Preparing for an Emergency
Creating an Emergency Plan
Making an emergency plan will help you to be more organised and remain calm during an emergency. This checklist covers advice from making sure you have a contact list to finding out about the emergency procedures for your children at school.
Click here for information on preparing for an emergency
Go in, stay in, tune in
In a major emergency, if you are not involved in the incident, but are close by or believe you may be in danger, the best advice is to go inside a safe building, stay inside until you are advised to do otherwise, and tune in to local radio or TV for information.
If you find yourself in the middle of an emergency, your common sense and instincts will usually tell you what to do. However, it is important to:
- Make sure 999 has been called if people are injured or if there is a threat to life
- Not put yourself or others in danger
- Follow the advice of the emergency services
- Try to remain calm and think before acting, and try to reassure others
- Check for injuries - remember to help yourself before attempting to help others
- If you are not involved in the incident, but are close by or believe you may be in danger, in most cases the advice is:
- Go inside a safe building
- Stay inside until you are advised to do otherwise
- Tune in to local radio or TV for more information
What to do if you're not at home
Schools
If your children are at school you will naturally want to collect them as soon as possible in the event of a major emergency. But it may not be safe to do so. Please tune in to your local radio station for advice and for details of the arrangements your local council has made for letting parents know when to collect their children from school.
All schools have plans to cope with local emergencies such as fire and flood, and teachers and support staff do all they can to look after the pupils in their charge. You can find out more about school emergency planning by using the Teachernet link below.