Exercise White Water meeting. Sarah is second from the left

Floods, Chemical Suits and Vehicle Checks - A Week in the Life of a Civil Contingencies Officer

The CCU has a duty officer on call 24 hours a day and 365 days a year working to ensure the people of Staffordshire get the best possible response when disaster strikes.

The unit - based at Beaconside, Stafford - helps to co-ordinate the response of the emergency services, hospitals and local authorities when a major emergency occurs and is responsible for drawing up the civil contingency plans necessary to help keep Staffordshire residents safe.

Sarah Moore describes a typical week in the life of a Civil Contingencies Officer. Sarah, aged 23, joined the unit in summer 2007 after completing a degree in Geography with Natural Hazards at Coventry University.

Monday

"The week started with a check on a radio interview given by CCU Director Andy Marshall as part of the BBC's What If programming followed by our usual Monday morning team brief.

Then the fun started. It was time for PRPS, or Personal Respiratory Protective Suit, training. The day glow lime green body suits, headware and blue gloves caused some hilarity but the training had a deadly serious purpose as we were testing the clothing needed in the event of a Chemical, Biological, Radiological or Nuclear (CBRN) incident.

CCU officers are working with Staffordshire's health trusts to ensure they know how to use the suits and other equipment if necessary.

Monday also saw me checking the unit's emergency response vehicles. The CCU has two highly equipped vehicles, a Mercedes Sprinter - our Mobile Control Unit - and a Land Rover which are ready for action at all times. As one of two Duty Officers for the week it was my task to check the vehicles and equipment were ready for deployment. 

Tuesday

One of my major tasks is co-ordination work on the draft Staffordshire Emergency Flood Plan.  The plan went out for consultation to responders in December so Tuesday was spent in our Beaconside offices sorting through feedback forms.

I am now making the final amendments to the plan ready for final publication. This will be followed by preparation for a major exercise - Exercise White Water - when Staffordshire Resilience Forum members will test the plan. The county already has a good flood plan but the new one draws on lessons learned from the catastrophic floods in places such as Humberside, Sheffield, Worcestershire and Gloucestershire in 2007 and puts Staffordshire at the forefront of emergency flood planning.

Wednesday

Off to Codsall for my monthly visit to South Staffordshire District Council. Each of our officers has at least one stakeholder to which they are linked, mine are South Staffordshire district and Stafford borough councils. I assisted the council's Emergency Planning Officer with resilience work including finalising some of the council's emergency plans. We also carried-out tests to ensure satellite telephone communicatiuons equipment, which would be vital in an emergency, was working properly.

Thursday  

Thursday is my regular secondment day at Stafford Borough Council. My colleague Ellie Gatrill-Smith spends two days a week at Stafford and we undertake resilience work on behalf of the council. At the moment we are focusing on the borough council's internal and external emergency plans, ensuring that the council can assist the public if a major inciudent occurs while also continuing with business as usual. We also help train council staff in assisting with the welfare of the public if they are evacuated from their homes.

Friday

Today, we had our first project team meeting for Exercise White Water. CCU officers attended along with army personnel from 143 Brigade and the Environment Agency. We outlined the main details of the exercise and decided on the formal project structure we will follow to get everything in place for the exercise in November.

For further information contact Sarah Moore on 01785 898613

The Staffordshire Civil Contingencies Unit (CCU) provides advice, support and guidance to Staffordshire's emergency services, councils and health bodies on behalf of the Staffordshire Reslilence Forum (SRF). This ensures a joined up approach to the preparation of emergency plans, training and exercises. The SRF was set up in response to the Civil Contingencies Act 2004. It ensures that all bodies with civil contingencies responsibilities work together to protect the public of Staffordshire.   

Visit the Staffordshire Prepared website at www.staffordshireprepared.gov.uk