Published on:
14
November 2005
New legislation, which comes into force this week, places a number of new responsibilities on Clackmannanshire Council.
The Civil Contingencies Act sets out the roles and responsibilities of local authorities and emergency services with the aim of ensuring that the front line can deal with the full range of emergencies, from localised major incidents through to catastrophic emergencies.
Preparing for the new legislation is one of the key tasks the Council's Emergency Planning Officer, Richard O'Grady, has had to deal with since coming into post in June 2005.
Richard said: "While the Act asks local authorities to re-think some of their practices and the way they communicate with the public, many of the basic elements of the Act have been in place in Clackmannanshire for some years.
"We already have in place guidelines on how to deal with a range of emergency situations, and the new Act legislates for a more formalised approach. We have 12 months to get everything in place and we will continue to work closely with our partners to ensure our response to emergencies is effective, efficient and well co-ordinated."
With 30 years experience in the Metropolitan Police, Richard is well placed to co-ordinate the Council's response to any emergency. He lives in Tullibody with his wife Ronnie, who is the headteacher of Menstrie Primary. The couple have a daughter who teaches at Tillicoultry Primary.
The new responsibilities under the Act include carrying out a risk assessment and cataloguing that information; emergency planning; business continuity planning and communicating with the public.
Under the Act the Council has to have a business continuity plan in place which will detail how the organisation will continue the critical aspects of its work under the pressure of a major event or disaster.
The Council has established an Incident Emergency Management Group to oversee the implementation of the requirements under the Act.