Emergency Planning in Lincolnshire
Emergency Planning in Lincolnshire is co-ordinated by our Emergency Planning and Business Continuity Service.
What we do
- We plan and prepare
We work with our partners across the county as members of the Lincolnshire Resilience Forum (LRF) to create emergency plans, business continuity arrangements, conduct training and deliver multi-agency exercises. This helps ensure that organisations and responders know what to do when an incident happens.
- We respond when emergencies occur
Our service provides on‑call duty officers, supports command teams, and operates the County Emergency Centre. During an incident, we work closely with our LRF partner organisations including the emergency services, voluntary groups, community groups and local authorities to coordinate a fast, effective response.
- We learn and improve
After every emergency, we review what happened and update our plans, training and procedures. This helps the wider LRF continually strengthen how we respond to future emergencies.
Understanding the Risks in Lincolnshire
The UK Government produces a national assessment of risks that could lead to civil emergencies. Locally we use this information along with our own assessments to identify and prioritise the risks most relevant to Lincolnshire.
To help everyone stay informed we publish a Community Risk Register this explains:
- The main risks that could affect Lincolnshire
- What local responders are doing to manage them
- What the potential impacts might be
- How you can prepare and stay safe
You can find the top risks for Lincolnshire on the Lincolnshire Resilience Forum website Top Risks to Lincolnshire - Lincolnshire Resilience Forum
Prepare your business
A good business continuity plan and strategy can often be the difference between a failure and success when faced with unprecedented circumstances.
Consider the following guidance in preparing your business:
1) Understand your business priority activities
Any changes to prioriy activities should prompt a review of your plan.
2) Timeframes
Lasting damage isn’t always necessarily physical, sometimes it is reputational, financial or it impacts your resilience. It is important to understand:
- Maximum Tolerable Period of Disruption (MTPD) - the maximum amount of time that an organisation can afford to be affected by an incident.
- Minimum Business Continuity Objective (MBCO) - the level of services which is acceptable for the organisation to run at during an incident.
3) Assess your risk
Lincolnshire, like all counties, is susceptible to various risks and these can be crucial when making preparations. The Lincolnshire’s community risk register rates the risks most likely to occur due lifestyles, culture, and geography.
It is important to consider the risks within the register, and how they would impact the critical functions of your organisation. It is then possible to prioritise your priority activities based on likelihood, severity, and timeframes for recovery.
4) Reduce your risk
Know what risks could impact your business. You can find information on this at the Lincolnshire Resilience Forum website.
5) Develop an Emergency Plan
Build layers of resilience into your emergency planning by sharing responsibility, but making sure that there are primary and deputy contacts.
Think about what would trigger a plan to be invoked and how this would be communicated to those who need to know.
6) Develop an Emergency Communications Plan
A communications plan means that during an incident it is clear who must be notified. Messaging templates can be created in advance, and adapted as needed by the organisation and recipients.
Timelines of what should be communicated, and by when are important to help build resilience. Communications plans should be revised in line with the business continuity plan, or when there are changes or after an incident, especially key contacts.
7) Communicate and rehearse your Plans
Building business continuity focussed on individual responsibility means that all staff members will understand the importance their part plays in the process.
Staff can feel more prepared by taking part in exercises, which can range from discussions and walk-throughs all the way through to large-scale live events.
It is good practice to share your business continuity plans with suppliers, and staff, ensuring that everyone knows where they are located.
8) Revisit and update your Plans
A maintenance schedule should be se for how frequently business continuity plans should be revised. The following changes should always prompt an immediate review of the plan:
- People - a change in personnel means an update to roles responsibilities and contact details is required.
- Practice - if there is a change in they way you deliver your service then this could have a knock on effect to the plan.
- Property - changes to offices, even working from home, can mean many changes such as evacuation routes, storage, and communications.
- Post incident - using reflective practice to examine what went well, and what lessons can be learnt, are key to progression and great resilience.
For more information - watch this video on YouTube on 'what is business continuity'.