Responding to Emergency incidents Safely in Response
Vehicles: P1, P2
1- The Civil Contingencies Act was passed in 2004, it defines an emergency incident as 3 of the
following;
a) an event or situation which threatens serious damage to human welfare in a place in the United
Kingdom. For example, loss of human life.
b) an event or situation which threatens serious damage to the environment of a place in the United
Kingdom or, such as contamination of land, water or air with biological, chemical or radioactive
matter.
c) War, or terrorism, which threatens serious damage to the security of the United Kingdom. For
example, a terrorist attack that has been threatened.
Q2- The police grade their responses by;
Grade 1- Emergency
Grade 2- Prioritise
Grade 3- Scheduled Response
Grade 4- Resolution without deployment
The Fire Service prioritise by using these categories;
Risk Category A
Risk Category B
Risk Category C
Risk Category D
Lastly, the Ambulance Service grades their emergencies as follows;
Grade 1; Life threatening- this is for life threatening situations which require immediate attention,
intervention or resuscitation. The average response target is: 7 minutes.
Grade 2; Emergency- this is for potentially serious incidents that will require quick assessment and
urgent on scene intervention or even urgent transport. The average response target for this service
to arrive on scene is: 18 minutes.
Grade 3; Urgent- this grade is not immediate life-threatening situations but for urgent problems that
requires treatment to relieve suffering as well as transport or assessment and management at the
scene. Average response time is: around 60 minutes.
Grade 4; Less- urgent- these are less urgent problems but will require assessment and maybe even
transport within a clinically appropriate timeframe. Average response time for grade 4 is; up to 3
hours.