Strengthening emergency planning programme

The Derbyshire Local Resilience Forum

The Derbyshire Local Resilience Forum brings together all the responder organisations in the County, including the emergency services, health trusts, local authorities, Environment and Health Protection Agencies.

As a designated "Category 1" responder under the Civil Contingencies Act 2004, we are required to carry out risk assessments within our area.

This process has been underway since guidance was issued by the Government in July 2005. By working closely with our partner organisations in Derbyshire we have been assessing the levels of risk for a range of potential hazards in Derbyshire.

The types of hazard we are looking at cover a wide range and include the threats to human health and potential impacts associated with industrial accidents, flooding, transport accidents, the terrorist threat and serious disruption to supply of fuel, energy, communications and other essential services. There are 14 hazard categories overall and approximately 65 individual risk assessments.

A "Community Risk Register" has been compiled to show the results of these assessments. This will enable us to identify our priorities and actions required, including contingency planning. Our joint aim within Derbyshire is to improve our capability to respond to any disruptive challenges and minimise the effects on our communities. The Community Risk Registers together with associated Risk Matrices are shown on the Local Resilience Forum website. We must also ensure that our own services are "resilient" and can continue to deliver at this required level.