Responding to an incident
Immediate response
Quick thinking during and after an emergency situation can save lives and may reduce the impact of an incident on your business. Follow the advice of emergency responders and if life is in danger always call 999. Be prepared to:
- evacuate the building/area; or
- shelter in your building
- shut down equipment (if you have time)
- use fire extinguishers (as long as this doesn’t put you in unnecessary danger)
- use basic first aid.
Find our more about how the emergency services and other organisations respond to emergencies.
Short-term response
Once you have made sure your staff are safe and the emergency services have declared the area safe, there are things you can do in the hours and days following an incident to protect your business and work place from further harm.
Looking after staff
It’s important to keep your staff updated with information following an incident, and to address any welfare issues that may arise:
Dealing with the media
Following a disaster certain sections of the media can attack any organisation or individual they regard as culpable. They will demand instant information and details, and interviews with experts and survivors. They will strive to pin the blame on someone and will focus intensively on the human elements of the story. However, by understanding the media's needs, preparing a proper strategy in association with them and testing it during exercises, you can increase your organisation’s chances of being sympathetically portrayed.
Recovery
It may take some time for your business to return to normal operation after an incident. If you have been affected by a major emergency, there may be specific funds set up to provide support to local businesses, which you may be able to apply to. You may also need to consider any long-term support requirements, for example providing psychological support to traumatised staff. Check out our information on recovering from emergencies for more tips on issues relating to recovery.
Find out more about how the London Resilience Partnership plans to support community recovery in the event of a major emergency.
Reviewing your plan
After you have experienced an emergency, it’s important to review and update your plans and procedures to make sure you can continue to protect your business in the future. Think about what you could improve if you had to respond to a similar incident again, and what extra measures you may need to take to protect your business.
Need more inspiration?
Planning works! A few years ago a terrorist bomb seriously damaged the headquarters of a large insurance company over a spring weekend. By Monday morning furniture, computers, telephones and supplies had been delivered to a relocation address and over 500 staff were at work. This could not have been done without careful planning and as a result jobs were preserved and the business continued to flourish. Take a look at more case studies.
