Emergency Response - Principles of effective response and recovery

Emergency response and recovery arrangements should be flexible and tailored to reflect circumstances, but will follow a common set of underpinning principles.

These principles guide the response and recovery effort at all levels – local, regional and national.

There are eight guiding principles:

• anticipation – ongoing risk identification and analysis is essential to the anticipation and management of the direct, indirect and interdependent consequences of emergencies;
• preparedness – all organisations and individuals that might have a role to play in emergency response and recovery should be properly prepared and be clear about their roles and responsibilities;
• subsidiarity – decisions should be taken at the lowest appropriate level, with co-ordination at the highest necessary level; local agencies are the building blocks of the response to and recovery from an emergency of any scale;
• direction – clarity of purpose comes from a strategic aim and supporting objectives that are agreed, understood and sustained by all involved. This will enable the prioritisation and focus of the response and recovery effort;
• information – information is critical to emergency response and recovery and the collation, assessment, verification and dissemination of information must be underpinned by appropriate information management systems. These systems need to support single and multi-agency decision making and the external provision of information that will allow members of the public to make informed decisions to ensure their safety;
• integration – effective co-ordination should be exercised between and within organisations and levels (i.e. local, regional and national) in order to produce a coherent, integrated effort;
• co-operation – flexibility and effectiveness depends on positive engagement and information sharing between all agencies and at all levels; and
• continuity – emergency response and recovery should be grounded in the existing functions of organisations and familiar ways of working, albeit on a larger scale, to a faster tempo and in more testing circumstances.

• Emergency Response and Recovery: Chapter 2 - Principles of effective response and recovery [PDF]

Key documents

• Central Government’s Concept of Operations - Document setting out the arrangements for the response to emergencies requiring co-ordinated UK central government action
• Expectations and Indicators of Good Practice Set for Category 1 and 2 Responders – Part 3 provides an operational check list for category 1 and 2 responders for each of these principles.
• Data Protection and Sharing – Guidance for Emergency Planners and Responders

Key Links

• Civil Protection Lexicon - A lexicon of terminology for multi-agency, local strategic operations