Emergency Planning
Emergencies, such as infectious diseases (influenza pandemic), floods, severe weather (such as heavy snow or storms) and major road accidents (for example, involving fuel or explosives) have a massive impact on our personal lives, businesses and infrastructure.
We ensure that we can effectively respond to emergencies in partnership with the emergency services, the NHS, the voluntary sector and other responders. Our aim in response to an emergency is to limit the effect of an emergency on people's normal way of life - by taking action with our partners to:
- minimise the impact on our communities and environment
- continue delivery of our critical services
- help the most vulnerable
- engage and empower affected communities.
To deliver this aim, we work in close partnership through Bedfordshire Prepared (formerly the Bedfordshire Local Resilience Forum).
This is a group that works to ‘integrate’ the response of all organisations that would be involved in managing an emergency in Bedfordshire and to deliver the requirements of the Civil Contingencies Act 2004. Membership of this group includes the emergency services, the health services, Bedfordshire local authorities, utility companies and voluntary sector organisations.
The majority of our emergency plans are joint multi-agency plans developed through partnership working.
Types of emergencies
We work in partnership through the Bedfordshire Local Resilience Forum (BLRF) to produce and maintain at local.
This Community Risk Register details all the hazards that face Bedfordshire and assess the risk by looking at their likelihood of occurring measured against their impact.
All our emergency plans are developed to prepare for, mitigate and respond to the key risks facing Bedfordshire.
What would you do if?
No one likes to think about emergencies, but being adequately prepared is something for which we all need to take responsibility.
Support systems are in place across Bedfordshire to assist in times of crisis – but if an emergency arose, would you know what to do and where to go for help?
Vital information to help you prepare for any emergency can be found on the Bedfordshire Prepared website.
Get involved
If you would like to go a step further and assist others in an emergency then visit Bedfordshire Prepared and see how you can get involved.