During this assignment I will discuss the roles and responsibilities of Public Services attending an incident, including non-statutory, statutory and voluntary agencies and how they work together during these times.

When attending an incident scene although the first thought in your mind is to help any visual casualties it is extremely important for the first service at the scene to evaluate the dangers and try to preserve any form of evidence as best as possible. This method is used to, 1. Avoid anymore casualties and 2. Help the teams working on the case and the aftermath.

It’s hard to tell who will be first at the scene as it all goes down to location but majority of the time the police are called out to deal with the public. Accidents on the motorway or in highly populated parts of the town like city centres require some form of authority to avoid any members of the public getting involved. Car crashes are a perfect example for why we need the police at the scene. The ambulance crew and fire fighters will be working hard to save lives and rescue those involved, but busy commuters want to get to work, without the road being cordoned off or visible amounts of police or signs telling them to wait a lot of people will try and argue their way through. Too most commuters they might think its unessacary closing the incident/road off if theres visible ways to drive past but this is done to preserve the scene. There will be a lot of evidence in the area which is vital for the teams who assess the situation and come to a conclusion afterwards (this is especially important if all parties involved have passed away).

Although the police may not have life saving roles during the initial incident the police are the ones who delve deeper after the clear up. Depending on the incident the police may be required to mind criminals, the incident may of been an armed robbery or a hostage situation were the police need to find and convict the criminals. They have special Units like CSI who go to the scene and depict what has happened and to try and find a cause. In situations were the are no live witnesses it is important for the police to give the public an answer/explanation of what they believe has happened.

When responding to an emergency Ambulance response drivers will turn their sirens and lights on to get to the scene as quickly as possible. Once at the scene it is down the paramedics to assess the scene and recognise which casualties need attending too. From personal experience working with the ambulance service I have been told on a number of occasions that the way they determine who needs the most help is by the people who are not making noise or movement. Although you would naturally respond to the person screaming and waving their hands in the air for help the paramedics see this as a positive thing, having the energy to scream and move means you not in enough of a vulnerable situation. However if you are not moving or making noise even though you are in noticeable amounts of pain the paramedics see this as a warning sign and start helping immediately.

After taking the causalities and trying their best to keep them alive before reaching the hospital the paramedics don’t have much involvement with the victims after this point, especially not whilst they are still on duty as they will need to clear out the ambulance and set up ready for another call.

Fire fighters may seem uncessacary to have at a scene where there are no visible fires but the Fire and Rescue service have in-depth training and experience helping with lots of different types of emergencies that don't always have to involve fires. During a car crash, best case scenario is that the casualty can be removed from the car easily and put to safety, however sometimes the crash can cause the victim to be trapped. In these situations it is extremely important to remove the person carefully as possible incase them being trapped is stopping body parts from bleeding. In cases like this the fire service can use special machines that help cut through strong materials such as steel frames and car structures.

Similarly to the ambulance service, the fire fighters don’t have much involvement with the victims afterwards but the fire service and their staff have some amazing units set up to help victims. They have their own form of victim support and units such as Fire Prevention that can help victims of arson or people in house fires. They have the resources to equip their house with fire alarms, teach them fire safety and those who were targeted they can look into have special windows and letterbox covers to avoid flammables being posted.

What are the differences between Statutory and Non-statutory agencies?

Statutory agencies are what we consider the Emergency Services or Public Services such as the Police, Ambulance and Fire Services and the NHS. By law these agencies are legally abridged to help those in need. It is there legal duty to help preserve lives and respond to emergency incidents.

Non-Statutory public services are agencies such as the City Council and schools non of the agencies in this sector are ablated to help in emergency incidents nor would they be asked to help. Incidents during schools would require the assistance of teachers and staff members but none of them would be expected to know how to properly preserve a life without the help of some form of statutory service.

To help statutory services we are lucky to have voluntary services that provide their help and assistance when possible. Most of the voluntary services are set up to deal with the victims after they have received their help from the statutory services, such as Victim Support and Samaritans. Agencies such as British Heart Foundation and other charities can lend aid to victims of flooding and other serious incidents.

All emergency services have close connections but they don't know how effectively they work together until they attend a major incident.

During July 2005 there were a terror attacks in London City centre, some on the underground and one on a city bus. Hundreds died from the bombs and the city was in chaos. This was the first form on terror attack in decades so the majority working at the scene hadn’t been involved in anything similar. Although it might have been the first time for some public servants and the aspect of it being scary they all pulled together and helped. Police officers didn’t just limit themselves to cordoning streets off they helped paramedics and fire fighters in the underground saving casualties, they had teams closely surveilling the city in the hope of preventing anymore attacks (at this time they were unaware if there was any other people involved in the attacks). Ambulance crews and fire fighters were quick on the scene ready to help victims of the bombings, they helped cut people out of the train infrastructures and carry victims to safety.

The help never stopped there. The aftermath of the bombings left everyone scared so police raised the amount of visible officers on the underground, they also issued transport police who go undercover assessing any suspicious behaviour. The fire services helped burns victims they and the police both promoted their victim support agencies to help those traumatised from the events. Voluntary ambulance service, St. Johns assisted paramedics to avoid the help running out and hospitals all round the city made clearance and space to accommodate the casualties.

When attending emergency incidents the casualty is always priority, however your own personal safety and the safety of others is extremely important also. When working in the public services you have to follow certain and health and safety laws and be familiar with legislations put in place such as the Health and Safety at Work Act 1974 and the Police Health and Safety Act 1997. These were put in place to keep workers safe and so the public servants of the country didn't endanger members of the public.

The first service to respond to the scene is responsible for clearing pedestrians from the area. This is done to avoid anymore injured persons and to avoid as much scene contamination as possible.
After this is done and the other services have arrived they can then carry out what jobs need doing. All those around the scene should wear high visibility clothing to allow the public to recognise they are in authority and that the scene is getting dealt with.

Health and Safety is extremely important for the services and it is something they take great pride in. It may be important to incorporate health and safety at incident scenes but it is also important for public servants to be safe and protected on a daily basis. Due to the importance of this a PPE at work Act (1992) was created.

PPE stands for; Person Protective Equipment. The purpose of the act is to avoid public servants being wrongly injured when there can be protection given to avoid this. Under the PPE Act all services much recognise what important/vital bits of equipment their workers much be provided with to work are.

Within the police it is essential for a police officer to be provided with their high visibility coats, stab proof vests and self protection weapons such as their batons and CS spray, it is then down to the officer to decide if they want to wear the above. However, refusing so leaves you open to any repercussions of not doing so (being attacked or injured in places you could of prevented).

The PPE Act ensures fire fighters are given the best equipment possible to avoid them being injured themselves. Going into burning building and using dangerous equipment could be fatal if not protected properly. Fire fighters will be given oxygen tanks, fire protected clothing and recently new gadgets that alert other team members if one of their colleagues has stopped moving (this is to alert colleagues that they may have passed out or stopped breathing).

Having such acts in place helps the public services avoid any public scruntanary or legal cases against them. Another very important act that the public services have to abide by is the RIDDOR Act 1995. Alongside the public services having to follow this, Schools and other local authorities have to be familiar with this especially if taking pupils outside of school.

The RIDDOR Act ensures (those who have to follow it) report any injuries, diseases or dangerous occurrences in the workplace or in connection to the incident. It is extremely important to report injuries or “danger zones” to help avoid any more people getting injured in the same way and help prevent people going near the danger. Once dangerous occurrences have been notified the forces can work to make this notifiable for all those involved. For example if at a scene there is suspicious liquids and some receives burns from this, once the injury is reported everyone can stay clear and the area can be cleared to avoid anyone else being burned.