What is a Major Incident?
In this piece of work I will be looking at what a major incident is and what the different types are. Furthermore I will be describing three different types of major incidents and the cause of why they happened and then identify a recent major incident and the cause of why it happened.
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The definition of a major incident
Below is to definitions on that has been extracted from the government’s major incident procedure manual in its 7th edition and the second from the civil contingencies Act
Government’s major incident procedure definition
The definition is a major incident is an emergency that requires the implementation of special arrangements by one or more of the emergency services and will generally include the involvement or indirect involvement of large numbers of people this can be in the form of
- The rescue and transportation of a large number of casualties
- The large scale combined resources of the fire and rescue services, police service and ambulance service
- The mobilization and organization of the emergency service and support services for example, local authority to cater for the threat of, death and serious injury or homelessness to a large number of people.
- The handling of a large number of enquires likely to be generated both from the public, the news and media usually made to the police.
Civil Contingencies Act Definition for Major Incident
An event or situation which threatens serious damage to human welfare in a place in the UK, the environment of a place in the UK or the security of a place in the UK.
A major incident can come if different forms for different reasons these can be:
- Natural Causes / Flooding is an example of a natural disaster one that has occurred in England an exsample within the UK would be the Carlisle flood in 2005
- Technological Causes / A technological incident is where technology has failed or malfunctioned and exsample of this can be the Red Arrows Crash early this year in 20011
- Terrorism / Terrorism is the systematic use of terror and violence to intimidate civilians to seek political or ideological goals this has been a focal point for the last decade in the UK and example can be the London Bombings
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The different types of Major Incidents
Below shows the different types of major incidents and to provide an explanation into what caused them
Natural Disaster
A natural disaster is the effect of a natural hazard this can come in the form of a flood, tornado, and hurricane this can lead to damage to the environment finical problems by effecting the economy and even human loss. An exsample of this is the Carlisle flood in 2005 where heavy rain fall was prolonged over high ground near the Lake District and the Pennines the large amount of water drained into the river Eden which is near where Carlisle is located causing severe foods.
A natural disaster is the effect of a natural hazard this can come in the form of a flood, tornado, and hurricane this can lead to damage to the environment finical problems by effecting the economy and even human loss. An exsample of this is the Carlisle flood in 2005 where heavy rain fall was prolonged over high ground near the Lake District and the Pennines the large amount of water drained into the river Eden which is near where Carlisle is located causing severe foods.
As a result of the flooding there was widespread destruction of house and businesses and schools where closed there was vast disruption of the transport systems and networks. The flooding resulted in the deaths of three people this disaster utilised all the emergency service organizations.
Technological Disasters
A technological disaster is a man – made disaster due to a sudden or a slow breakdown. It can also be when there is a technical fault with a system or equipment. A technological disaster can also be caused with a voluntary or involuntary human action that can cause damage and destruction. Technological disasters can cause death, pollution as well as environmental damage.
An exsample of a technological disaster is the red arrows crash that occurred earlier this year when a gifted member of the red arrows team Flt Lt Jon Egging crashed after completing a demonstration at air show it crashed as a result of a technical fault with his aircraft and witness saw a flash before the aircraft began to lose flight he heroically struggled to stop the aircraft from crashing into nearby houses and crashed it into a nearby field the investigation is on going
Health Related
This is where there is a wide spread of infection or disease that is harmful to human health / animal health and the environment an exsample of this is the foot and mouth crisis in the United Kingdom in 2001.
Foot and mouth disease is a viral infection that cause the animal to have flue for 3 days before blisters form on the inside of the mouth and feet that can rupture causing lameness and is highly infectious to humans
This outbreak caused major crises in the British agricultural and tourist industry. There was a reporting of 2,000 infected farms and countryside around the UK as a result of the vast wide spread of the infection 10 million sheep and cattle had to be killed in order to prevent and halt any future infection.
One of the moist badly infected areas was Cumbria with a confirmed 843 cases of foot and mouth disease.
As a result of the outbreak it cost the UK £8 billion
Terrorism
Terrorism is the systematic use of terror and violence to intimidate civilians to seek political or ideological goals this has been a focal point for the last decade in the UK and example can be the London Bombings. The July 7th bombings in 2005 were a series of coordinated suicide attacks on the people of London using the London transport system in the early morning rush hour. Four terrorists detonated bombs three on the London underground and one on a double decker bus 50 people were killed and 700 where badly injured it was one of the worst mainland attacks on Britain since the IRA
The police revealed the statement tapes of the terrorists say that the bombing was the result of Britain’s armed forces in operational deployment in Iraq and Afghanistan.
People are still traumatised by these events whether it be mental or physical
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Major Incident Case Study London July 7th Bombings
In this section of my work I will be looking at a case study for my Responding and management of major incidents. The case study that I have chosen is the July 7 bombings which occurred on the London transport system in 2005
Type of major incident: Terrorist Attack
A terrorist attack is a surprise and calculated attack that uses deliberate violence and force against a civilian population in order to cause mass panic and even loss of life for political or ideological goals.
Cause: The incident was caused when terrorist’s detonated four bombs on the London transport systems. Three of the devices where detonated in quick succession on the London underground and the fourth explosive device was detonated on a double decker bus in Tavistock Square.
The explosive where homemade improvised devices that were produced from organic peroxide that was packed into the terrorists ruck sacks.
Reason Behind the attack: when the police service carried out their investigation into the attack they found two video statements that where produced by two of the bombers. The terrorist stated that the reason for the attack on London’s civilians was retaliation for the United Kingdom’s operational involvement in Iraq and Afghanistan.
This is a clip from Sky News Covering the Incident
What Happened?
At 8:50 Am on 7th July 2005 there improvised explosive devices exploded on the London underground with a time succession of 50 seconds of each other
- The 1st exploded on a circle lines subsurface train which was number 204. The 204 was traveling between Liverpool Street And Aldgate the explosion occurred in the third carriage of the train
- The 2nd explosion occurred in the second carriage of the second train which was another sub-surface train number 216traving from Edgware Road to Paddington
- The 3rd explosion occurred in the rear of the first carriage on deep level underground train number 311 on the Piccadilly line From Kings Cross St Pancras to Russell’s Square
4th Explosion
The 4th explosion was not on the underground system but on the top of a London stagecoach number 30 double decker
Bus which its route was Marble Arch to Hackney wick the explosion occurred at 9:47 Am
Emergency Services
During this major incident all three of the emergency services where used this includes the Police, Fire and Rescue service and ambulance service.
The Aftermath
As a result of this terrorist attack 52 people were killed including the four terrorists a future 700 people were Very badly wounded and some people have still not recovered from the trauma. There was communication problems with mobile phone companies reporting they had reached there mass capacity at 10:00 Am having to prioritise emergency service calls. There were also traffic and transport problems central London was on lock down and the police service had to redirect vehicles out of the city also the rail network was closed off which had a knock on Effect all over the country
The Civil Contingencies act 2004 (c.36) is an act of parliament of the United Kingdom that establishes a coherent Frame work for planning and responding form local level to national level. This legislation replaced the former civil defence and emergencies act from the 20th centuries
The Civil contingency act states that there is two different categories’ of responders this in a major incident these are the following:
Category One: this group of responders are known as core responders these consist of the following services and organizations:
- Police forces, including the British Transport Police
- Fire services
- Emergency medical services in the United Kingdom
- HM Coastguard
- Local authorities
- Port Health Authorities
- Primary Care Trusts, Acute Trusts, Foundation Trusts (and Welsh equivalents), Health Protection Agency
- Environment Agency and the Scottish Environment Protection Agency
Category Two: this group of responders are in a supporting capacity to the core responders of category one they consists mainly of utility companies and transport companies for example:
Utilities
- Electricity distributors and transmitters
- Gas distributors
- Water and sewerage undertakers
- Telephone service providers (fixed and mobile)
Transport
- Network Rail
- Train Operating Companies (passenger and freight)
- London Underground
- Transport for London
- Highways Agency
- Airport operators
- Harbour authorities
Others
- Strategic Health Authorities
- Health and Safety Executive
