The Emergency Planning Society was formed in 1993 through the merger of the Emergency Planning Association and the County Emergency Planning Officers Society. The business of the society is managed by a Board of Directors which is comprised of elected officers. There are six levels of membership, three of which members can pass through by application to a qualification board.
Structure of the society
The society has many branches across the UK and one in the Republic of Ireland. These branches and various other groups organize conferences, workshops, working parties, study days and seminars to examine emergency planning practice and share experiences with the aim of developing good practice. Information, advice and reports generated from these events are disseminated throughout the emergency planning community.
The society has four levels of active membership: associate, member, fellow and affiliate. Associate member is the normal enrolment level for all those joining the society. All associates are entitled to full voting rights within the society. Election to membership status can be achieved by completion of at least two years practical experience of emergency planning and the submission of a career portfolio for appraisal using a credit accumulation and transfer system. Any member may apply for fellowship having completed a total of five years service in emergency planning and having prepared an appropriate career portfolio for appraisal by the continuing professional development (CPD) board.
Affiliate membership is open to those who have an interest in emergency planning or are engaged in full-time study related to the field of emergency planning. Honorary membership of the society may be granted by the council to any person whose contribution to the objectives of the society has, in the opinion of the council, merited such recognition.
‘When you peel back the skin of emergency planning, you find that it touches every aspect of our lives’
There are two further categories of membership: honorary and retired. Honorary members do not have voting rights. Members who cease to be involved in emergency planning and management are entitled to retain their membership status subject to payment of the appropriate subscription but, on retirement, may apply to the council to transfer to retired member category. Retired members do not have voting rights.
Where does a paramedic fit into the society’s structure?
At first glance, it seems that this is a specialized world inhabited by theoretical planners which has no relevance to the day to day work of an operational paramedic. However, when you peel back the skin of emergency planning, you find that it touches every aspect of our lives. If we examine the emergency planning cycle, we find the words, risk, plan, train, test, evaluate, and review— language familiar to paramedics.
Without emergency planning, events would be potentially unsafe; trusts’ business continuity would be at risk; HART, a natural interface between paramedic practice and emergency planning, would not exist; and major incident response would be chaotic.
For emergency planners, and there are many both in the public and private sectors, the benefits are obvious and ultimately these benefits mean that the responding paramedics are safer, better trained, and better equipped for the onerous tasks that may face them.
The networking opportunities provided by emergency planning society branch meetings, events and conferences and the knowledge gained from these enable the cyclical emergency planning mechanisms to function.
The old adage ‘Its not what you know but who you know’ rings loud in emergency planning departments across the country. We all know that at a time of crisis, being able to put a name to a familiar face breaks down barriers and enables better team working, especially in the multi–agency environment.
Any major incident will involve the deployment of paramedics to treat the injured but also to manage the scene. The major incident medical management and support (MIMMS) (ALSG, 2005) principles should be familiar in some guise to all paramedics. Indeed, they are enshrined in most ambulance trust major incident plans.
An example: The Northern Ireland Ambulance Service
The Northern Ireland Ambulance Service knows well what the consequences of terrorist actions are. Over thirty years, the service responded to many such incidents and was awarded the Ambulance Service Institute Bravery medal in recognition of this service. Sadly, although ‘The Troubles’ are over, the terrorist threat has not receded and global terrorists are an ever present threat. Their sophisticated arsenal potentially includes CBRN weaponry that requires equally sophisticated and coordinated response.
The Northern Ireland Ambulance Service is reaching the end of a three–year project co-ordinated by its emergency planning department, to deliver a HART capability in Northern Ireland. During this time, we have been able to draw on the relationships we have built with fellow emergency planners from the rest of the UK ambulance services. These relationships have been built up at various conferences and on courses at the Emergency Planning College and other venues.
Following the recent influenza pandemic, every organization is acutely aware of the need for business continuity and major incident planning. Indeed, for an ambulance trust, the two are closely linked. The knowledge that our ability to deliver a service to patients is directly linked to the quality of our planning and the resilience we build in to our activities underlines the importance of what emergency planners do.
Event planning
Event planning is another area where contacts are invaluable. Northern Ireland hosts the largest one day sporting event in Ireland. The annual North West 200 motorcycle races attract approximately 200 000 people to the spectacular North Antrim coast to watch a motorcycle road race. Outside of the Isle of Man, Ireland/ Northern Ireland is one of the few places in the world to permit racing on public roads.
The associated risks and potential impact means that this event affects all of the response agencies in the province—the Police Service of Northern Ireland, The Northern Ireland Fire and Rescue Service, The Maritime and Coastguard Agency, The Northern Ireland Ambulance Service, the local council, and the local health trust. This event is hosted by the Coleraine and District Motor Club.
Each year, the multi-agency planning team reviews the event safety plan) they created (Various, 2010). It reviews in light of incidents that have occurred and introduces improvements for the following event. The need for this work was brought into sharp focus at the 2010 event when a serious cliff incident meant all of the agencies had to work together, with the patient eventually transferred to hospital in Belfast by military helicopter. The relationships built round this planning table have resulted in significant improvements in event planning in this area and the expertise developed has been transferred to other events in the province.
The Civil Contingencies legislation enacted in 2004, is reflected in the Northern Ireland Civil Contingencies Framework published in 2005. This document gives guidance to agencies and ensures emergency planning is at the heart of all core trust functions. Generic National Occupational Standards which are relevant to this occupational area are included in the civil contingencies framework (e.g. management and leadership; managing volunteers; learning and development etc). There are national occupational standards for civil contingencies. These are described as preparing for, responding to and assisting recovery from emergencies.
Resilience planning
The multi-agency aspects of resilience planning have been well addressed in the past year by the Northern Ireland branch of the Emergency Planning Society. The branch held a very successful joint conference with the Republic of Ireland Branch to discuss the issues around flooding. The December 2010 branch meeting was hosted by Translink, the Northern Ireland Transport company who manages bus and rail transport and infrastructure in the province. This provided a valuable opportunity for public and private partners to network and learns about each others capabilities.
Exercise planning
Exercise planning is another important aspect of emergency preparedness. Exercises enable us to test our plans in a safe and controlled way to ensure that they work as designed. In 2007, ‘Exercise Exodus’ (BBC News), was, at that time, the largest airport exercise ever held in the UK. Carried out in Northern Ireland, this exercise involved the three regional major airports in the province and tested all aspects of the multi-agency response to a significant aircraft incident.
We must remember that the primary response to any medical emergency anywhere in the UK is a paramedical one. Being a paramedic and emergency planning officer gives me an understanding of what I am asking my fellow paramedics to do. Paramedics are well equipped to be emergency planners. We all prepare, plan, train, review and learn from what we do and ultimately our patients benefit.
Conclusion
In conclusion, I leave you with a few personal thoughts. There are many moments in a twenty seven year ambulance career: highs, lows, joyful moments, moments of sheer panic and those that define careers. One of my career defining moments was in 2004 when I was working as a rapid response paramedic. I was contacted by control and tasked to ‘sort out’ a minibus versus lorry RTC. It turned out to be a health trust minibus on its way to a day centre with 15 learning disabled adults on board. The minibus had sustained significant damage after being struck by a tarmac lorry which had subsequently overturned.
In the ensuing hour, a fledgling silver commander put his newly acquired major incident management skills to the test. A career in emergency planning was born, the rest as they say is history.