Emergency planning and business continuity

What the council does to be ready to help the emergency services deal with major emergencies that affect our communities.

Preparing for emergencies

An Emergency Planning Service is provided by the District Emergency Planning Officer, who is part of the Suffolk Joint Emergency Planning Unit.

What to do in an emergency

Emergencies occur at any time of day or night, with little or no warning. Knowing what to do and being prepared is vital and there is no substitute for prevention.

Flooding guidance

Householders living in areas that have been flooded in the recent past or may be susceptible to flooding are strongly advised to give some thought to flood protection measures for their property.

Seasonal guidance

Useful links to accurate information about current warnings in place, in relation to weather and flooding, plus access to advice on how you can prepare for these events.

Power cuts

Don’t be left in the dark - There’s a new number to call if you have a power cut.

Emergency planning

We regularly work with our Partner Agencies to plan for a wide range of emergencies and we test our plans during exercises to make sure we are as well prepared as we need to be. We also plan how we will help communities to recover from emergencies and get back to normal.

During an emergency, we help by setting up Rest Centres, by sending Liaison Officers to the scene to provide expert knowledge, for example if a building is in danger of collapse and by coordinating this through our own Control Centre.

Not got a Community Emergency Group yet? For further information please contact us.

Business continuity

Business continuity is the process that an organisation puts into place to ensure that essential activities can continue during unforeseen emergencies and get back to a normal level of operation as quickly as possible.

Business continuity planning is considerably more widespread in larger organisations, with a serious gap in small to medium sized enterprises. Unfortunately it is the smaller organisations who struggle to recover and continue trading after major incidents, so it is those who can really benefit from the information and advice offered by the Suffolk Joint Emergency Planning Unit.

You will find more information about business continuity on the Suffolk Resilience website, including a step-by-step guide to business continuity to help you put in place the processes to protect your business and links to useful websites.

Suffolk Resilience

The Suffolk Resilience Forum has a comprehensive collection of information, including the preparations individuals can make and who to contact in the event of a specific emergency. It also reminds the public of the emergency advice ‘Go in, Stay in, Tune in’ so that they get into a safe building, stay indoors until they know what is happening, and tune into local TV and radio stations for more information.

The risk information and plans provide public reassurance so that people know what the Emergency Responders and Local Authority will be doing when something goes wrong and also which is the best organisation to speak to e.g. during a utility failure.

There is even advice about what to prepare for when planning a public event in the county, building on a flood plain or preparing your community for winter, plus a step-by-step guide to business continuity to help you put in place the processes to protect your business.