Area 4 Incident Response Plan

Area 4 Incident Response Plan Plan Owner Plan Author Revision Date June 2013 Date of Next Review December 2013 [Redacted under sections 40 and 43, 13/08/2013]

AMENDMENT RECORD Incident Response Plan Amendment No Dated Name 1 27-02-2012 2 30-06-2012 3 01-10-2012 4 01-04-2013 Signed on behalf of Balfour Beatty Mott MacDonald (Service Provider) (Signature) (Name) (Title) (Date) Signed on behalf of the Highways Agency Area Performance Team (Signature) (Name) (Title) (Date) 2

Contents 1. Summary 5 2. Objectives 6 3. Definitions 7 3.5 Emergency 7 3.6 Major Incident 8 3.7 Critical Incident as defined by Highways Agency 9 4. Incident Command Structure 10 Diagram 4.1 11 5. The Command and Control System 12 5.1 Bronze 12 5.2 Silver 13 5.3 Gold 14 6. Duty Roster for Gold and Silver 15 7. Communications 16 8. Incident Management Log Keeping 17 9 Incident Review 18 10. Administrative Arrangements 19 Vehicles 19 Welfare 19 Appendix A Roles and responsibilities 20 Appendix B Glossary 22 Appendix C Airwave Call Signs 23 Appendix D Normal working hours for MRT s 25 Normal working hours for Bronze Incident Managers / Supervisors 25 Incident Response Call Out Procedure 25 AMOR Table 3.1 v.1.7 26 Appendix E Arrangements for Multiple Critical Incidents 31 Appendix F TIRP (Tactical Incident Response Plan) Incident Decision Tree 32 3

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1 Summary 1.1. The purpose and aim of this document is to give those involved in incident management at Bronze, Silver and Gold levels a better understanding of their roles, what will be required of them and how they interact within their own organisation and also with the other organisations that may be involved in dealing with an incident. This document complements and expands the information found in the Area 4 Network Contingency Plan. Users should also be familiar with the Area 4 Network Contingency Plan, Resource Information Document and the Area 4 Emergency Diversion Route Document. This document will also be supported by training and exercising all levels of incident response. 1.2. The Highways Agency (HA) as an Executive Agency of the Department for Transport is responsible for managing, maintaining and operating the strategic road network of England, which includes all motorways and a significant proportion of trunk roads. In line with the requirements of the Civil Contingencies Act 2004 (CCA 2004) the Highways Agency is classed as a Category 2 Responder. The Service Provider Balfour Beatty Mott MacDonald is classed as a Category 2 Responder as the agent for the Highways Agency when it becomes involved with any incident that adversely affects or disrupts the normal operation and availability of the strategic road network. These incidents may involve vehicles and or pedestrians, as well as and such things as criminal and terrorist threats/activity and demonstrations and other events, on the roads or adjacent to the network or severe weather. Although this document is primarily a Service Provider document it conforms with the Highways Agency Crisis Management Manual in relation to Command and Control of incidents, the Highways Agency Standard Incident Management Guidance and Highways Agency Traffic Incident Management Guidance Framework. 1.3. The Service Providers have certain functions, objectives and responsibilities to fulfil on behalf of the Highways Agency. To do this will, on numerous occasions, mean working closely with other agencies including the emergency services. Consequently, there is a clear need for Service Providers to have in place an effective and efficient standardised Command and Control system. This system must enable co-ordinated and cohesive working and be compatible with the Emergency Services and other responsible organisations. 5

2 Objectives 2.1 The specific objectives of the Highways Agency and its Service Providers in the management of incidents are: Restoring the network to normal conditions as quickly as possible Minimising the effect of an incident on the travelling public Providing information to road users, management and Ministers 2.2 In addition to the specific objectives of the HA, all organisations involved in the management of an incident will work to the following common objectives set out in the CCA 2004: Saving and protecting life Relieving suffering Protecting property Providing the public with timely information Containing the emergency limiting its spread Maintaining critical services Maintaining normal services at an appropriate level Protecting the health and safety of personnel Safeguarding the environment Facilitating investigations and enquiries Promoting self help and recovery Restoring normality as soon as possible Evaluating the response and identifying lesson to be learned 3 Definitions 3.1 The police, other emergency services and local authorities have an established understanding of the term Emergency and Major Incident. The terms are used by government to make powers to deal with such incidents. 3.2 The police or other emergency services will usually declare an Emergency or Major Incident and notify the Highways Agency through the Regional Control Centre (RCC). 3.3 The term critical incident has also been established for those incidents that are important to a single organisation but may have little or no impact on other organisations. The Highway Agency has set a number of situations that will be classed as critical (see 3.7) 3.4 The term incident should be regarded as the description of any occurrences that come to the attention of the Highways Agency or it s Service Provider and affects the normal running of the road network. 3.5 Emergency 3.5.1 The Civil contingencies Act 2004 categorises responders to incidents. In general Category 1 responders are the emergency services including Coast 6

Guard, the Health service, Environment Agency and local authorities; all the parties who will have direct control over the running of an incident. 3.5.2 Category 2 responders are those organisations who may support or assist Category 1 responders during an incident. The Highways Agency has been identified as a category 2 responder and their service providers fall into this category. 3.5.3 The CCA 2004 formalised many areas of Local Emergency Planning and ensured that all responders to an emergency were working together. 3.5.4 The Civil contingencies Act 2004 defines an emergency as: 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 3.5.5 An Emergency declared under the CCA 2004 can be considered as the most serious of incidents. Events such as major flooding of June 2007 and the terrorist bombings of 7th July 2005 can be considered an example of an Emergency under the CCA 2004. 3.6 Major Incidents 3.6.1 Major Incident may well also be considered an Emergency. A Major Incident will only be declared by the Police, Fire Service, Ambulance Service, Coast Guard, NHS, Environment Agency or Local Authority 7

3.6.2 However, what may be regarded as a major incident to one service may not be a major incident to another. The declaration of a major incident should assume a planned response and command and control structure within the organisation who declares it, and relevant support from other agencies and organisations 3.6.3 Unlike Emergencies for which the definition is laid down in statute, there is no formal definition of a Major Incident. However the following definition is set out in the Association of Chief Police Officers Emergency Procedures Manual and in the Chief and Assistant Chief Fire Officers Association Major Incident Emergency Procedures Manual and is the nationally accepted definition of a major Incident A major incident is any emergency that requires the implementation of special arrangements by one or more of the emergency services, the NHS or the local authority for: - The initial treatment, rescue and transport of a large number of casualties. The involvement either directly or indirectly of large numbers of people. The handling of a large number of enquiries likely to be generated both from the public and the news media usually to the police. The need for the large scale combined resources of two or more of the emergency services. 8

3.7 Critical Incidents as defined by the Highways Agency 3.7.1 Critical Incidents are unforeseen events that seriously impact upon the Highways Agency and its ability to deliver its aim of safe roads, reliable journeys, informed travellers. Importantly, the police, other emergency services or local authorities may not regard the incident in the same light and therefore may not implement the same level of response to a critical incident as the Highways Agency. 3.7.2 The following are deemed to be critical incidents: 1. Multiple collisions involving fatalities, serious injuries or vehicles disabled on a carriageway 2. Partial or full closure of motorways or trunk roads due to weather or road conditions. This will also include minor incidents occurring at differing locations aggravated by other circumstances, which taken as a whole fall into this category 3. Collisions involving crossover of a vehicle from one carriageway to another 4. Collisions involving passenger coaches, school minibuses, trains, or public service vehicles resulting in fatalities or injuries 5. Fatal collisions involving fire 6. Serious collisions involving a vehicle carrying dangerous substances (e.g. hazardous chemicals, flammable liquids such as petrol, radioactive materials, etc) 7. Collisions on motorways or trunk roads resulting in serious/potentially serious structural damage (e.g. to a bridge) necessitating road closures 8. Fatal collisions on motorways or trunk roads where road works are in progress 9. Any significant event impacting partial or full closure of motorways or trunk roads due to collisions, security alerts or criminal/terrorist acts. (NILO must ensure that TRANSEC is advised of security alerts) 10. Any incident off or adjacent to the network that may meet any of the above criteria, and affects the network. 11. Any incident or event off the HA network which results in stationary vehicles, on the HA network, for a period of 1 hour or more. 12. Suicide or attempted suicide resulting in the closure of lanes or carriageways. 13. Roadwork s over running by 30 minutes or more, and likely to have an impact on the network. 14. Any instances of 50% of the reserve winter maintenance fleet being utilized within any area. 15. Any instance where the Highways Agency or Managing Agents provide welfare support or are aware of support being provided to road users on the Highways Agency s network by other organisations. Any other situation not covered by the above can be described as normal business, 9

4 Incident Command Structure 4.1 The Network Contingency Plan (NCP) is the HA framework document that formalises the escalation process for incident management. It does not explain how to deal with a particular incident. 4.2 The NCP requires that Area 4 will employ the Standard Bronze, Silver and Gold Command structure for incidents in line with the Police and other emergency services and the HA. 4.3 The interrelations between the different levels and those external to Balfour Beatty Mott MacDonald are shown in diagram 4.1, which indicates the three command and control levels, Bronze (operational delivery), Silver (tactical planning, logistics and communication) and Gold (Strategy and support). 4.4 These levels are not in their own right rank/grade specific but invariably they will reflect the level of responsibility, training, experience, capability and empowerment that the role holder has within their own organisation dealing with the incident. 4.5 At the start of any incident for which there has been no warning the Bronze (operational) level will usually be activated first, with the other levels, Silver (tactical) and Gold (strategic), being established with the escalation of the incident, or a greater awareness of the situation. It is possible that for some incidents, particularly those where there is a threat of a potentially serious or catastrophic problem, the activation of the three levels will be concurrent. Consequently this section is presented in a manner that reflects the process of escalation of command. 4.6 De-escalation following the completion of an incident will normally be the reverse of the escalation process with Gold handing control to Silver who in turn hands back control to Bronze as the issues requiring the escalation are resolved. On rare occasions Gold and or Silver may well remain in place to deal with issues impacting on the particular organisation after the incident has been resolved on the ground 10

Diagram 4.1 GOLD LEVEL - STRATEGIC Emergency Services Regional Snow Desk / L.R.F. Highways Agency RCC Senior Management Team Normal Escalation and De-escalation SILVER LEVEL - TACTICAL Emergency Services SILVER NILO RCC Logistic support Snow Desk (Severe Weather) Tactical Manager/Tactical Management Team Normal Escalation and De-escalation BRONZE LEVEL - OPERATIONAL Emergency Services Traffic Officers Incident Manager Initial Response (MRT) Winter Maintenance (Severe weather) NCC 11

5 The Command and Control System 1 5.1 Bronze 5.1.1 Bronze can be summarised as the level of operational deployment, reporting to Silver (when established), with a responsibility to carry out a particular plan or set of duties. There may be more that one Bronze depending on the scale of the incident (e.g. multiple scenes) 5.1.2 The normal operational response to any incident 2 will be a Maintenance Response Team (MRT) this is classed as a Bronze level response. Sent by the Network Control Centre (NCC) this level reflects the normal day-to-day arrangements for responding to incidents. It is the level at which the management of hands-on work is undertaken at the individual site. As well as deploying a MRT to the incident the NCC will complete a Tactical Incident Response Plan (TIRP) in line with Table 3.1 of the Asset Maintenance and Operational Requirement (AMOR) Contract v.1.7, which will be sent to the SERCC outlining the clear up timescale for the incident 3. 5.1.3 The first representation at the scene of an event will usually take on the function of Bronze and will take appropriate immediate measures and assess the extent of the problem in line with agreed procedures and must give due regard to health and safety requirements. 5.1.4 The MRT will concentrate on specific tasks within their area of responsibility and remit. If they were the first response to an incident they will pass on the role of Bronze only when an Incident Manager / Supervisor has agreed to take on the role, such handovers should be noted in the NCC incident log (CONFIRM) and on the NCC Social Cast log. 5.1.5 Certain types of incident will require the attendance of an Incident Manager/Supervisor (Bronze) prior to sending the MRT, to: Act as liaison with other agencies attending the incident. Take control of the incident for the Service Provider. Make decisions as to the level of Service Provider attendance required as well as additional and/or specialist resources required to deal with the incident. Ensuring that all parties involved in the incident are kept up to date with exactly what the service provider is doing to recover the road. This level of response will still be regarded as Bronze level response. 1 Appendix A 2 Appendix D 3 Appendix F 12

5.1.6 These arrangements will usually be adequate for the effective resolution of most incidents. However where the scale of the incident is such that resources needed are outside of the Bronze Commander s sphere of responsibility, an early requirement must be to consider whether circumstances warrant escalating to a tactical (Silver) level of management. The incident may also be escalated by outside influences, such as the emergency services or the Traffic Officer Services escalating their response to a Silver level. 5.1.7 Each agency must liaise fully and continually with other responder services employed within the same area to ensure a sufficient and combined effort. If appropriate, the police will normally act as the co-ordinator of the response coordinated at the scene. 5.1.8 If the Bronze Incident Manager / supervisor requires escalation to Silver, he will always make the request through the NCC, who will record the request on confirm and Social Cast before paging the on call Silver. 5.1.9 The escalation to Silver will only be originated by the Bronze Incident Manager / Supervisor and not by the MRT. 5.2 Silver 5.2.1 Silver Command can be summarised as a level of Tactical Command which carries out the plan for resolution and delivers Gold s strategy, when established, there may be more than one Silver, depending on the scale of the incident e.g. multiple scenes, logistic supply and support. 5.2.2 Escalation to Silver will involve a tactical level of command to determine priorities in obtaining and allocating resources, to plan and co-ordinate when a task will be undertaken, and to obtain other specialist resources as required. The Silver Commander must take appropriate risk reduction measures and must give due regard to health and safety requirements. 5.2.3 Where there is one identifiable scene, silver management may be undertaken from an Incident Control Point established in the vicinity. Many silver functions will then be discharged close to the scene. Silver should avoid attending the actual scene thereby reducing the likelihood of losing sight of the bigger picture and becoming too involved with issues that should be dealt with by Bronze. 13

5.2.4 When more than one agency is working at the Silver Tactical Level there should be consultation between the various Silvers. In order to affect co-ordination, an inter-agency meeting should be held at regular intervals attended by each silver Commander or their empowered representative. Normally a written record of meetings should be maintained. 5.2.5 Planning must also take into account that there may be a number of individual scenes each requiring a Silver Tactical Commander. 5.2.6 The Tactical Silver Commanders should not become involved with the activities at the scene being discharged by Operational (Bronze) Commanders. 5.2.7 Silver Mangers must concentrate on overall management and achievement of priorities, objectives / actions. While they need to be aware of what is happening at Bronze level they should leave the responsibility for dealing with that level to Bronze. 5.2.8 If it becomes apparent that resources or expertise beyond the level of the Silver Commander is required, or if there is a need to co-ordinate more than one incident/scene (where Silver Command has been established) it may be necessary to implement a Strategic Level of management as soon as possible (Gold). 5.2.9 If Silver requires escalation to Gold, Silver will always make the request through the NCC who will record the request on confirm and Social Cast before paging the on call Gold 5.3 Gold 5.3.1 Gold can be summarised as setting the strategy, coordinating, managing impact and collateral consequence, providing resources and agreeing the scale of events. 5.3.2 In exceptional circumstances, one or more agencies may find it necessary to implement a Gold Level of management. Incidents can place considerable demands on the resources of the responding organisations, with consequent disruption to day-to-day activities. Such matters require attention by senior management. 5.3.3 In these circumstances a Gold Command should be established as a matter of routine rather than the exception. It is easy to dismantle if not required and removes the potential for Silver Managers to be reluctant to ask for a Strategic Level of Management. The need for a Gold Level may arise if Silver Management does not have the required resources, expertise or empowerment available. 5.3.4 The requirement for Gold Management and planning may be confined to one particular agency. However, certain incidents require a multi-agency response at the Gold Level when the issues that arise affect the responsibilities or activities of more than one organisation. 14

5.3.5 The purpose of the Gold, overall command is: To determine and deliver Strategic Aims To provide a Strategic Level Command To take overall responsibility for incident management and establish a framework and policy for that incident within which the Silver Managers will work; To give consideration to the prioritisation of demands from the Silver Manager; And To determine plans and objectives for the return to normality once the incident is brought under control. 6 Duty Roster 4 6.1.1 The duty roster is published weekly 6.1.2 The duty roster runs from 07:00 hours Monday to 07:00 Monday. Any changes within the Team should be mutually agreed and details passed to the Incident Manager, Peter Starnes. If changes are made at short notice (after publication of the roster) the NCC MUST also be informed. 6.1.3 The roster shows on call arrangements for Incident Managers (Bronze) as well as Gold and Silver Managers. It shows arrangements for Maintenance Response Teams during Day time and Night time as well as on call arrangements. 6.1.4 The rota shows arrangements for Street lighting electricians, Structures team and pavement engineers and during the winter period arrangements for winter maintenance. 6.1.5 The rota also provides contact numbers for the Highways Agency and police forces. 6.1.6 Area 4 has six Incident Management Teams, each of which will be on call for one week and will comprise of: Tactical Manager Silver Senior Manager Gold 6.1.7 Any Administration and Communications requirement will be determined by either Silver or Gold as the incident dictates. 4 Appendix D 15

7 Communications 5 7.1.1 Airwave Radios will be the primary method of communications. These are available to all staff involved in incident management up to silver level. 7.1.2 The normal communications channel will be 7.1.3 The normal Area 4 call sign structure will be adhered to. 7.1.4 In exceptional circumstances an incident may be run on if the normal day to day business of the service provider is compromised by use of this will be directed by the NCC or the TMR. 7.1.5 When the RCC requires it, an incident may be run on a RCC nominated incident channel. The channel will be designated by the RCC at the time and all service provider staff involved will change their radios to that channel. The NCC will also change one of their Airwave base sets to the incident channel and conduct all business relating to the incident on that channel. 7.1.6 All Airwave channels and phone lines controlled by the RCC are recorded automatically and can be audited. 7.2.1 Pagers will be issued to all Gold and Silver managers. They will also be issued to the on call supervisors (Bronze) and to the specialist engineers in Structures, Street lighting and Pavement to improve the resilience of our communications. The primary method of first contact with these on call staff will be by Pager. 7.2.2 The NCC will manage the pager system. They will ensure that all requests for on call staff are responded to in accordance with the contractual expectation of the on call role. 7.2.3 Any failure to respond to pager requests will be passed on to the Network Operations Manager by email. 5 Appendix C 16

8 Incident Management Log Keeping 8.1.1 At Incident Supervisor Bronze, Silver and Gold level of management: Incident Management logs must be kept for most critical incidents that require more than a minimum of decision making by each level of management, and all Major Incidents. The decision is yours as to whether you complete an incident log. But remember you will be required to account for your actions, will you remember what you did? Did it happen? PROVE IT!!! 8.1.2 You must record the time and date your decisions and actions were made and the reasons on which they were based. 8.1.3 Handing over to another person? RECORD THE FACT ON THE LOG (page 6) who did you hand over to, when and why. 8.1.4 Incident Management logs are serial numbered and issued on an individual basis. If you hand a log over during an incident to another manager please ensure the NCC are aware and record the fact on Confirm. The NCC WILL email with the details of the hand over so the Incident Log Register can be updated. 8.1.5 REMEMBER AT ANY SUBSEQUENT ENQUIRY, THESE LOGS WILL BE VITAL. THE PRINCIPLE THAT IF IT ISN T WRITTEN DOWN IT DIDN T HAPPEN, IS NOW COMMON PLACE IN COURTS 8.1.6 The NCC also keeps an Incident log on Confirm and Social Cast for all incidents including those where Bronze, Silver and Gold are involved 17

9 Incident Review 9.1 The Network Contingency Plan requires that the NCP s content be reviewed after any incident requiring any stage of the plan being mobilised above Bronze. It is also advantageous to review incidents regularly with a view to obtaining good practice and lessons learned. 9.1.1 Incidents will be debriefed in line with the Highways Agency Debriefing Guidance: Hot, Cool and Cold Debriefs dated 20 November 2012 Version 1.5.1 9.2 Hot Debriefs: A hot debrief is a meeting of staff who were directly involved in an incident to review the processes, procedures and first line management of the incident. The hot debrief should take place as soon as possible after the incident before staff have gone off duty. Hot debriefs will normally be conducted by the incident Manager / Supervisor dealing with the incident 9.3 Cool debriefs may be required by the Network Operations Manager or his deputy, these will be held soon after the incident but may only require attendance of the incident Manager/Supervisor. 9.4 Cold Debriefs will always be called by the Highways Agency, the Traffic Officer Service or the police. 18

10 Administrative Arrangements 10.1 There is facility to mobilise a Tactical Management Room (Silver Command) based at Balfour Beatty Mott MacDonald head office, 10 Kings Hill Avenue West Malling Kent ME19 4AR. The intention of this facility is to take the control of a major incident away from the NCC to allow them to concentrate on day to day business whilst the incident is run separately. If required consideration by the duty Silver manager should be given to staffing this room, the availability of additional staff etc. and whether with extra help the NCC may still be best placed to deal should be considered. If for any reason it is not possible to gain access to the offices at Kings Hill the NCC can be contacted on. 10.2 If established the Tactical Management Room (TMR) is in Meeting Room 3. If the room is being used then the occupants will be asked to relocate to another meeting room. Airwave Radio is available for this room; a base station is obtainable from the NCC. 10.3 Vehicles: Should one of the Silver Managers be required to attend the scene of an incident on the network there are always two marked company vehicles available at Kings Hill. 10.4 Welfare: Both Balfour Beatty and Mott MacDonald have arrangements for confidential counselling services should staff require it. 19