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Greater Manchester Fire and Rescue Service is helping to keep Greater Manchester safe by working closely with Police, health services, local authorities and other agencies to plan for major incidents such as train derailments, floods, chemical leaks and terrorist attacks.

Over the past seven years a significant number of high profile emergency incidents have occurred both here in the UK and abroad. These have driven Government to review the UK's ability to respond and deal with similar types of events. The outcome of this review was used to create legislation which stated that a high degree of emergency planning at a national, regional and local level was required.

What is a major incident?

When a very large response is required from more than one of the emergency services to a situation, this is classed as a major incident. Examples of a major incident include:

• A serious road traffic collision involving multiple vehicles;
• A major train derailment or collision;
• A large aircraft forced landing;
• A hazardous chemical leak;
• A terrorist incident such as a bombing;
• Major flooding involving a large number of households at risk.
• What does the planning process involve?
• Individual organisations such as the Police, Fire and Rescue Service or local authorities can't plan for emergency situations in isolation because they all have to work together on large scale incidents. The actions of one organisation could impact on other agencies therefore a co-ordinated approach must be maintained.

For this reason, The Greater Manchester Resilience Forum (GMRF) has been established to oversee planning for a major incident in our county. Greater Manchester Fire and Rescue Service is a key member of the group, along with senior personnel from the other emergency services, local authorities, National Health Service trusts, the Environment Agency, the military and other organisations with a responsibility for emergency planning.

The group is tasked with assessing different hazards and threats, creating plans and training the people who would respond to major incidents. The forum works hard to anticipate and resolve any potential issues or problems before any emergency plans have to be carried out.

As well as looking at the potential threats here in Greater Manchester, the forum also considers incidents which may require a national response or even Government intervention. In the past, Central Government has stepped in to co-ordinate a national response to emergencies such as the Foot and Mouth outbreak in 2001 and the Fuel Crisis in 2000.

New resources

Since 2002, the Fire and Rescue Service (FRS) has embarked upon a Government funded national project to put in place new resources and equipment to help us tackle a variety of different incidents such as dealing with hazardous materials, large scale flooding and building collapses. Nationally, these resources and equipment have been used to deal with incidents including the building collapse in Maryhill, Glasgow, the Carlisle and Cumbria floods and the fuel terminal fire at Buncefield.

Greater Manchester Resilience Forum (GMRF)

Although some incidents and events are beyond our control, Greater Manchester Fire and Rescue Service is working vigorously with other emergency services, local authorities and organisations to keep our communities as safe as possible and our local environment protected.

The Greater Manchester Resilience Forum ensures that when we do have to react to a major incident, our response will be well rehearsed and inline with our contingency plans. Members of the Forum include:

• 10 local authorities of Bolton, Bury, Manchester, Oldham, Rochdale, Salford, Stockport, Tameside, Trafford and Wigan
• Greater Manchester Police
• Greater Manchester Fire and Rescue Service
• North West Ambulance Service
• British Transport Police
• Health Protection Agency
• Strategic Health Authority
• Environment Agency
• The Military
• Government Office North West

Corporate Risk Register

The Greater Manchester Community Risk Register is produced and published by the Greater Manchester Resilience Forum each year as a requirement under the Civil Contingencies Act 2004.  The risk register is a Greater Manchester assessment of those hazards and threats published by the Cabinet Office in the form of the National Risk Register'.
 
Manchester Community Risk Register (2010) 
http://www.agma.gov.uk/greater-manchester-prepared/community_risk_register/
 
National Risk Register (2010)
http://www.cabinetoffice.gov.uk/resource-library/national-risk-register

The Greater Manchester Community Risk Register acts as the cornerstone for Resilience Forum for prioritising contingency planning across Greater Manchester; additional information on the levels of emergency preparedness within Greater Manchester can be found on the Greater Manchester Prepared website.
 
http://www.agma.gov.uk/greater-manchester-prepared/index.html

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Last update: 13/06/2011 09:11:54