By its very nature a major incident in the Square Mile would
place great strain on the community and the emergency services
which have to respond to it. While these events are rare the City
of London has arrangements in place to assist residents, the
business community and the emergency services in such
circumstances. Assistance is available both before and after a
major incident which may help you in the preparation of your own
contingency plans.
The City of London response
In its role as local authority for the Square Mile, the City of
London has three main objectives in the event of a major
incident:
- To support the community affected by the incident
- To support the Emergency Services responding to the
incident
- To maintain normal services
To achieve these objectives the City of London provides a number
of services such as:
- Rest centres (temporary accomodation for people rendered
homeless by the incident)
- Expert advice to the emergency services on a variety of
specialised areas, for example, the safety of structures)
- Street clearance, cleansing and highway repair
The emergency services
The City
Police, Fire Brigade and Ambulance Service will quickly respond
to any major incident which occurs in the City. Activity at the
scene will be co-ordinated by the police and the initial priority
will, of course, be the saving of life.
The emergency services in London have joined with
representatives of the local authorities to agree how they will
respond to a major incident. This group is known as the London
Emergency Services Liaison Panel (LESLP) and has produced a manual
which is essential reading for contingency planners in London.
Copies can be
obtained via the LESLP website .
Cordons
Following most major incidents one of the first actions of the
police will be to establish cordons to protect the public from what
may be a dangerous area, to facilitate any rescue operation, to
preserve a possible crime scene and to facilitate the restoration
of normality.
The City Police and City of London Corporation recognise that
early access to buildings is a priority for the business City.
Every effort will be made to reduce the size of the cordons as
quickly as possible. Click here for information about
access through the cordons.