INCIDENT MANAGEMENT PLAN

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I ntroduction

An incident as defined in the Civil Contingencies Act (CCA) 2004 is an “event or situation which threatens serious damage to human welfare in a place in the UK, the environment of a place in the UK, or war or terrorism which threatens serious damage to the security of the UK.”

It should be noted that nearly 1 in 5 businesses suffer a major incident or emergency every year (Business Continuity Institute).

The Incident Management Plan outlines the University’s procedures for managing major incidents that may threaten the health and safety of the University community, disrupt its teaching, research and administration, damage its infrastructure, systems or reputation.

Planning for such incidents should be an integral part of all normal planning and a routine aspect of University life. Accordingly, all members of the University share a responsibility for being prepared for the unexpected. As events elsewhere have demonstrated so often, failure to plan can make difficult situations chaotic. Confusion about where responsibility lies, duplication of effort, and lack of communication compound the problems and make matters worse.

Scope

This document provides a framework for the University’s response to a myriad of situations and is flexible in its application through an Incident Response Team (IRT) and Incident Management Team (IMT) that comprises a range of subject matter experts who can respond appropriately.

The Plan may also be activated during major emergencies that occur in the neighbouring community. For example the University has a role in providing backup facilities during an emergency at Singleton Hospital (a Tier 1 site under the CCA 2004) or an incident at Gower Chemicals (a COMAH upper tier site), which is likely to impact on the Bay Campus. In that event the aim would be to co-ordinate emergency information and support services.

Aim

The University’s aims during an emergency or incident shall be:

1. Protect, save and preserve human life.2. Protect and secure the University’s infrastructure and facilities.3. To maintain critical outputs and return to full operational capability

as soon as possible.4. To maintain the University’s reputation.

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Objective

The objective of this generic plan is to ensure Swansea University staff, students and partner agencies have clear information and guidance to enable them to respond effectively to, and recover from a major incident. This overarching plan is supported by a range of incident specific immediate action plans.

Incident Levels

Incidents are classified according to their severity and potential impact so that an appropriate response can be activated:

Minor A minor incident is localised to a department or building and is quickly resolved with existing University resources or limited outside help. A minor incident has little or no impact on students, staff or normal operations outside the locally affected area.

Minor incidents do not require activation of the University Incident Management Team.

Minor incidents must be recorded on a database held by the Estates and Facilities Department.

Example: Small fire, localised chemical spill, plumbing failure or water leak.

Individual colleges and department must have coherent plans in place to deal with minor incidents, including call out lists out of hours for specific incidents that are held by the University Security Team. A full record of all incidents must be maintained to ensure lessons are learnt and an audit trail is available for retrospective investigation

Major A major incident, as defined by the Health and Safety Executive, is a significant event that demands a response beyond the routine, resulting from an uncontrolled development in the course of operations. The event may cause or have the potential to cause either:

Multiple serious injuries, cases of ill health (either immediate or delayed), or loss of life.

Serious disruption or extensive damage to infrastructure and systems.

Note: Events which, taken in isolation, may not warrant classification as a major incident, may do so when considered together or alternatively relatively minor incident may have a strategic impact and hence become critical in terms of reputation. The Bronze Commander will need to take this into consideration and call for assistance early. If in doubt the fallback position is to escalate and call out the Silver Team.

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A major incident will undoubtedly require assistant from the emergency service and other external organisations. These events –

- will escalate quickly.- will cause severe disruption within the University.- are capable of causing panic among the unprepared.- have an immediate impact on neighbours and partners.- If not managed appropriately will undermine the University’s

reputation- are likely to impact on the University’s activities for some time after

the event.

Examples: Major infectious disease in residence, building fire, major chemical spill, extensive power failure, Major flooding, Severe weather with hurricane-force winds, major communications failure, terrorist bomb outrage, marauding terrorist firearms attack.

Incident Command and Control

Within the Civil Contingencies Act 2004 there are three levels of command during an incident:

1. Bronze - Operational 2. Silver - Tactical 3. Gold - Strategic

To ensure the University’s planning is coherent with the emergency services, Local Authority’s Joint Resilience Unit (JRU) and other resilience partners the University will implement the same level of command and adopt the Joint Emergency Services Interoperability Principles (JESIP).

JESIP

Co-locate – Co-locate with emergency service commanders as soon as practicably possible at a single, safe, and easily identifiable location near to the scene.

Communicate – Communicate clearly using plain English, acronyms should not be used.

Co-ordinate – Co-ordinate by supporting the lead service and identify priorities, resources and capabilities for an effective response.

Jointly Understand Risk - Jointly understand risk by sharing information about the likelihood and potential impact of threats and hazards to agree potential control measures.

Shared Situational Awareness – Shared situational awareness establish by using METHANE mnemonic (see below) and the Joint Decision Model at Figure 1.

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The University (usually through the first responder – Bronze Commander) will declare a Major Incident using the METHANE mnemonic, informing the emergency services and calling out the IMT:

M – Major Incident declaredE – Exact LocationT – Type of IncidentH – Hazards present or suspectedA – Access – routes that are safe to useN – Number, type, severity of casualties.E – Emergency Services present and those required

During a major incident the Command and Control will ONLY be through the Incident Management Structure, rather than the established organisational structure. Coherency and clarity of decision making is imperative during a fast moving, complex incident. Apart from the nominated Command level lead all members have equal standing based on subject matter knowledge rather than grade.

To ensure a shared situational awareness picture is obtained with alacrity the IRT and IMT will use the JESIP joint decision model:

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Gather Information &

Intelligence

Assess risk & develop a

working strategy

Consider powers, policies &

procedures

Identify options & contingencies

Take action & review what

happened

Figure 1

Command Level and Division of Responsibility

CCA Command

Level

University’sResponse

Level

CommandAppointment

Responsibility Main Focus ResponseTime

Bronze Immediate Response Team

On Duty Senior Security Supervisor is the Bronze Commander

The Bronze Commander is responsible for the immediate response to all incidents, coordinating the activity of University staff at the incident site and responsible for the immediate area surrounding an incident. Calling on additional resources as required to control and manage the incident.

He/she will assess the incident level and call for additional support as required or declare a major incident using the METHANE principle.

He/She will draw the appropriate immediate actions flash card and the go bag.

The Bronze Commander will assist Colleges and departments with minor incidents, and in the silent hours activate the college incident plans if required.

The Bronze Commander will be the initial contact point for emergency services and control of the incident site until the emergency services take control.

Responsible for ensuring that the University’s

Protect, save and preserve life.

Point of Contact for Emergency Services arriving on site and external partners.

Protect and secure the University’s infrastructure and facilities.

Immediate

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Operations Centre is set up ready for the on call Incident Management Team (Silver Command).

To continue to act as a focal point for the collation and dissemination of information so appropriate decisions can be taken by the Silver Commander.

The Bronze Commander is specifically not authorised to release information to Students, Staff, Press or into thepublic domain.

Silver Incident Management Team

Director Estates and Facilities or the on call IMT Leader is the Silver Commander

The Silver Commander and IMT will respond when a major incident has been declared and will coordinate the University’s response. The Silver Commander supports the Bronze level operation. It is not Silver’s job to be hands on at the incident.

The Silver Commander is empowered to take decisive action to ensure a proportionate response and that critical outputs are not compromised. This includes directing extra resources to Bronze Command, cancelling lectures, evacuating buildings and sites, relocating staff and students. Authorising expenditure from emergency funding.

Support the Bronze Commander and IRT.

Maintain critical outputs and maintain the University’s reputation.

Initiate recovery action.

1 hr ideally-2hrs

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The Silver Commander will initiate University and College Business Continuity Plans to maintain critical functions as required.

The Silver Commander (through the loggist) collates accurate information and statistics in a timely manner to allow the time and space for considered decision making. In doing so builds a situational awareness picture for Gold Command.

Silver Commander will approve and coordinate the release of information to students, staff, press and the public domain.

NOTE: Informing next of kin following a death is the responsibility of the Police. No information regarding deaths should be released until the next of kin have been informed. This issue will require close liaison with the Police Silver Commander. The Coroner and potential the H&S executive will need to be informed

The senior emergency liaison officer (normally police) will collocate with Silver Command.

Gold Executive Management

COO or his nominated

The Gold Commander is the strategic decision

Return to full operational

6 hrs

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team deputy is the Gold Commander

maker on behalf of the Vice Chancellor (VC). The Gold Commander is responsible for analysing the overall impact of an incident on students, staff and research and for planning the return to normality. The Gold Commander has responsibility for ensuring all students and staff welfare is catered for across the University as the highest priority whilst balancing the competing demands of outside agencies and media.

capability and protect the University’s reputation.

Team Composition

Gold Team – Strategic Recovery Team (SRT) – 4 hour response

Core Membership:

Registrar/COO (Gold Commander)Pro Vice ChancellorDirector of FinanceDirector of Estates & Facilities ManagementDirector HRDirector MarketingHead of LegalCo-opted specialists as required

Silver Team – Incident Management Team (IMT) – ideally 1 hour response, but within 2 hrs

Core Membership:

Director of Estates & Facilities Management – Team Leader (Silver Commander)Director of Student Services - Deputy LeaderDirector of ISS Public Relations Manager/University spokes personHead of Health & Safety Head of Resilience & Business Continuity - Specialist AdvisorSecurity ManagerEstates Maintenance ManagerSenior Finance/Procurement Manager

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Senior HR ManagerSenior Legal OfficerAdministrator/ Log keeperCo-opted specialist as required

Bronze Team - Immediate Response Team (IRT) – Immediate response

Core Membership:

Security Supervisor (Bronze Commander)University Security Staff (both contracted and directly employed)Role specific staff – e.g. fire wardensOn duty Building Staff On Duty College/Department StaffEstates Services Maintenance TeamOther Staff as Co-opted - e.g. porters, ground staff

To provide the appropriate resilience on a 24/7 basis 365 day per year, it is an essential responsibility of the all IMT member to ensure their position is covered by an appropriate empowered and qualified colleague to provide response sustainability. Availability details (or that of nominated deputy) must be provided to IMT Administrator by 1600 on the first working day of the week for the following week. Whilst on call individuals must ensure they are able to reach the University within the specified response time and are fit to perform the emergency role allocated.

Specific Roles and Responsibilities

Individual team members are selected for their subject matter expertise relevant to a potential incident and have equal status regardless of grade. However, given the nature of incidents and emergencies this is a command structure and not a committee. The leader at each level (Bronze, Silver and Gold) is responsible for the delivery of coherent decision making and decisive action. Team member are not to fall back on their day to day management structure for decisions or support.

Chief Operating Officer/ Registrar (Gold Commander): has overall responsibility for ensuring the University has arrangements in place to respond and recover from a major incident affecting the whole University.

Director of Estates and Facilities Management (Silver Commander): has the delegated responsibility as University’s Accountable Emergency Officer. He/She is responsible for ensuring the University complies with legal requirements and the required strategies, systems, training, policies and procedures are in place to ensure an appropriate response in the event of a major incident or civil contingency event.

Head of Resilience & Business Continuity: will lead on emergency and incident planning and be responsible for developing the planning tools, templates and appropriate guidance, ensuring that training and information is made available to all levels of responders. He/she will also ensure arrangements, guidance and plans are regularly reviewed to ensure they are fit for purpose.

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Loggist: This is a vital post that supports decision key making. This individual will need to be one of the first called to ensure effective set up of the control room. He/She will collect and consolidate information for situational awareness, keeping an effective and accurate record of the event. (This may be required as legal evidence at a later hearing) A consolidated information picture will need to be maintained through precise information management thus enabling informed decision making by the Silver team. The post will provide administrative support to the control room; record and disseminate all actions from key meetings. Work with all team members to ensure a coordinated response and maintain all record associate with the event for audit and scrutiny at a later date.

Team Members: in conjunction with the Head of Resilience & Business Continuity, are responsible for ensuring their respective immediate action cards and procedures are complete and fit for purpose. That they ensure the required availability is provided and react with the appropriate alacrity when called upon to do so.

Response Actions

Bronze. On receipt of a notification of an incident (333 call, alarm indication, verbal report) the Security Supervisor will respond immediately and assume the Bronze Commander Role with delegate authority from the VC to control the incident at the point of event. The security office at the respective Campus will become Bronze Control and must be manned by a member of the security team to provide a coherent focal point for the passage of information, maintaining an incident log and required reporting action. An alternative control should the security office be unavailable (as it is affected by the incident) will be pre-identified at both Campus. The Bronze Commander has the authority to commandeer any member of the University Staff to assist in the initial incident control under direct supervision (i.e. cordon control – there is no training requirement for general staff and they operate under guidance at best effort so long as they feel safe to do so). The Bronze Commander will utilise the specific incident plan as guide for immediate actions (i.e. fire plan, spillage plan). A copy of these will be held in the security control room and familiarisation exercises held on a regular basis. Having verified the incident the Bronze Commander will confirm the requirement for emergency service response and declare the level of incident; call out specific subject matter experts to assist (i.e. on call maintenance, safety officer, fire marshals). The Bronze Commander will be the operational liaison with the emergency services.If the incident is assessed as a major incident then the Bronze Commander will activate the IMT under the lead of the Silver Commander.The Bronze Commander will allocate the appropriate Emergency Control Room for the IMT and if the situation permits prepare the appropriate Emergency Control Room. An accurate log of events must be maintained (this may be required as legal evidence at a later stage)

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Emergency Control Rooms

Singleton Campus– Director E & FM Meeting room and Administration Offices, Alternative Committee Room 1. Abbey.

Bay Campus – Energy Safety Research Institute Board Room, alternative School of Management Board Room

Silver. On receipt of a call declaring a “Major Incident” staff should acknowledge the major incident declared message by reporting to the nominated Incident Management Centre within 2 hours. . The Silver Commander will on arrival:

Draw the specific incident plan – fire, chemical spill etc. (The plan is only intended as a guide and reaction will be determined by the nature of the incident.)

Determine the scope and impact of the incident (JESIP) – situational awareness

Develop a strategy to deal with the incident Prioritise emergency actions (Utilise University and College Business

Continuity Plans) Allocate individual and/or group responsibilities for implementing action Deploy resources and equipment Communicate information, advice and instructions Monitor and re-evaluate conditions Maintain an accurate record of events (this may be required as legal

evidence at a later stage) Prepare upward reports for Gold Command Liaise with external stakeholders and authorize release of information, in

particular early liaison with the Insurance loss adjustor.

Members not specifically contacted to directly assist in managing a major incident should continue to report for duties as normal.

Gold. On receipt of a call declaring a Major Incident the Gold Commander will, within 6 hours, schedule a strategic level meeting to assess the broader impact of the incident on the University. This will require a full situational update from Silver IMT leader. Following this assessment Gold will allocate resources and capability to return the University to normal in the shortest possible time scale.

External Agencies

Role of Insurance Loss Adjuster

UMAL will appoint Loss Adjusters to work with the University in the event of major loss or disaster. Adjusters are appointed not only for their expert knowledge and resources available but also for their experience in handling disaster situations - their role will include:-

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Rapid assessment of the extent of the disaster and emergency measures necessary.

Provision of advice re potential salvage and protection of assets remaining. Steps to minimise the financial effect of the disaster and to ensure a return to

normal as speedily as possible. Use of in-house qualified Surveyors, Engineers etc. to assist in the recovery

process. Advice on costs (including insured and non-insured costs). Arranging interim payments as recovery work progresses. Guiding the University throughout the duration of the claim with advice on

options available, specialist matters, technical information etc.

In the final analysis the Loss Adjuster is responsible to UMAL for the correct handling of any claim and for ensuing that the University’s recovery to pre-disaster level is achieved as swiftly and as comprehensively as possible.

Role of the Emergency Services

As category 1 responders* under the CCA 2004, the Police, Fire and Ambulance services have one main objective in common, that being the preservation of life and providing an effective response to emergency situations where life has been lost or is threatened. Each emergency situation is dealt with according to the type of incident. i.e. at a major fire the fire chief takes command, at a terrorist incident the police chief assumes responsibility.

The Home Office has directed that a Chief Constable has primacy in his area of jurisdiction. Consequently, where necessary the Chief Constable or one of his/her senior officers takes command and acts as the emergency services co-ordinator. A command post is usually set up whereby senior officers from the 3 services advise the officer in command. In practice there are radio controllers co-located to maintain immediate contact with all resources deployed at the incident.

Depending on the type of incident there may, after the initial action, be a requirement to preserve the scene for the collection of evidence. In the case of death there will be a need for the coroner’s officer to be involved and potentially the Health & Safety Executive. This will be done by the Police, but the impact on the University will be that the Incident site will remain a sealed site to preserved evidence. Hence recovery action cannot take until the site has been released, and this may take some time. At an early stage of any incident, the organisation will need to make contact with the emergency services co-ordinator to make the following available:

Site /Building plans Resources available Lists of staff, students and others Telephone Lists Next of Kin Any safety issues i.e. chemicals/explosives Site Emergency Plans

Once the incident is over, the preserved scene released and handed over by the emergency services, it is up to the University to commence recovery.

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*Category 1 responder – a person or body listed in Part 1 Schedule 1 to the CCA 2004. These bodies are likely to be at the core of the response to most emergencies. As such, they are subject to the full range of civil protection duties in the Act.

Role of Local Authority Joint Resilience Unit (JRU)

Prior to, during and following a major incident assistance is available from the Joint Resilience Unit (JRU). They hold a risk register and emergency plans for the Swansea/Neath and Port Talbot geographical area and work with a myriad of agencies to provide support during an emergency. They are available 24/7, 365 days of the year. Contact details are as follows:

Joint_resilenence@npt.gov.uk Tel: 01639 686409.

Their expertise should be utlised by the University in developing plans and strategies. They should also be called on for advice by the Silver Commander during an incident, particularly if it impacts on the wider community.

Issued by:

R D HuxtableHead of Resilience and Business Continuity

Dated: 20 May 2016

Review date: 1 June 2017

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