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Plan for an emergency

Find out about risks to the local area, and the role of our Emergency Management team, as well as community resilience and safe places you can go to in an emergency. You can also use our toolkit for your own emergency planning. 

Emergencies in Bath and North East Somerset

We have a Community Risk Register (Avon and Somerset) which looks at the likelihood and the impact of a range of risks to the local area. It assesses only those risks most likely to happen, and the impact they would have across the county - this does not mean that those risks will happen.

The main categories the register looks at are:

  • Natural events
  • Human and animal diseases
  • Major accidents and malicious attacks (excluding threats such as terrorist incidents)

What our Emergency Management team do

We facilitate the planning for, responding to and recovering from a range of emergencies, as well as develop and maintain emergency plans.

We do this by:

  • Providing a Duty Officer 24 hours a day who will organise staff members throughout the incident and into the recovery phase.
  • Working with a number of people, such as, the Military, voluntary agencies, and other organisations within the public and private sector.
  • Taking the lead in recovery management (rehabilitating the community and restoring the environment).

We can also help in other ways:

  • Open rest centres
  • Provide food and welfare support within rest centres
  • Organise transport
  • Respond to the press and open a Media Briefing Centre (if necessary)
  • Set up a temporary mortuary
  • Provide information to the public and set up help-lines (if needed)
  • Organise extra communication links
  • Organise contact with a translation service if required

Our team work closely with partner organisations in the area and are an active member of the Community Risk Register where joint work is undertaken to plan for a wider variety of emergencies requiring a “multi-agency” response. For further details or advice, please email emergencyplanning@bathnes.gov.uk

Community resilience

The GOV.UK website provides guidance on preparing for flooding and extreme weather conditions, whether you're a business, an individual or part of a community group.

If your community needs help to develop an emergency plan specific to your community, download the following template:

Community emergency plan template

You can also download and print our emergency preparedness poster to put up in your community. 

For further help or if you have any questions, email us at: emergencyplanning@bathnes.gov.uk

Find a safe place

Our Emergency Management team can set up a number of buildings within Bath and North East Somerset as safe places if shelter is needed during a major emergency. They should have the following things:

  • 24 hour access
  • disabled access
  • toilets
  • heating
  • basic kitchen facilities
  • electricity
  • warm drink

Our Emergency Management team will update which buildings will be open during a major emergency.

Prepare for an emergency

Major emergencies can be rare, but it's important to be prepared, just in case. You can do the following things now to make sure you, your family and your business are ready for unexpected events:

  • Make sure you know how to turn off the water, gas and electricity supplies in your home or business
  • Find out what your home or business insurance policy covers you for
  • Find out if you live in a flood risk zone
  • Keep some emergency kit around:
    • torches and batteries
    • battery operated or wind-up radio
    • portable mobile phone charger
    • bottled water
    • spare blankets and bedding
    • first aid kit

Your home

What you can specifically do at home:

  • Register as a vulnerable customer with your gas, water and electricity suppliers (if eligible).
  • Think about where you'll go if evacuated from your home (for example, to a friend or a relative) - if you have nowhere to go, find your nearest community place of safety. ( Link to map)
  • Think about whether you'd take your pets if you were evacuated from your home (some indoor pets can usually cope on their own for a little while, but dogs would need to be evacuated with you).
  • If you return home for a short time, think about where your pets would stay.
  • Make sure useful phone numbers are easy to find (for example, your doctors, children's school, vets, friends and relatives and work).
  • Keep a list of any prescribed medication you or your family members rely on.
  • Think about any elderly or vulnerable relatives, friends or neighbours who may need your help.
  • Always check the weather forecast before long journeys
  • Keep some basic kit in your car:
    • blanket or extra clothes
    • water
    • ready to eat' food
    • a way to charge your mobile phone
  • Make sure all family members (including children) know how and when to phone 999.

Your business

Emergencies can threaten the future of businesses, particularly small and medium-sized businesses. Find out more about Business Continuity Management and how they can help identify risks on our business continuity in the community page.

If an emergency does occur:

  • Stay calm and move away from hazards
  • Call 999
  • Unless emergency services say otherwise, go in, stay in and 'tune in' - go inside somewhere you feel safe and comfortable, stay inside and tune into your local radio station, or look at a local news website to find out what's going on
  • Let friends and family know that you're ok

If emergency services ask you to leave your home or place of work, take essential items only:

  • Keys
  • Medication you or your family rely on
  • Health aids (glasses, hearing aids and mobility aids)
  • Mobile phone and charger
  • Baby food and baby care items
  • Cash and credit cards
  • Warm, waterproof clothing
  • Sanitary and toiletry supplies