giving vulnerable people (people who are less able to help themselves in the circumstances of an emergency) special consideration when producing plans. Scottish Guidance on Preparing for Emergencies: Care for people affected by emergencies provides further guidance.

15. Giving those affected by emergencies, including survivors and families and friends of those directly affected by emergencies, special consideration when producing plans.

16. Developing the plan with the full engagement and cooperation of the main parties who have a role in the plan and securing their agreement to its content.

17. Treating emergency planning as a systematic and continuous process, and having a procedure for updating and maintaining plans to ensure that they reflect:

• any changes in risk assessments (see the section on risk assessment)
• lessons identified - and learned - from exercises and emergencies
• restructuring and changes in organisations, their procedures and technical systems identified in the plan
• changes in key personnel

18. Considering how to publish your plans – see the section on communicating with the public.

19. Considering whether it is appropriate to produce, maintain and update an emergency plan in relation to a particular emergency or type of emergency in collaboration with other Category 1 responders, i.e. a multi-agency plan – Regulation 22. It is essential that any such plans contain arrangements for co-operation and coordination at management level.

Indicators of good practice

20. Being able to demonstrate that plans are regularly and systematically updated, based on sound assumptions. This can be achieved by filing associated documentation including:

• a record of key decisions made and agreed
• in some circumstances, a record of options considered but rejected, and why
• a record of changes and modifications
• a programme and schedule for future updates

21. Asking your peers to review and comment on your plans.

22. Using identified good practice examples to develop emergency plans.

23. Adopting flexible plans which allow for the unexpected and can be scaled up or down to cope with varying scales of emergency.

24. Being able to demonstrate that lessons identified from exercises and emergencies have been taken forward. The Scottish Government has developed a coordinated lessons process to establish a record of lessons identified, promulgate those lessons across the resilience community and oversee and support the learning and application of those lessons.

25. Being able to demonstrate that the people responsible for carrying out the roles in the plan are aware of those roles.

26. Developing and documenting a training and briefing programme for staff and key stakeholders (including elected members and responders from the private and voluntary sectors, if applicable).

27. Referring to the National Occupation Standards for Resilience and Emergencies  and the Emergency Planning Society when identifying training needs. Further information is also available from the Scottish Resilience Development Service.