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Management and Co-ordination of Local Operations

Background

There is an agreed national framework for managing the local multi-agency response to, and recovery from, emergencies. This section describes the three management tiers that comprise the framework (gold, silver and bronze).

Bronze - the operational level

Bronze is the level at which the management of immediate "hands-on" work is undertaken at the site(s) of the emergency. Personnel first on the scene will take immediate steps to assess the nature and extent of the problem. Bronze commanders will concentrate their effort on the specific tasks within their areas of responsibility - for example, the police will concentrate on establishing cordons, maintaining security and managing traffic. In most instances, the police will co-ordinate the operational response at the scene to ensure a coherent and integrated multi-agency response.

A key function of a bronze commander will be to consider whether circumstances warrant a silver level of management. Where the silver level of management is established, bronze commanders become responsible for implementing the silver commander's tactical plan within their geographical area or functional area of responsibility.

Silver - the tactical level

The purpose of the silver level is to ensure that the actions taken by bronze are co-ordinated and coherent in order to achieve maximum effectiveness and efficiency. Silver will usually comprise the most senior officers of each agency committed within the area of operations, and will assume tactical command of the situation, usually from an incident control point located nearby or directly adjacent to the scene. They will address issues such as the setting up of an outer cordon, and the location of key functions or facilities such as a survivor assembly point, casualty clearing station and media liaison point.

In those cases where it becomes clear that resources, expertise or co-ordination are required beyond the capacity of silver (e.g. where there is more than one incident), it may be necessary to invoke the gold level of management to take overall command and set the strategic direction.

Gold - the strategic level

If it becomes necessary to implement multi-agency management at the gold level, a Strategic Co-ordinating Group (SCG) (commonly referred to as "gold command" or simply "gold") would be formed, which brings together gold commanders from relevant organisations to establish the policy and strategic framework within which silver will work. Chairing the SCG will normally fall to the police. However, depending on the circumstances it may be more appropriate for another agency to take the lead (for instance, the local authority may take the lead in the recovery phase).

Depending on the nature, extent and severity of the emergency, either the regional tier or central government may become involved. The SCG will then become the primary interface with these other levels of response. Detailed descriptions of when the regional and national levels may become involved, what their likely contribution will be, how they will be organised, and liaison with the local level can be found in the sections on UK Government and English Regions.

Using and adapting the management framework in specific circumstances

While the generic framework is designed to be flexible enough to be used to manage a wide range of emergencies, particular types of incidents may pose unique challenges: localised emergencies; wide-area emergencies; emergencies overseas; terrorist incidents; maritime emergencies; and the management of evacuations. It is also important to be clear that not all emergencies occur suddenly. The emergency management framework set out in this section is readily adaptable to slow-onset - or "rising tide" - emergencies such as animal disease outbreaks or a disruption to the supply of fuel.

Communications

Good communications are at the heart of an effective response. Plans must set out arrangements to supplement usual communications facilities and provide properly trained staff. Essentially, procedures must aim to provide the right people with the right information at the right time in a form that they can understand, assimilate and act upon.

Telecommunications resilience presents a difficult challenge to overcome. There is no single solution to contingency communications; what is required is a layered approach with a range of measures offering a level of capability across a range of potential network incidents or failures.

Debriefing, inquiries and lessons to be learned

In order to facilitate operational debriefing and to provide evidence for inquiries, it is essential to keep records. Single-agency and inter-agency debriefing processes should aim to capture information while memories are fresh. Debriefing should be honest and open, and its results disseminated widely. This is particularly important when it comes to disseminating lessons identified, which should be considered at local, regional, devolved administration or central government level as appropriate.

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