APPENDIX 8 GLOSSARY
(The) Act
The Civil Contingencies Act 2004. This Act sets the framework for civil protection at the local level in the UK.
Business continuity management ( BCM)
A management process that helps manage the risks to the smooth running of an organisation of delivery of a service, ensuring that it can operate to the extent required in the event of a disruption.
Capabilities Programme
The UK and Scottish Capabilities Programmes comprise of a range of capabilities that underpin the UK's resilience to disruptive challenges. These capabilities are structural (local response), functional (decontamination) or essential services (financial services).
Capability
A demonstrable capacity or ability to respond to and recover from a particular threat or hazard. Originally a military term, it includes personnel, equipment, training and such matters as plans and the concept of operations.
Capability gap
The gap between the current ability to provide a response and the actual response assessed to be required for a given threat or hazard. Plans should be made to reduce or eliminate this gap, if the risk justifies it.
Capability status
Assessment of the level of capability in place.
Capability target
The level of capability that the planning assumptions and the plan require.
Catastrophic incident or emergency
An incident or emergency that has a high and potentially widespread impact and requires immediate central government attention and support.
Category 1 responder
In Scottish guidance a person or body listed in part 2 of Schedule 1 to the Act. These responders are likely to be at the core of the response to most emergencies and, as such, they are subject to the full range of civil protection duties in the Act.
Category 2 responder
In Scottish guidance a person or body listed in Part 4 of Schedule 1 to the Act. These are co-operating responders who are less likely to be involved in the heart of multi-agency planning work, but will be heavily involved in preparing for incidents affecting their sectors. The Act requires them to co-operate and share information with other Category 1 and 2 responders.
Civil protection
Preparedness to deal with a wide range of emergencies from localised flooding to terrorist attack.
Community resilience
The ability of a local community to respond to and recover from emergencies.
Community Risk Register ( CRR)
An assessment of the risks within a local resilience area agreed by the Local resilience Forum as a basis for supporting the preparation of emergency plans.
Consequences
Impact resulting from the occurrence of a particular hazard or threat, measured in terms of the numbers of lives lost, people injured, the scale of damage to property and the disruption to essential services and commodities.
Critical function
A service or operation the continuity of which a Category 1 responder needs to ensure, in order to meet its business and civil protection objectives.
Cross-border co-operation
Co-operation between Category 1 and 2 responders across boundaries with developed administrations.
Cross-boundary co-operation
Co-operation between Category 1 and 2 responders across the boundaries between SCG areas.
Emergency
An event or situation that threatens serious damage to human welfare in a place in the UK or to the environment of a place in the UK, or war or terrorism which threatens serious damage to the security of the UK. To constitute an emergency this event or situation must require the implementation of special arrangements by one or more Category 1 responder.
Emergency management
The process of managing emergencies, including the maintenance of procedures to assess, prevent, prepare for, respond to and recover from emergencies.
Emergency planning ( EP)
Development and maintenance of agreed procedures to prevent, reduce, control, mitigate and take other actions in the event of an emergency.
Emergency planning cycle
A continuous process of assessing the risk of and preparing for emergencies supported by procedures to keep staff in readiness and validate plans. Plans should also be reviewed and, if necessary, revised when they have been activated in response to an emergency.
Exercise
A simulation to validate an emergency or business continuity plan, rehearse key staff or test systems and procedures.
General Category 1 responder
A person or body listed in Part 1 of Schedule 1 to the Act. These responders are likely to be at the core of the response to most emergencies and, as such, they are subject to the full range of civil protection duties in the Act. Used in Scotland to indicate UK organisations subject to UK legislation but active in Scotland.
General Category 2 responder
A person or body listed in Part 3 of Schedule 1 to the Act. These are co-operating responders who are less likely to be involved in the heart of multi-agency planning work, but will be heavily involved in preparing for incidents affecting their sectors. The Act requires them to co-operate and share information with other Category 1 and 2 responders. Used in Scotland to indicate UK organisations subject to UK legislation but active in Scotland.
Hazard
An accidental or naturally occurring event or situation with the potential to cause physical (or psychological) harm to members of the community (including loss of life), damage or losses to property, and/or disruption to the environment or to structure (economic, social, political) upon which a community's way of life depends.
Hazard assessment
A component of the risk assessment process in which identified hazards are assessed for future action.
Impact
The scale of the consequences of a hazard or threat expressed in terms of a reduction in human welfare, damage to the environment and loss of security.
Integrated emergency management ( IEM)
An approach to preventing and managing emergencies which entails key activities - assessment, prevention, preparation, response and recovery. IEM is geared to the idea of building greater overall resilience in the face of a broad rage of disruptive challenges. It requires a coherent multi-agency effort.
Lead government department ( LGD)
Government department which, in the event of an emergency, co-ordinates central government activity. The department which will take the lead varies depending on the nature of the emergency. The Government regularly publishes a full list of LGD including Scottish Executive LGDs on the UK Resilience web-site.
Lead organisation
Organisation appointed by a group of organisations to speak or act on their behalf or to take the lead in a given situation, with the other organisations' support. The exact role of the lead organisation depends on the circumstances in which the lead roles is being operated.
Lead responder
A Category 1 responder charged with carrying out a duty under the Act on behalf of a number of responder organisations, so as to co-ordinate its delivery and to avoid unnecessary duplication.
Major incident
This term is commonly used by emergency services personnel to describe an emergency as defined in the Act.
Media plan
A key plan for ensuring co-operation between Category 1 and 2 responders and the media in communicating with the public during and after an emergency.
Multi-agency plan
A plan, usually prepared and maintained by a lead responder, on behalf of a number of organisations who need to co-ordinate and integrate their preparations for an emergency.
Operational level
This is the level at which the management of 'hands-on' work is undertaken at the incident site or impacted areas.
Public awareness
A level of knowledge within the community about risk and preparedness for emergencies, including actions the public authorities will take and actions the public should take.
Readiness level
An assessment of the extent to which a capability meets the agreed capability target.
Recovery
The process of restoring and rebuilding the community, and supporting groups particularly affected, in the aftermath of an emergency.
Regional Capability Coordination Plan
Plan to support local planning by ensuring coherence and identifying resources, available at both local and regional level, across the region.
Resilience
The ability of the community, services, area of infrastructure to withstand the consequences of an incident.
Risk
Risk measures the significance of a potential event in terms of likelihood and impact. In the context of the Civil Contingencies Act, the events in question are emergencies.
Risk assessment
A structured and auditable process of identifying potentially significant events, assessing their likelihood and impacts, and then combining these to provide an overall assessment of risk, as a basis for further decisions and action.
Risk management
The culture, processes and structures that are directed towards the effective management of risks.
Risk priority
The relative importance of the treatment(s) required for the management of the risk, based on the risk rating and the additional capabilities required to manage risk.
Risk rating matrix
Matrix of impact and likelihood for an event, to ascertain the risk.
Risk treatment
A systematic process of deciding which risks can be eliminated or reduced by remedial action and which must be tolerated.
Scottish Category 1 responder
A person or body listed in Part 2 of the schedule 1 to the Act subject to regulations and guidance issued by Scottish Ministers.
Scottish Category 2 responder
A person or body listed in Part 4 of schedule 1 to the Act. These responders are subject to regulations and guidance issued by Scottish Ministers.
Scottish emergencies Co-ordinating Committee ( SECC)
A multi-agency group in Scotland which ensures that steps are taken to respond to the changing risk environment and determines the National (Scotland wide) strategy for the development of civil protection. The membership of SECC can be adjusted according to circumstances but it includes representatives of Scottish Executive departments, emergency services, local authorities and the Armed Forces. The SECC may meet at a time of emergency to advise on development of the national strategy.
Scottish Executive Emergency Room ( SEER)
A facility within the Scottish Executive Emergency Room for communication, information processing and Coordination of the central government emergency response led by the Scottish Executive.
Scottish Media emergency Forum ( MEF)
Groups of representatives from the media (editors, journalists), government, emergency services and other organisations involved in dealing with a emergency, meeting to plan and discuss communications challenges and common interests in planning for and responding to emergencies.
Small or medium-sized enterprise ( SME)
Defined by the DTI as a business with less than 250 employees.
Specific plan
A plan designed to cope with a specific type of emergency, where the generic plan is likely to be insufficient.
Temporary mortuary
A building or structure whose function is to provide an area where post-mortem and identification examinations of victims can take place and, where necessary, provide a body holding storage prior to bodies being released before final disposal.
Threat assessment
A component of the risk assessment process in which identified threats are assessed for future action.
Voluntary sector
Bodies, other than public authorities or local authorities that carry out activities otherwise than for profit.
Vulnerability
The susceptibility of a community, services or infrastructure to damage or harm by a realised hazard or threat.
Vulnerable establishment
An institution housing vulnerable people during the day or at night.
Warning and informing the public
Establishing arrangements to warn the public when an emergency is likely to occur or has occurred and to provide them with information and advice subsequently