Emergency planning

An emergency is defined as an event or situation that threatens serious damage to human welfare in a place in the UK, the environment of a place in the UK, or war or terrorism that threatens serious damage to the security of the UK. Business Continuity Management provides an organisation with the resilience to continue to function during an emergency and to return to full functionality effectively and efficiently once the crisis has passed.

The Civil Contingencies Act 2004 combined all legislation that previously governed planning for emergencies within Local Authorities; including procedures and funding. it also provided  them with a number of responsibilities:-

• Co-operation
• Emergency Planning
• Information Sharing
• Communicating with the public
• Risk Assessment

'Emergency Planning' includes making sure that Local Authorities are prepared to respond appropriately to a 'Major Emergency' (such as a major flood, loss of power regionally or the consequences of terrorist actions) as well as being adequately prepared for a disaster that affects their capability to provide their services (such as a fire at the office or a failure of their IT system).

Local Authorities are obliged to ensure that they can continue to provide services during an emergency and return to full operation as quickly as possible in the event the incident continues to disrupt for an extended period.

This is termed 'resilience' and is derived from effective 'Business Continuity Management'.

The Local Authority is also charged with providing small and medium sized business within the Borough with advice and support in regard to Business Continuity Management, and Planning, to enable them too, to build resilience into their business.

The London Borough of Havering's Emergency Planning obligations are addressed in a number of ways, including policy and procedures contained within the Councils own  

Major Emergency Plan (a copy of which can be downloaded from this website - top right)

The Emergency Planning and Business Continuity Unit are also Chair of the Havering Borough Resilience Forum (HBRF) and a member of the North East London Local Resilience Forum (NELLRF). HBRF & NELLRF are made up of both Category 1 and Category 2 responders and have a responsibility for co-operation and information sharing and other tasks outlined above.

Business Continuity Management (BCM) within the London Borough of Havering is a process that :-

• identifies potential threats to its operations
• identifies the impacts to our operations that those threats, if realised, might cause.
• provides a framework for building organisational resilience with the capacity for an effective response.
• safeguards the interests of the London Borough of Havering's key Stakeholders, it's reputation, and the provision of services to our customers.

BCM is practiced throughout the organisation (including our supply chain), in order to maintain provision of critical services in the event that an adverse incident interrupted the daily business conducted by the Council.

You can contact us through the details provided on this website for the Emergency Planning & Business Continuity Unit.