Coping with a School Emergency

Practical Guidance and Resources for Schools

This document is based on guidance originally developed by Nottinghamshire County Council as part of the ‘Developing Community Resilience through Schools’ project.

Amended and reproduced with kind permissionof Nottinghamshire County Council, 2011 who hold the original copyright©. All rights reserved. Any redistribution or reproduction of part or all of the contents in any form is prohibited other than the following:

  • You may print or download extracts for non-commercial use only, with copyright acknowledged.
  • You may copy the content to individual third parties for non-commercial use only, with copyright acknowledged.
  • Educational institutions and local authorities may reproduce or modify this document for emergency planning purposes.

You may not, except with our express written permission, commercially exploit the content.

Corporate Health and Safety Team, Carlisle East Community Fire Station, Eastern Way, Carlisle.

Tel. 01228 221616, fax 01228 226291, email

CONTENTS

1. INTRODUCTION

2. RISK ASSESSMENT

3. PLANNING

i)SECTION 1 - CONTACT DETAILS

ii)SECTION 2 - ACTIVATION

iii) SECTION 3 - ROLES AND RESPONSIBILITIES

iv) APPENDIX 1 – POST-INCIDENT SUPPORT

v)APPENDIX 2 - BUSINESS CONTINUITY

vi) APPENDIX 3 - SITE INFORMATION

vii)APPENDIX 4 – EVACUATION

viii)APPENDIX 5 - SHELTER

ix)APPENDIX 6 - LOCKDOWN

x)APPENDIX 7 - CLOSING THE SCHOOL

xi)APPENDIX 8 - COMMUNICATIONS

xii)APPENDIX 9 - BOMB THREATS

xiii)APPENDIX 10 - SUSPICIOUS PACKAGES

xiv)APPENDIX 11 - LOG-KEEPING GUIDELINES

4. TRAINING

5. EXERCISING

6. REVIEWING

7. APPENDIX 1 - LINKS TO THE NATIONAL CURRICULUM

1. INTRODUCTION

Parents and carers trust schools to keep their children safe. Thanks to the efforts of staff and governors, schools normally remain a safe haven for children; but schools can become involved in an emergency at any time.

The Department for Education and the Local Authority recommend that schools create and maintain an emergency plan. Historically schools in Cumbria have established Crisis Management Plansor Critical Incident Plans.

This document and its associated resources have been designed to help schools:

  • Develop and review an emergency plan to update/replace their existing plan
  • Provide basic training resources for school staff who could become involved in an incident
  • Provide resources for schools to organise local emergency planning exercises.

Planning for emergencies can save lives. It can prevent an incident getting worse, provide confidence to staff, governors, parents, carers and pupils and enhance your school’s reputation as a safe place to learn and work. Plans which deal with the consequences of large-scale emergencies also help staff to deal with the smaller (but nevertheless potentially distressing) incidents that schools can experience on a regular basis.

The aim of a school emergency plan is to help staff respond effectively to an emergency at school or when on an educational visit.

An emergency plan should be generic enough to cover a range of potential incidents that could occur. Examples include:

  • Serious incidents involving pupils or member of staff (e.g. transport accident)
  • Significant damage to school property (e.g. fire)
  • Criminal activity (e.g. bomb threat)
  • Severe weather (e.g. flooding)
  • Public health incidents (e.g. influenza pandemic)
  • The effects of a disaster in the local community.

Plans and exercises should recognise that a series of events could occur at the same time – e.g. flooding, electrical outage, transport and mobile signal problems.

Your plan should cover procedures for incidents which may occur both during school hours and outside them, including weekends and holidays. Emergency procedures for extended services e.g. cleaners/ caterers should also be included.

Template school emergency plan and supporting resources

A template school emergency plan (previously known as a crisis management plan) and supporting resources are available on the schools’ portal in an editable format at:

Reference Library (all documents) – Health and Safety – Emergencies and Crisis Management

The information which follows in this guidance document relates directly to the resources and templates provided by the Local Authority. Whether you adopt the template or choose to use your own, this guidance can be used to help you adapt your plan as appropriate to your own school and circumstances.

The planning process

Preparing for emergencies is an ongoing process which involves:

  • Risk assessment
  • Planning
  • Training
  • Exercising
  • Reviewing.

Throughout each stage of this process it is important to consult members of staff and governors to gain their involvement and support.

The resources are designed to help train staff and run local exercises. Please note it is not necessary to use all of these resources in order to have an effective emergency plan, nor are these documents intended to supersede any existing arrangements your school has in place if you are satisfied they are sufficient.

The full list of resources provided via the school portal includes:

Coping with a School Emergency – Practical Guidance and Resources for Schools (this document)

TemplateSchool Emergency Plan

Risk assessment

Risks [.doc]

Planning

Distribution log [.xls]

Contents of grab bag [.doc]

Business impact analysis [.doc]

Planning schedule [.doc]

Training

Grab bag demonstration [.ppt]

Site tour training [.ppt]

General awareness training [.ppt]

School EMT training [.ppt]

Exercising

Exercise planning template [.doc]

Tabletop exercise - coach crash [.doc]

Tabletop exercise - severe weather [.doc]

Tabletop exercise - smoke plume [.doc]

Tabletop exercise - food poisoning [.doc]

Reviewing

Debrief form [.doc]

Action plan [.doc]

If you have any queries in relation to the resources please contact the Corporate Health and Safety Team for advice and guidance on 01228 221616 .

The Cabinet Office has developed a single point of reference for emergency planning terminology. This is available from:

Cumbria County Council’s Resilience Unit has developed an Emergencies and Schools Booklet on the schools portalto provide information to headteachers, staff and governors of schools in Cumbria about the County Council’s emergency plans. It explains the likely effects upon schools of an external emergency, such as an escape of chemicals from a nearby factory, road tanker, etc. which either affects schools or requires them to be used as Reception Centres for people evacuated from a particular area. It does not replace a school’s own local emergency plan. The guidance provides a School Action Card which summarises the initial actions which the Police will want you to take if your school is threatened by an emergency.

Support from the local authority

The level of support, before and during and following an incident, will depend on your type of school. Academies and Independent schools will not be able to rely on the support of local authorities to the same degree that maintained schools can. If in doubt please consult the Health and Safety Team for advice. The Local Authority will always aim to assist schools as much as possible where emergencies affect Cumbrian residents.

All Community and Voluntary schools and any other schools directly subscribing to the local authority’s Health and Safety Services can contact the Corporate Health and Safety Team who can offer advice on safety and emergency issues. Once alerted to a potential issue, they can instigate support from a range of other departments and partners. These could include Children’s Services, Educational Psychologists, Resilience Unit, Media Team or Public Health.

Links with other areas of work

Many aspects of work carried out by schools have some relation to emergency planning. Examples include:

  • First aid arrangements
  • General Emergency Evacuation procedures (GEEPS)
  • Personal Emergency Evacuation Plans (PEEPs)
  • Fire safety management procedures
  • Policies for supporting those with medical needs or Special Educational Needs (SEN)
  • Procedures for educational visits
  • School security procedures
  • Health and safety documentation (e.g. risk assessments, asbestos management)
  • Safe practice in Physical Education (PE)
  • Pandemic influenza planning
  • Remote learning arrangements
  • Grief and bereavement guidance.

It can be useful to include relatedinformationand links to further support within your emergency plan. In other cases, it might be more suitable to keep this documentation separate and provide a reference to it where appropriate.

Plan distribution

All staff and governors should have a copy of the plan which can be referred to both during and outside of school hours (including holidays and when on educational visits). Depending on the content it may also be appropriate to distribute it to other parties, such as extended services or the local authority.

As most emergency plans contain sensitive information (e.g. contact details) it is important to keep them secure. All versions of your plan, including hard copies and electronic versions, must be controlled. Hard copies will need to be locked away when unattended and electronic versions should be password protected.

A log for recording distribution of the plan is available within the resources accompanying this document

Your plan will need to be reviewed regularly. It may be useful to keep hard copies of the plan in a ring-bound folder so that frequently updated sections of the plan (e.g. contact details) can be easily replaced.
Consider distributing electronic versions of the plan on an encrypted memory stick which staff can keep with them at all times.
Staff might find it useful to have a summary of the plan (containing those sections deemed most important) on one piece of paper which can be easily carried around.
Remember to provide new members of staff with a copy of the plan at induction. / SUGGESTIONS

Grab bags

Having the necessary resources available during the onset of an emergency can prove very beneficial to the response. It may be helpful to prepare a number of grab bags which contain potentially useful items:

Coping with a School Emergency – January 2016page 1 of 33

  • A first aid kit
  • Wind up torches
  • Wind up radio
  • Two way radio
  • Batteries
  • A whistle
  • A loud hailer
  • A disposable camera
  • Armbands/high-visibility tabards
  • Blankets/ Space blankets
  • Gloves
  • Wellies
  • Log books
  • Stationery
  • Petty cash.

Coping with a School Emergency – January 2016page 1 of 33

Important documents, such as your emergency plan, medical condition/ medication list or insurance policies, could also be included.

It is recommended that the contents of the grab bag are checked on a termly basis and after any equipment has been used. A checklist/ form is available see Contents of grab bag’.

SUGGESTIONS / Grab bags should be stored securely but made easily accessible to staff should an incident occur. Consider storingone in the school building (e.g. office, staff room) and one outside the main building in case the site becomes inaccessible.
Other items impractical to keep within a grab bag (e.g. keys) could be stored elsewhere. It might be useful to add a note inside the grab bag to ensure staff do not forget these crucial items when in a hurry.
Staff on educational visits should consider taking a grab bag with them, containing similar items (but not necessarily identical) to the list above.

2. RISK ASSESSMENT

Schools are potentially susceptibleto a variety of risks; these vary in severity and likelihood. Examples of risks which can affect schools are provided inRisk List. Risks can be to health, property, or as the result of natural events, criminal activity etc.

Before developing an emergency plan it is useful to consider those risks your school could be particularly vulnerable to. When identifying risks to your school it may be useful to obtain a copy of your community risk register; this is available online at:

Note that an emergency plan should be designed to help the school respond to a variety of incidents; it is not necessary to develop a separate plan for each risk.

Risk prevention and mitigation

Risk can be assessed based on a combination of the likelihood of an incident occurring and the potential impact of that incident should it occur. The combination of these two factors determines the level of risk (e.g. ‘high’, ‘medium’, ‘low’).

Wherever possible, measures should be taken to prevent or mitigate risks, especially for those deemed ‘high’. Examples include purchasing flood protection equipment or ensuring sufficient stocks of grit/salt have been procured for use during periods of cold weather.

Any specific hazards relevant to your school (e.g. the location of chemical stores on the premises, nearby watercourses that flood) could be documented within your plan.
If vulnerable to flooding consult the Environment Agencyfor advice:

The Met Office provides an email alert service for severe weather warnings. Schools can register online at:
/ SUGGESTIONS

3. PLANNING

i)SECTION 1 - CONTACT DETAILS

The Department for Education emphasise that schools should maintain up-to-date contact details for use during an emergency. Knowing who to contact, and being able to contact them, is fundamental in responding successfully to an incident.

Your plan should contain up-to-date contact details for all those who may need to be contacted during an emergency. The template plan has been populated with LA key contacts at the time of production but these should be checked each time the plan is reviewed.

Examples include:

Coping with a School Emergency – January 2016page 1 of 33

  • School staff
  • Governors
  • Pupils
  • Parents/carers
  • Extended services
  • The emergency services
  • The local authority key contacts
  • Local radio stations.

Arrangements for contacting people during school hours and outside school hours often vary, so it is important to make such distinctions within the plan. Alternative methods of contact for staff (e.g. mobile phone number, home telephone number) and back-up contact details for organisations should be included wherever possible.

This is the most important section of your emergency plan and must be updated on a regular basis.

SUGGESTIONS / At least one copy of the plan held off-site should include contact details of pupils and parents/carers.
Specific arrangements forcontacting pupils and parents/carers (e.g. telephone trees, text messaging systems) can be documented in appendix 8 of the template school emergency plan.
It is important that the emergency services and local authority are able to contact a member of staff if an incident occurs outside school hours. Ensure that your local authority is provided with up-to-date emergency contact details on a regular basis. The Corporate Health and Safety Team will request that you notify them of your emergency contacts at the start of each new school year.
During school holidays it can also be useful to know when key holders are unavailable.

ii)SECTION 2 - ACTIVATION

Potentially any member of staff could be notified of an emergency, so it is important that all employees are aware of the plan and a copy is held securely but made readily available (e.g.in a drawer near the telephone in the school office). Throughout the response to an emergency staff should maintain an incident log to record any important details.

When an incident occurs, the priority is to safeguard those on-site (i.e. pupils, staff, parents/carers, visitors) and alert the emergency services if necessary. Other organisations, such as the local authority, should then be informed as appropriate.

Some emergencies might affect the local community but not the school directly. In such instances it may be suitable to activate certain aspects of the plan (e.g. post incident support) to help those affected.

iii)SECTION 3 - ROLES AND RESPONSIBILITIES

This section of the plan includes generic roles and responsibilities for staff during an emergency and in the recovery phase. The actions required to respond will depend on the nature of the emergency; it is unlikely that staff would need to implement all of the actions outlined in this section during oneincident.

Initial response, ongoing response, recovery

Actions taken during the response to an emergency can have a direct impact on the recovery phase. When responding to an incident staff should consider the long-term implications of any decisions made.

Once the response has finished,all those who were originally notified of the incident should be informed and a recovery strategy should be established.Support may be available from the local authority in organising remedial work to property and providing post-incident support to pupils and staff.

The recovery phase may last for a significant period of time. Reconstruction work, formal inquiries or police investigations into an incident will require the co-operation and support of school staff, pupils and parents/carers.

School Emergency Management Team (SEMT)

The headteacher will usually take overall responsibility for co-ordinating the response to an emergency. If this is not appropriate a pre-agreed nominee should be identified (and appropriately trained) to undertake this role.

Unless the incident is very minor, it will be impossible for the headteacher alone to implement all the actions required on behalf of the school. A School Emergency Management Team (SEMT) should be established at the onset of an incident which can assist the headteacher in managing the response.

The following roles could be covered by the SEMT:

  • Co-ordination (i.e. headteacher or pre-agreed nominee)
  • Business continuity
  • Communications
  • Log-keeping
  • Media management
  • Resources
  • Welfare.
Assigning staff to the SEMT

Nominees for the SEMT should be identified prior to an emergency and are likely to comprise a variety of school employees:

  • Site manager/caretaker
  • Business manager/bursar
  • Teachers
  • Office staff.

The size of an SEMT will vary depending on the size of your school and the nature of the emergency. In some cases more than one member of staff will need to be assigned to a role (such as ‘welfare’ which can prove especially labour intensive).

It might not always be possible to nominate a full SEMT; in such a situation employees will have to undertake more than one role. Indeed, in smaller schools the majority of responsibilities may be assigned to the headteacher with the support of office staff and the site manager/caretaker. In these circumstances it is particularly useful to call for additional support (e.g. from the local authority) as soon as possible.