Community Risk Register

Preparing for emergencies

To help you prepare for an emergency, make sure you:

• have suitable insurance, the Association of British Insurers website has useful information on home insurance, flooding and car insurance
• fit and maintain smoke alarms
• prepare a first aid kit
• sign up to Community Messaging and information services

Think about:

• a safe meeting place with family members should an emergency happen away from home (e.g. at work, school or college)
• if any elderly or vulnerable family, friends or neighbours need your help putting together a grab bag of things to take in an emergency, such as medication, ID, mobile phone and charger, glasses, keys, wallet and cash
• where you would go and stay - and how you would get there - if an emergency meant that you couldn’t stay at home
• how your family will stay in contact in the event of an emergency

The government's Preparing for Emergencies guidance helps people, businesses and communities to identify and prepare for hazards and threats that may disrupt their lives.

Find out:

• where and how to turn off water, gas and electricity supplies in your home or business
• the emergency procedures for your children at school and at your workplace

Go in, stay in, tune in

Major emergencies can be caused by anything from flooding and transport accidents to chemical spills and terrorism.

You can help by:

• going indoors, closing doors and windows and shutting down ventilation systems if it is safe to do so. Unless there is an obvious risk to the property, this will give you good short-term protection against the vast majority of hazards
• staying indoors until you know more about the situation and the appropriate action you need to take to protect yourself. The action you should take will be different depending on the nature of an incident so you could put yourself at more risk by not waiting for further instructions
• using local radio, television and social media channels to find out more - in major emergencies, radio and TV companies will interrupt their programs to give you safety advice and information

Fire prevention and safety

You can help by:

• fitting one smoke alarm per floor of your home (and check it weekly)
• making an action plan so that everyone in your household knows how to escape in the event of a fire
• taking care when cooking with hot oil - use a temperature-controlled deep fat fryer
• never leaving lit candles unattended
• ensuring cigarettes are stubbed out and disposed of carefully
• never smoking in bed
• keeping matches and lighters out of reach of children
• having your chimney swept regularly
• taking extra care in the kitchen - cooking accidents account for 59% of fires in the home
• taking care when you’re tired or when you’ve been drinking - half of all deaths in domestic fires happen between 10pm and 8am
• not tackling the fire yourself, if you are unlucky enough to have a fire at home, however small it is

If there is a fire, get out, stay out and call 999.

For more safety and advice information visit Northamptonshire Fire and Rescue Service.

Health

If you think your situation is a life threatening emergency call 999.

If you need help now, but it’s not an emergency, then call 111 or go to 111.nhs. Do not attend Accident and Emergency unless it is a true emergency. You can also access health services from high street pharmacists, who can see and treat a range of issues such as sore throat and earache.

NHS 111 is a free number from landlines and mobiles and is available 24 hours a day, 365 days a year. When you call you will speak to a trained health adviser or clinician and, following a short assessment, be directed to the right service, at the right time and as close to your home as possible.

First Aid and self-help

In case of minor accidents and injuries, keep a well-stocked first aid kit in your home and car. Ensure that it's locked and stored in a cool, dry place out of reach of children.

Find out what your first aid kit should contain. Remember to check your medications regularly, to ensure they are within their expiry dates.

It may also be useful to keep a basic first aid manual or instruction booklet with your first aid kit. Further advice can be sought from 111. These NHS web pages provide information and guidance about common first aid situations, but they aren’t a replacement for taking a first aid training course.

Basic first aid courses are run regularly in most areas around the UK. In Northamptonshire, St John Ambulance and British Red Cross both provide a selection of first aid courses, as well as courses from independent first aid training companies.

Last updated 05 June 2024