Emergency Services Interoperability
at Incidents
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Aim:
To ensure on-scene commanders have an understanding of the
roles, structures, responsibilities, expectations and capabilities of
each service.
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Objectives:
To help Emergency Service personnel to:
• Appreciate common emergency response objectives for all services.
• Understand all the Emergency Services’ command, capabilities and
responsibilities.
• Achieve common situational awareness during an incident.
• Effectively interact between Services to bring incidents to a
successful conclusion.
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Multi-Agency Interoperability
‘The extent to which organisations can work together coherently as a
matter of routine’
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It is necessary for all involved in the achievement of interoperability to
understand that:
The Emergency Services are not interchangeable.
Each Service has different, but complementary, roles and responsibilities.
Each Service has developed different approaches to managing risk.
Each Service has access to specialist capabilities which may not be
immediately available at a local level.
The co-ordinating agency may depend on the needs of the incident.
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Multi-Agency Interoperability
‘The extent to which organisations can work together coherently as a
matter of routine’
To achieve interoperability, at all levels of the
Emergency Services there needs to be:
• An understanding of respective roles and responsibilities
(capability, capacity and limitations)
• Familiarity between the emergency services; and
• An ability for the emergency services to communicate meaningfully
and work together
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Common Objectives:
• Priority 1
• Priority 2
• Priority 3
To Save and Preserve Life
Mitigate/minimise the impact of the incident
Support a return to a new normality
In order to deliver these, a further common objective is:
• To support the work of emergency service partners
For clarity of purpose, the following slides set out the key roles
and responsibilities for each Service
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Roles and Responsibilities - Police
Police
• Protect life and property
• Co-ordinate the multi-agency response
• Protect and preserve the scene and investigate the incident
• Prevent crime and disorder
• Collate and disseminate casualty information
Fire
• Save Life
• Protect Property
• Protect the Environment
• Provide assistance in support of local communities
Ambulance
• Save Life and prevent further suffering
• Facilitate Patient Triage
• Provide casualty treatment and transport to the most appropriate facility
• Co-ordinate all health resources supporting the incident
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Roles and Responsibilities - Fire
Police
• Protect life and property
• Co-ordinate the multi-agency response
• Protect and preserve the scene and investigate the incident
• Prevent crime and disorder
• Collate and disseminate casualty information
Fire
• Save Life
• Protect Property
• Protect the Environment
• Provide assistance in support of local communities
Ambulance
• Save Life and prevent further suffering
• Facilitate Patient Triage
• Provide casualty treatment and transport to the most appropriate facility
• Co-ordinate all health resources supporting the incident
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Roles and Responsibilities - Ambulance
Police
• Protect life and property
• Co-ordinate the multi-agency response
• Protect and preserve the scene and investigate the incident
• Prevent crime and disorder
• Collate and disseminate casualty information
Fire
• Save Life
• Protect Property
• Protect the Environment
• Provide assistance in support of local communities
Ambulance
• Save Life and prevent further suffering
• Facilitate Patient Triage
• Provide casualty treatment and transport to the most appropriate facility
• Co-ordinate all health resources supporting the incident
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Service Capabilities - Police
Specific capabilities that the Police Service can provide include the following:
• Road Policing/Traffic Officers
• ‘Beat’ Officers and PCSOs – outer cordon and traffic control.
• Mounted Officers
• Dog Units
• Public order
• Firearms units
• Surveillance
• Crime Scene Investigation (Forensics)
• Chemical, Biological, Radioactive and Nuclear (CBRN)
• Air Support
• Underwater Search
• Disaster Victim Identification
• Counter Terrorism Network
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Service Capabilities - Fire
Specific capabilities that the Fire and Rescue Service can provide include the following:
• Fire-fighting
• Road Traffic Collisions
• Rescues from height and depth
• Water Rescue
• Environmental Protection (1st Response)
• Hazardous Material Incidents
• Canine Search (Live Bodies)
• Aerial Ladder Appliances
• Specialist Response to Firearm Incidents
• National - Inter Agency Liaison Officer (N-ILO)
• Detection, Identification & Monitoring (National Resilience)
• Mass Decontamination of Public/Emergency Responders (National Resilience)
• Rescues from collapsed structures, trenches and heavy transport incidents (Urban Search and
Rescue - National Resilience)
• High Volume Pumps (National Resilience)
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Service Capabilities - Ambulance
Specific capabilities that the Ambulance Service can provide include the following:
• Paramedics and Emergency Medical Technicians crewing Ambulances or Solo responder
vehicles (Cars , Motorbikes and Pedal Cycles)
• Advanced Paramedics and Emergency Care Practitioners
• Incident Management including Patient Triage, Emergency medical treatment and transport
to definitive care
• Temporary Structures (Casualty Clearing and Decontamination facilities)
• Clinical Decontamination
• Hazard Area Response Teams (HART)
• Urban Search and Rescue, Inland Water Rescue, Inner Cordon Response & Safe Working
at Height
• Specialist Response to Firearms Incidents
• Inter-agency Liaison Officers (N-ILO)/Tactical Advisors
• Radiation Protection Supervisors/Advisors
• BASICS/Medical Advisors
• Community Responders
• Air Ambulance
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Command Structures – Bronze
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Initial Response
Manage front line operations at the scene
Also known as Operational
Implement safe systems of work
Manage front line operations and tactical plan
Assess need for further resources
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On Scene Command
• Identify and establish a dialogue with the on-scene commander from each Service
• Identify a suitable Forward Control Point for co-ordination of on scene activities
– This may be at scene or nearby dependent upon incident
– This should preferably be a physical asset e.g. A Command vehicle
• Communications
– Use ‘Plain English’
– Consider the need for a common Airwave command channel
– Consider the need for Airwave tactical advice
– Many Fire and Ambulance Services have Inter Agency Liaison Officers (ILOs)
specifically trained to understand and communicate with the other Services
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On Scene Risk Assessment
• Each service is required to identify hazards, assess risks and take
action to eliminate or reduce risk.
• Each service has a different model, but
• Sharing information on hazards, risks and control measures will
deliver a more robust outcome, and
• The shared risk assessment will require monitoring and review due
to the dynamic nature of emergency incidents.
• Information must be shared and amendments made as necessary.
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Risk Assessment – all emergency responders must consider the following:
• Attitude to risk will vary as each service has varying capabilities,
systems and processes to control the risks.
• The focus for all responders IS on saving and protecting life –
balancing the risks posed to responders with the potential to save a
saveable life is a key consideration for commanders.
• The risks of not acting must be taken into account.
• The recording of decisions, must not take precedence over the need
for physical activity and intervention i.e. there is a positive duty to
act!
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Situational Awareness
Establishing a common understanding of the situation and its consequences is an early priority for
Emergency Service commanders. This may be termed Shared Situational Awareness, or a
Common Operating Picture and ‘CHALETS’ is one system that can be used for common
information messaging to and from the incident scene:
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Casualties - approximate number of casualties dead, injured, uninjured, number trapped.
Hazards - present and potential
Access - best access routes for emergency services and suitable provisional RV points.
Location - the exact location of the incident using postcode or OS map reference if possible.
Emergency - services present and required, consider attendance of hospital medical teams,
specialist equipment and services.
Type - of incident with brief details of any vehicles, trains, buildings, or aircraft of involved including
type and numbers
Safety - wear personal protective clothing and ensure you are in a safe area.
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Command Structures – Silver
Also known as the Tactical - will determine priorities, obtain and allocate resources
Silver command will:
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Plan, co-ordinate and command single service assets
Identify, manage and mitigate risk to those assets
For incidents involving fire and/or rescue
• Fire Silver will be at the scene
• Police will be at the nominated Silver location
• Ambulance will co-locate with the co-ordinating agency (This may or may not be at the
scene)
• Fire will send liaison to the nominated Silver location
• The Fire Command vehicle will be showing blue lights
For Firearms/Public Order Only
• Police will be on scene
• Incident Liaison Officer (fire & ambulance) will liaise with Police Silver
• Fire & Ambulance will be at the Police nominated Silver location
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Command Structures - Gold
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Also known as Strategic
Some incidents may have Single Agency Gold
Multi-agency – Strategic Co-ordinating Group
Strategic Co-ordinating Centre
Establish strategic objectives and overall management framework
Look at long term resourcing and expertise
Pre-planned location – usually Police Headquarters
Recover and return to a new normality
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NOTE: Please refer
to the speaker notes
for this slide
First on scene
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NOTE: Please refer
to the speaker notes
for this slide
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National Co-ordination Advisory Framework (NCAF) for Significant Events
NOTE: Please refer
to the speaker notes
for this slide
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NOTE: Please refer
to the speaker notes
for this slide
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Conclusion:
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Greater interoperability will enable the emergency services to:
Provide a co-ordinated response to all emergencies as a matter of
routine.
Respond to emerging threats more quickly.
Effectively share and disseminate information between services.
Have an improved awareness of the situation and required actions.
Conduct joint risk assessments leading to effective decision making.
Handle multi-agency incidents irrespective of organisational
boundaries.
Understanding and acting on what is set out in this presentation
will enable you to achieve interoperability in practice.
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