What you need to know

The government has produced an information booklet called “Preparing for Emergencies – What you need to know” which has been delivered to every household in the UK.

The booklet gives practical common sense advice on what to do in an emergency – for example, a fire, terrorist attack or natural disaster.

There is also a Government website which contains all the information and an opportunity to order or download the booklet.  The website also contains many other useful website links on what to do in an emergency.

Click here to open the Preparing for Emergencies website

The Local Authority’s Role

As a local authority it is the role of Worthing Borough Council to support the emergency services in the case of a major emergency within the Borough, or possibly to provide aid to another district or borough where an emergency has occurred.

The Police, Fire and Rescue Service and the Ambulance Service deal with emergencies every day that do not require involvement of the local authority, however, we have to be prepared to respond to a call for assistance from the emergency services in the event of a major emergency. 

What is a major emergency?

A major emergency is defined in the Civil Contingencies Act as:

• An event or situation which threatens serious damage to human welfare in a place in the United Kingdom        
• An event or situation which threatens serious damage to the environment of a place in the United Kingdom          
• War, or terrorism, which threatens serious damage to the security of the United Kingdom

 These emergencies can be natural disasters such as flooding, storms and pollution emergencies or other events such as major traffic crashes, unexploded bombs, suspect packages or act of terrorism.

The Civil Contingencies Act 2004

The Government has introduced new legislation to help provide better integrated emergency management.  The Act has been brought about to replace the outdated legislation governing emergency planning, the aim of which is to improve the United Kingdom’s resilience through working with others to anticipate, assess, prevent, prepare, respond and recover.

Community Risk Register

Sussex based organisations, including the uniformed emergency services and local authorities work together as a multi-agency partnership known as the Sussex Local Resilience Forum.  The main purpose of the Forum is to ensure that events or situations which threaten serious damage to human welfare, the environment or an act of terrorism or war are identified and controlled.

The Sussex Community Risk Register has been created by the Forum for two primary reasons.  First, to reassure the people and communities of Sussex that an assessment of potential hazards and threats has been made.  Secondly, to satisfy the requirement of the Civil Contingencies Act and its associated Statutory Guidance (Emergency Preparedness), all of which can be accessed through the UK Resilience web site.

The Sussex Community Risk Register is also available.

Local Authority Responsibilities

The Civil Contingencies Act requires all local authorities to have audited plans in place to deal with major emergencies. 

Worthing Borough Council has plans in place to deal with major emergencies, and the need, if requested to open a rest centre.  Copies of these plans can be downloaded from the link at the foot of this page.

Where a major emergency occurs, apart from a fire within the building you occupy, the general advice given is:-

 Specific information which may assist the public can be found on the following pages:

• Warning the Public
• Emergency Contact Numbers
• Fire and Home Safety
• Police  
• Terrorist Activities
• Flooding
• Sandbags

Business Continuity

The Civil Contingencies Act also requires the Council to have a Business Continuity Plan to ensure that it can continue to provide its essential services during an emergency.

The Act also requires Local Authorities to promote Business Continuity to the wider community.

Worthing Borough Council, as part of the Sussex Local Authority Emergency Planning Group, have produced documents to assist local businesses in the preparation of Business Continuity Plans and the can be downloaded from our Business Continuity webpage

National Contingency Plan for Maritime Pollution

A copy of the 'National Contingency Plan for Maritime Pollution from Shipping & Offshore Installations' can be found here on the Maritime & Coastguard Agency website. 

Emergency Plan and Rest Centre Plan

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