Introduction
Spending time planning your response to an incident is likely to reduce its impact. Planning must take place now - if you wait for an incident to occur to decide what to do, it will be too late. Your plan should be carefully considered, properly prepared and rehearsed. The plan you develop can be adapted to different locations when you are away from home.
This section focuses on the planning that needs to take place now. Detailed additional guidance is provided under the section Know What To Do which will help you determine the most appropriate action to take in response to different types of incident.
Consider the following four sections and implement the parts that are relevant to you and your home.
These measures are NOT listed in the order in which they should be implemented if an incident does occur. Each incident will determine the order in which they are completed.
Raise the alarm
How to raise the alarm
Careful consideration should be given as to how you should raise the alarm in the event of an incident that requires a rapid and appropriately resourced response. The police and people near to you must be informed that an incident is taking place as soon as possible.
Alerting the police
In an emergency, the police in the UK can be notified by dialling 999, otherwise when a non-urgent response is required, dial 101.
Mobile phones should be kept charged and on or close to you. Consideration should be given as to how the emergency call settings on your phone can be set to support a call either to the police or to alert others that an incident is taking place. If necessary, a call can be made discreetly. For more details search “Emergency SOS” and follow instructions relating to the make and model of your phone.
Add your emergency contacts to your contacts list.
Alerting others in your home
Those with you can be alerted by telling them in person or sounding an alarm. How you do this will depend on the circumstance. The alarm needs to be distinct to a fire alarm so that people don’t inadvertently evacuate towards danger.
Alarms
Some high-risk individuals may be provided with an alarm by the police which will provide an alert direct to the local police force control room. Sounding this type of alarm will trigger a pre-prepared response from the police. If possible, additional information should be provided to the police as soon as possible by phone call. This will provide important additional information about the incident.
Alternatively, an alarm may be routed through an alarm monitoring centre. Once validated, they will contact the police on your behalf.
An audible alarm may also be in place that is not connected to either the police or the monitoring centre. It will act to deter the attacker(s) and alert others on the premises or in the immediate vicinity that an incident is taking place.
Mobile phones
Careful consideration should be given to switching on or off the GPS settings on your phone. Switching it on will enable the emergency services to identify the location of your mobile. However, it may also enable others with the capability, to track your mobile phone’s location.
Emergency contact details should also be saved within the contacts in your mobile so that, when necessary, they can be called.
Get away from danger
An immediate priority will be for you to decide how you can most effectively get away from the danger caused by the incident. This can be done by implementing one of the following:
Move out of a building or part of a building through exit routes. Disperse away from your home.
Move into your home, locking doors or other barriers to prevent others gaining access to the building.
Then move to a safer area within your home where you can wait until the emergency services arrive.
Consider the different circumstances that could take place and when you think it will be appropriate to either evacuate or lockdown.
Evacuation
Identify your escape routes. Which routes can you use to escape? Have a prepared plan as to a safe place that you can go to once you are out. This should be away from your immediate neighbourhood.
Have you got time to get into your car and drive away? Know where the car keys are so they can be quickly grabbed to allow you to escape.
Lockdown
There are two parts to locking down:
- Rapidly locking your doors and windows. Make sure you have locks that can be easily closed. Use thumbturn locks or make sure keys are easily reached.
- Go to a safer place in your home to hide. This may be a room, cupboard or other place that you can hide in until the police arrive. Identify what additional measures you can put in place to make the room more secure and will delay any attempt to force entry into it. Additional guidance is available as to the measures you can take to protect your safer area from the NPSA.
Emergency equipment/grab bag
Have an emergency grab bag available that can either be taken with you if you need to run or take with you into your safer area. Consider what you need in it. It could include:
- First aid kit that includes a Stop The Bleed Kit
- Mobile charger
- Torch
- Water
- Cash or credit card
- Emergency contact details of friends and family.
Also consider where and what fire extinguishers you have in your home and how you would use them. For more information go to NFCC.
For more information follow the below links:
Practice and rehearse
Once you have developed your plan it is important that you practice what is required. This is particularly important if you have elderly people or young children in your home. They will need to be familiarised with what to do. This will improve the chances of them doing what they need to do if an incident does take place.