Critical Incident Management Policy
Finance Committee Issue 1.01
ROBERT BRUCE MIDDLE SCHOOL
Critical Incident Management Policy Statement
Statement Document History
Issue / Date / Comment Revise Dec 20161.01 / Dec 2014 / Approved by Governing Body
Introduction
Robert Bruce Middle School recognises that critical incidents can arise that have the potential to impact seriously on the safety of children, staff and the School’s business continuity. The Board of Governors further recognises that effective planning, management and rehearsal are the keys to success in the event of a critical incident affecting the School and assisting all concerned in coping with emergencies if and when tragic incidents occur.
POLICY: Robert Bruce Middle School is committed to meeting its duty of care obligations in providing the highest possible standard of health and safety for pupils, staff, parents and visitors and other persons working at or for the School. It will respond swiftly and effectively in the event of a critical incident and implement an integrated approach to the management of risks associated with the situation. Furthermore the School will ensure it is compliant with relevant legislation and EU Standards so that exposure of persons to health and safety risks, arising from the critical incidents, are avoided or minimised and physical or psychological trauma are reduced.
This policy should be read in conjunction with the Health and Safety, Safeguarding, Disaster Recovery policies, and The Critical Incident Management Handbook for Schools by Tina Ray, etc ,etc ……………
In the context of this policy a Critical Incident means an event which may cause or is likely to cause extreme physical and /or emotional distress to pupils, staff, parents/guardians and other workers or visitors to the School and which may be regarded as outside the normal range of experience of the people affected.
A Critical Incident:
· may not necessarily require an initial emergency response;
· may significantly disrupt the operations of the School and impact on business continuity; and/or
· may have the potential to bring the School into disrepute; and/or
· may impact on a number of areas of the School, for example pupils’ family life, staff work, physical assets or Information Technology (IT).
Examples of events which may be deemed critical incidents include:
· any fatality, near fatality or incident likely to affect seriously a number of staff and/or pupils;
· serious traffic accidents eg an accident during a student field trip;
· murder or suicide involving students/staff and their family members;
· development of a Pandemic;
· fire, explosion, bomb threat;
· chemical, radiation or bio-hazard spillage;
· hold-up or attempted robbery;
· threats of violence to staff/pupils;
· storms/natural disasters that cause major damage;
· major failure in internal processes eg discovery of a significant fraudulent activity;
· interruption to utilities (eg electricity, water) for an extended period; and
· disruption to ICT technology that impacts on the ability of the School to deliver its services for an extended period to pupils or staff thus impacting on work completion.
Emergency Critical Incident means those incidents which involve the possibility of immediate or imminent threat, physical and/or emotional distress to staff, pupils and other visitors to the School; and which may be regarded as outside the normal range of experience of the people affected.
Non emergency Critical Incident means those critical incidents which do not involve the need for an initial emergency response but which nevertheless involve the possibility of threat, physical and/or emotional distress to staff, pupils and other visitors to the School; and which may be regarded as outside the normal range of experience of the people affected.
Objective
This policy provides a framework for the School’s response to a Critical Incident in the period immediately following the incident, and for its management of the longer term consequences of such an incident.
This policy and the Critical Incident Procedures are compiled to provide guidance and to define the roles and responsibilities of key staff in:
■ the management, co-ordination and communication of information about a critical incident; and
■ the recovery and post incident review of the critical incident and its handling.
It is impossible to plan for every eventuality and by their nature critical incidents will disorientate and often overwhelm those involved. The format set down should provide focus for those with responsibility and enable a worthwhile whole school response.
Critical Incident Prevention
In an effort to minimise the risk of such incidents occurring, the Headteacher of the School or a person designated by them, for example the Health and Safety Officer, will be responsible for the following on-going procedures:
· Organisation of practice drills to test the plan
· Regular review of the plan
· Arranging relevant Staff Development Programmes, where necessary
· Monitor staff and pupil adherence to the school Health & Safety Policy
· Provide appropriate training on the prevention, management and response to incidents that may occur.
Emergency Management
· Emergency management involves the use of common sense.
· Calm and systematic approaches will reduce instability and confusion.
· Panic and over-emotional reactions are counterproductive.
· Pupils’ response to an emergency will depend on how the adults around them are reacting.
· Pupils need consistency and direction – it is the role of the School to provide this within a supportive structure where adults are still in charge.
· One person will be appointed to release information ( with advice from the PR governor).
· All questions which cannot be readily answered should be referred to the Headteacher
The Robert Bruce Middle School Critical Incident Recovery Team (CIRT) will manage the response to and recovery from a critical incident and will have the authority to make decisions in line with agreed policy and procedures. The CIRT will comprise the following staff:
Emergency Contact NumbersHeadteacher / Karen D’Angelo / 07791200096
Deputy & Assistant Headteachers / Morine James
Susannah King
Paul Henry
Paul Clair
Leigh Pointon / 01234301222
School Business Manager / Agnes Cunningham / 01234301222
Chair of Governors / Shan Hunt / 01234852072
IT Facilities Manager / Charlie Sherman
Robert Earl / 01234301222
School Educational Visits Co-ordinator / Janet Laycock / 01234301222
Site Manager / Jamie Bush / 07432038349
School First Aiders / Carol Reid
Cheryl Bleakley
Rita DiCarlo / 01234301222
Other specialists may be invited to join the CIRT as required, to ensure the incident is efficiently and effectively dealt with.
Where feasible, arrangements are in place to share resources with neighbouring schools in the event of an incident.
Monitoring & Review
This policy statement is the responsibility of the Governing Body's ??????? sub-committee and is authorised by the Governing Body. The attached implementation procedures are the responsibility of the Headteacher but will be monitored by the ??????? sub-committee.
The committee will ask for a report annually from the Headteacher.
The committee will review the policy statement regularly or as appropriate under changing circumstances and at least annually.
Dec 2014
Page S1 of 23
Critical Incident Management Policy
IMPLEMENTATION PROCEDURES & NOTES
The School’s response to a Critical Incident will include the following stages:
Stage 1: IMMEDIATE Response – i.e. within hours of the incident occurring
1. Obtain and collate information relating to the incident – uncertainty breeds rumour and accurate information is essential;
2. Gather and brief the CIRT (Critical Incident Recovery Team) – brief the team, allocate roles and responsibilities;
3. Trigger support from the Governing Body and other contacts on emergency list – establish clearly who is going to contact whom;
4. Set up an incident management room and dedicated phone line – to deal with calls from anxious parents etc. CIRT should agree a factual statement and avoid speculation;
5. Contact families affected – must be done quickly and with sensitivity. Consistency of information is vital. It may be appropriate for families to come to school and immediate emotional support could be a possibility;
6. Make arrangements to inform other parents – may need to take advice from Legal team, especially if there is the possibility of legal liability. CIRT may wish to send a letter to parents, or prepare a leaflet.
7. Inform teaching and other school staff – staff need to be cautioned about talking to the media or responding to questions from reporters. It is vital that all staff in contact with pupils are kept well informed and feel secure in handling comments or questions from pupils.
8. Inform pupils – can be done in small or large groups depending on which is most appropriate. Care needs to be exercised to protect both children and adults closely involved in the incident. It is important that children receive a consistent account of the incident allowing for differences in their ability to understand.
9. Encourage people involved to talk – the incident may need to be discussed before children go home for the day, for both pupils and adults.
10. Deal with the media – most important to seek advice before agreeing to speak to or be interviewed by the media. If this is not an option then an agreed text for release should be prepared by the CIRT and a designated spokesperson briefed and prepared to respond on the School’s behalf.
11. Devise a plan for handling the reactions and feelings of people affected – the most common reactions will include denial, distress, guilt, anger and helplessness. CIRT need to consider outside professionals to support and debrief staff and pupils affected by the incident. Those providing support also need support. At this point the CIRT will need to plan their short term reaction to the incident.
Stage 2: SHORT TERM ACTION
1. Reunion of children with their families – especially where the incident occurs outside the school. Mostly children will need to be brought home, but sometimes parents and families need to visit the scene of the incident to understand how they deal with repercussions in terms of children’s fears etc.
2. Managing staff – support needs organising for all staff, preferably from within the school, but using outside agencies if appropriate. Staff monitoring should be a priority, even members of the CIMT. If a crisis persists over many hours staff become tired, weary and upset and this affects their powers to make sensible decisions.
3. Encourage pupils to talk – activate strategies for enabling young people to talk about the incident, and their feelings, using outside agencies if appropriate. Staff will need briefing about ways to help the children affected by the incident, and how to identify patterns of behaviour etc. This may have implications for the wider curriculum i.e. training in bereavement counselling for staff, provision of a range of books, PSHE discussions etc…
4. Debriefing meeting – it may be appropriate to hold a debriefing meeting for staff, children and parents to:
· clarify what has happened
· allow for sharing reactions
· reassure people that reactions are normal
· mobilise resources e.g. parental support groups
An experienced person, possibly someone from outside the school community, should lead this meeting.
Formal and informal recognition of rituals – it is important to remember to express sympathy to families of the hurt or bereaved. Visits to children/staff in hospital. Pupils may wish to send cards and letters. The school may also need to consider attendance at funerals, and/or the desirability of holding special assemblies or memorial services. Anniversaries are also key times when support and sensitivity are required.
Re-establishing routines – every attempt should be made to provide continuity for the children. The return to school of staff or pupils directly affected by the crisis will need to be managed carefully and with sensitivity but the re-establishment of routine is an important stage in emotional recovery.
Stage 3: MEDIUM TERM ACTION
1. Return to school for staff or pupils after long absence – reintegration will need to be planned carefully, and may involve home visits prior to return, part time attendance initially, reducing workloads, putting in place mentoring process etc.
2. Consulting professionals – consideration should be given to consulting the Educational Psychology Services for support and guidance, especially to help those showing unusual or prolonged reaction to the incident.
3. Keeping parents informed – it may be appropriate to produce a leaflet for parents giving guidance on the possible delayed reactions of pupils to an incident and making suggestions to help them deal with these.
4. Support for staff – ongoing monitoring and support for staff is a major consideration. CIRT especially will not be immune to reaction from their ordeal.
Stage 4: LONG TERM ACTION
Monitoring the vulnerable – the effects of a crisis can reverberate for years, and it is especially important that new staff and pupils are briefed in the school’s history to help them understand and deal with potential repercussions especially at anniversary times.
Marking anniversaries – these difficult times need to be treated with sensitivity. Some suggestions for schools to mark anniversaries are by annual concerts, memorial services, memorial prize giving ceremonies, memorial gardens etc …
Legal processes – the length of time taken over some legal processes can prolong the recovery process following a critical incident. CIRT may need to plan for this especially where staff may be involved attending legal processes, and facing extended emotional trauma.
Curriculum implications – it may be appropriate to schedule INSET training for staff in loss counselling, bereavement etc.
APPENDIX 1 - CRITICAL INCIDENT ACTION PLAN
Initial Response Checklist
(This checklist is a guide for the School’s initial response, it is not intended to be an exhaustive list)
Human Resources
r Account for all personnel
r Contact and liaise with next of kin
r Counselling service requirements considered
r Maintain an awareness of locations of injured personnel and conditions
r Co-ordinate additional or temporary staffing as required
r Check & file appropriate workers compensation claims
r Assist with employees’ incident related benefit payments and reimbursements
r Ensure Occupational Health &Safety requirements are maintained