Last updated: 23 September 2009
Without a common understanding of what specific terms and phrases mean, multi-agency working will always carry the risk of potentially serious misunderstandings, the consequences of which could be extremely severe. This document marks the first phase of a project to establish a single point of reference for terminology used in UK Civil Protection. This first version is also published as the glossary to Emergency Response and Recovery, revised in July 2009.
A lexicon is a collection of terms from a specific area of work or knowledge that are defined and associated with additional user-relevant information. This lexicon establishes common, agreed definitions for terms used in the non-statutory guidance Emergency Response and Recovery. Future versions will build on this, encompassing a wider range of the terminology used across the range of Integrated Emergency Management activities. When future versions are released they will be published here.