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Planning for Emergencies

  • To meet our responsibilities to prepare emergency plans, to train our staff in preparing those plans, and to exercise the plans to make sure they work.
  • Working with businesses, and the other emergency services, to prepare emergency plans as required under the Control of Major Accident Hazard Regulations (COMAH).
  • Preparing and exercising plans, in partnership with others, in line with the Radiation (Emergency Preparedness and Public Information) Regulations 2001. Under these regulations, we make sure, in case of a radiological emergency, information is available about the emergency, and what measures should take to minimise the risk to the local population.

Local Resilience Areas

The UK is broken into a number of Local Resilience Areas and East Sussex falls into the Sussex Local Resilience Area. Each Local Resilience Area has a Local Resilience Forum. 

Civil Contingencies Act 2004

The Civil Contingencies Act 2004 became active on 1st April 2005 and, with the exception of Business Continuity Management, must be fully complied with by 1st October 2005. The Act includes the following main elements necessary to ensure the correct approach is taken in planning for "Major Emergencies".

Control of Major Accident Hazard Regulations 1989 (COMAH)

COMAH applies mainly to the chemical industry, but also to some storage activities, explosives and nuclear sites, and other industries where threshold quantities of dangerous substances identified in the regulations are kept or used. ESFRS are responsible for applying the regulations across East Sussex.

Currently there is one top tier site in the county that this applies to. We make sure that off-site plans are written to deal with such incidents, information is given to the public and those plans are tested. This makes sure all reasonable measures are taken to prevent major accidents and to limit the consequences to people and the environment.

Visit the Health & Safety Executive's website for more information about COMAH.

Preparing for the worst - Terrorist incidents

East Sussex Fire and Rescue Service remains alert to the risks of a terrorist incident and is well prepared in case of a large scale emergency.

ESFRS works with other agencies and organisations, carrying out training exercises and playing an active role in the Sussex Resilience Forum. 

Anti-Terrorist Hotline

The safety of all our communities remains an absolute priority and the message to the public is to remain vigilant.

The Anti-Terrorist Hotline is open 24 hours a day, 365 days a year. All calls and information are treated in the strictest of confidence. 

To report something suspicious please call the Anti-Terrorist Hotline on 0800 789 321.

A Textphone facility for people who are deaf or who have hearing difficulties is available on 0800 0324 539. Remember to always dial 999 in an emergency. 

Useful information