What is an emergency?

In these pages we are not talking about domestic incidents which are best served by calls to plumbers, electricians or via 999 to Fire, Police, Ambulance or Coastguard.

We are talking about major incidents such as widespread flooding, pandemics or other events that can be labeled "disasters".

We are talking about an emergency as defined in the Civil Contingencies Act 2004.

The Association of Chief Police Officers defines an emergency as one that "...requires the implementation of special arrangements by one or more of the emergency services, the NHS or the local authority."

It is the way these diverse organisations work together that is critical. As the then Home Secretary said in his foreword to "Dealing with Disaster"¹

"...the effectiveness of the total response will depend on how well the emergency services, local authorities and central government have harmonised their preparations.

The key message is the need for all those who are involved with the response to any disaster to be actively associated with planning that response. In this way those who are caught up in the trauma of the incident can be assured that they will be treated in the way that you or I would wish to be treated were a member of our own family to be tragically involved."

To help combat the effects of emergencies there is a body of men and women involved in Emergency Planning.  Organisations prepare for emergencies by having plans for either site-specific or hazard-specific incidents.  They have Emergency Planning Units and Teams staffed by Emergency Planning Officers to write the plans.

A summary of the definition of an emergency in the Civil Contingencies Act 2004 (CCA)

• ...an event or situation which threatens serious damage to human welfare in a place in the United Kingdom, (i.e. loss of human life, human illness or injury, homelessness, damage to property, disruption of a supply of money, food, water, energy or fuel, disruption of a system of communication, disruption of facilities for transport, or disruption of services relating to health),

or

• ...an event or situation which threatens serious damage to the environment of a place in the United Kingdom, (i.e. contamination of land, water or air with biological, chemical or radio-active matter, or disruption or destruction of plant life or animal life),

or

• ...war, or terrorism, which threatens serious damage to the security of the United Kingdom.

Footnote:
1. "Dealing with Disaster" has now been replaced by " Emergency Preparedness" and " Emergency Response and Recovery". 

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