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Major Emergencies

Major emergencies can occur at any time, and often without warning. Preparing for the worst can play a big role in reducing the effects of an emergency situation and bring life back to normal quickly.

The following pages contain information regarding:

emergency planning in the Council
flooding
advice for you and your family on preparing for an emergency
severe weather
school closures
advice about evacuating your home due to an emergency

If you want to report an emergency situation and there is a danger of serious injury or damage to property, call 999. For other emergencies you can call our Out-of-hours Emergency Line on 020 8348 3148.

Haringey Emergency Alert Service

If you would like to be informed of when emergencies are happening within your area you can now sign up to the Haringey Emergency Alert Service.

The following section gives some background to emergencies and how they are responded to:

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What is an emergency?

An emergency is defined in part 1 of the Civil Contingencies Act (2004) as:

“An event or situation which threatens damage to human welfare in a place in the UK, the environment or a place in the UK, or warn or terrorism which threatens serious damage to the security of the UK.”

Emergencies that have affected the borough include fires, flooding, the heavy snowfall of February 2009 and December 2009/January 2010 and Swine Flu (H1N1).

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How is the Council informed of an emergency?

The Council usually receives information regarding any type of emergency through the Emergency Services, and therefore notification of an emergency is also likely to come through this route.

Whether this information arrives during or outside working hours, the person receiving the call will immediately contact the relevant stand-by officers according to the nature of the incident. The Emergency Planning Officer will also be contacted if there is any suggestion that the incident is a major one.

For the purposes of Haringey Council’s Emergency Plan, an emergency will be deemed to have taken place if it’s declared as such by an officer acting under the authority of the Chief Executive or a nominated deputy.

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What does the Council do in an Emergency?

There are a number of roles within the Council’s response to an emergency:

Incident Controller. This is usually the Chief Executive or an appointed deputy and will coordinate the Council’s response during all stages of an emergency.
Borough Emergency Control Centre. This is a designated location from which all the activities involved by various Council departments can be coordinated.
Local Authority Liaison Officer (LALO). This officer attends the scene of an incident to liaise with the Emergency Services.
Emergency Response Officer (ERO). All departments that may have a role in responding to an emergency have a nominated officer. This officer holds a pager and can be alerted and called out as required.
Rest Centre Manager. Runs the rest centre which residents attend if they have to evacuate and relay any issues to the Borough Emergency Control Centre.
Rest Centre Volunteers. These are Council Officers that assist residents with their needs at a Rest Centre.
During a major incident the Council will maintain their normal day-to-day services to the local community. If the Council itself is affected by the emergency, this will be managed in accordance with the Haringey Council Business Continuity Plan.

Activities the Council may undertake during an emergency:

Provide support to the Emergency Services
Provide support and care for the local and wider community
Use resources to mitigate the effects of an emergency
Co-ordinate the response by organisations other than the Emergency Services

Some of the services the Council may provide at the scene of an emergency are:

Traffic management
Emergency repair to highways
Providing information to the Police from CCTV
Emergency lighting
Flood management
Emergency housing repairs
Waste management and street cleansing

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What do the Emergency Services do in an emergency?

The role of the Emergency Services in an emergency is outlined in the London Emergency Services Liaison Panel (LESLP) Manual which can be found in the external link section.

Police

To secure, protect and preserve the scene of the incident
The collection and distribution of casualty information
To control sightseers and traffic through the use of cordons
Short term measures to restore normality

Fire

Life saving through search and rescue
Salvage and damage control, including fire fighting
Safety management within the inner cordon
Detection, identification, monitoring and management of hazardous materials and protecting the environment

Ambulance

To provide treatment, stabilisation and care of those injured at the scene
To provide appropriate transport, medical staff, equipment and resources
To arrange the most appropriate means of transporting those injured to the receiving and specialist hospitals
To provide a focal point at the incident for all National Health Service (NHS) and other medical resources

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Recovering from emergencies

During the initial stages of an emergency, the Emergency Services will have the lead responsibility. In the Recovery Phase, the responsibility will usually be passed to the Council.

The five key aspects of Recovery are: