Glossary
(The) Act
The Civil Contingencies Act 2004. This Act sets the framework for civil protection at the local level in the UK.
Body holding area
An area close to the scene of an emergency where the dead can be held temporarily before transfer to the temporary mortuary or mortuary.
Business continuity forum
Grouping of organisations to share and co-ordinate business continuity plans.
Business continuity management ( BCM)
A management process that helps manage the risks to the smooth running of an organisation or delivery of a service, ensuring that it can operate to the extent required in the event of a disruption.
Business continuity plan ( BCP)
A documented set of procedures and information intended to deliver continuity of critical functions in the event of a disruption.
Business impact analysis
A method of assessing the impacts that might result from an incident and the levels of resources and time required for recovery.
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 either 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.
Casualty bureau
Police central contact and information point for all records and data relating to casualties, evacuees and others affected by an incident. The casualty bureau does not provide information: it collects, collates and processes information received.
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 areco-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 defence
Preparedness by the civil community to deal with hostile attack.
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.
Control centre
Operations centre from which the management and co-ordination of response to an emergency is carried out.
Control of Major Accident Hazards Regulations 1999
Regulations applying to the chemical industry and to some storage sites where threshold quantities of dangerous substances, as identified in the Regulations, are kept or used.
Controlled area
The area contained - if practicable - by the inner cordon.
Cost-recovery basis
Situation where an organisation can charge another organisation for providing a service, but with no positive or negative cost implications. No profit can be made by the organisation providing the service.
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 devolved administrations.
Cross-boundary co-operation
Co-operation between Category 1 and 2 responders across the boundaries between SCG areas.
Data Protection Act
The Data Protection Act 1998 came into force in March 2000. It requires organisations that hold data about individuals to do so securely and to use it only for specific purposes. It also gives an individual the right, with certain exemptions, to see that personal data.
Delegation
A formal agreement whereby one organisation's functions will be carried out by another. This does not absolve the organisation of any duty, merely re-designating the form of delivery.
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.
Environmental Information (Scotland) Regulations 2004
These regulations give access rights to any person of any nationality to environmental information held by an organisation, such as water pollution statistics and health and safety policies.
Exercise
A simulation to validate an emergency or business continuity plan, rehearse key staff or test systems and procedures.
Exercise Directing Team
The team that assists in designing an exercise and then directing the exercise play.
Exercise Director
The individual who is charged with designing and directing an exercise.
Exercise Programme
Planned series of exercises to validate plans and to train and develop staff competencies.
Family Assistance Centre
Secure area set aside for use and interviewing of family and friends arriving at the scene (or location associated with an incident, such as at an airport or port). Established by the police in consultation with the local authority.
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.
Generic local assessment
Assessment provided by central government to the local level.
Generic plan
A single plan designed to cope with a wide range of emergencies.
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 structures (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.
Hazard identification
A process by which potential hazards are identified.
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.
Inner cordon
Surrounds and protects the immediate scene of an incident.
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 range of disruptive challenges. It requires a coherent multi-agency effort.
Joint working
A single programme being delivered jointly by a number of organisations.
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 LGDs, including Scottish Executive LGDs, on the UK Resilience website.
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 role 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.
Minister (of the Crown)
UK Government Minister with power to act under the Civil Contingencies Act, usually relating to the issuing of guidance and regulations for General Category responders, but also including urgent powers of direction (for example, in times of catastrophic emergency or to deal with newly arising risks) and monitoring powers.
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.
Multi-level plan
A plan, usually initiated and maintained by central government or a regional office, which relies on the participation and co-operation of Category 1 and 2 responders. The plan will cover more than one level of government.
Mutual aid
An agreement between organisations, within the same sector or across sectors and across boundaries, to provide assistance with additional resource during an emergency which may go beyond the resources of an individual organisation.
News Co-ordination Centre ( NCC)
The NCC works with the UK lead government department to provide co-ordinating media and public communications support during a crisis, emergency or major event.
Operational level
This is the level at which the management of "hands-on" work is undertaken at the incident site or impacted areas.
Outcome description
An indication of the scale of a generic type of event (flooding) in terms of its intrinsic or immediate characteristics (rainfall or area flooded). Outcome description is to be distinguished from impact (see above).
Outer cordon
Seals off a controlled area around an incident to which unauthorised persons are not allowed access.
Outsourcing
Where a duty is contracted to a third party on a commercial basis, either by an individual organisation or collectively.
Plan maintenance
Procedures for ensuring that plans are kept in readiness for emergencies and that planning documents are up to date.
Plan validation
Measures to ensure that a plan meets the purpose for which it was designed, through exercises, tests, staff "buy-in" and so on.
Planning assumptions
Descriptions of the types and scales of consequences for which organisations should be prepared to respond. These will be informed by the risk assessment process.
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.
Public information line
A help-line set up during and in the aftermath of an emergency to deal with information requests from the public and to take pressure off the Police Casualty Bureau (which has a separate and distinct purpose).
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.
Recovery time objectives
Identifies the time by which critical functions and/or their dependencies must be recovered.
Rendezvous point
Point to which all vehicles and resources arriving at the outer cordon are directed.
Resilience
The ability of the community, services, area or infrastructure to withstand the consequences of an incident.
Rest centre
Premises used for temporary accommodation of evacuees from 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 appetite
Willingness of an organisation to accept a defined level of risk.
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 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 Co-ordinating Group Forum
A Forum of Scottish Co-ordinating Groups to facilitate information sharing and the development of good practice.
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 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 co-ordination of the central government emergency response led by the Scottish Executive.
Scottish Media Emergency Forum ( SMEF)
Group of representatives from the media (editors, journalists), government, emergency services and other organisations involved in dealing with an emergency, meeting to plan and discuss communications challenges and common interests in planning for and responding to emergencies.
Sensitive information
Information that is not reasonably accessible to the public because its disclosure to the public would, or would be likely to (a) adversely affect national security, (b) adversely affect public safety, (c) prejudice the commercial interests of any person; or information that is personal data, within the meaning of section 1(1) of the Data Protection Act 1998, disclosure of which would breach that Act.
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.
Survivor reception centre
Secure area where survivors not requiring acute hospital treatment can be taken for short-term shelter, first aid, interview and documentation.
Survivors
Those who are directly affected by an emergency, but not killed by it. Including those who have been injured, traumatised or displaced.
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 body holding storage prior to bodies being released before final disposal.
Threat
The intent and capacity to cause loss of life or create adverse consequences to human welfare (including property and the supply of essential services and commodities), the environment or security.
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.