The Emergency Planning Service works with a wide range of
agencies to prepare contingency plans, organising major incident
training and exercises, to help prepare for emergencies.
Its aim is to minimise the impact of a disaster on the
day-to-day lives of the community and environment and to assist the
return to normality.
Lancashire Resilience Forum
There are a large number of plans at national, regional and
local level that establish general principles, procedures and
courses of action, to ensure speedy mobilisation and co-ordination
of resources.
As part of the Civil Contingencies Act 2004, responders are
required to form a 'Local Resilience Forum' based on police areas.
In Lancashire, this is known as the Lancashire Resilience Forum
(LRF). Emergency plans are co-ordinated by the LRF to avoid
confusion in the immediate aftermath of an incident.
The LRF enables responders to consult with each other to help
plan for emergencies and produce the
Community Risk Register (external link).
The main work of the LRF is carried out by various thematic
sub-groups who report to the LRF General Purposes Group, which
oversees and co-ordinates their work. The General Purposes Group is
a county-wide group, consisting of representatives from the various
emergency services, local authorities and other professional and
voluntary agencies. It has been in place to co-ordinate the
county's planning for, and responding to, major incidents for many
years.
The LRF produces a credit-card sized information card to
remind you about important details that may help you during a major
incident that means you must remain in your home. On the
card you can find telephone contact numbers for NHS direct and the
Environment Agency floodline, along with useful websites and the
various frequencies for Radio Lancashire. It’s small enough to fit
into a wallet or purse, or even to leave next to the telephone.
Copies of the card are available in venues such as pharmacies,
borough and unitary council buildings, police stations and
libraries.
Visit the LRF website (external
link) to find out more. Further advice is also available
from the UK
Resilience website (external link).
Related information