Emergency Response - Self Help
In an Emergency Dial 999
In any major incident, always contact the emergency services. It is the emergency services that will attend the incident and control the situation.
- Do not put yourself or others in danger
- Always follow the instructions given by the emergency services
- Remain calm, think before acting. Consider the hazards!
- Check for injuries - remember to attend to yourself before attempting to help others
- Be aware of the needs of others especially children, the elderly and vulnerable. Try to assist where possible and offer reassurance to others involved in the incident.
Remember - remain calm, be patient and deal with the important things first.
During an emergency, the emergency services and other responding agencies will primarily be concerned with those directly involved in the incident as well as the family and friends of any casualties.
It is vitally important that the responding agencies are allowed to get on with their task quickly and safely – their priority is the rescue operation. All agencies will be working to alleviate the effects of the emergency on the community whilst continuing to deliver essential and critical public services.
In most circumstances, your instinct will tell you what to do in an emergency. If you are not involved in the incident, but are close by or believe you may be in danger, in most cases the advice is to:
Go in, Stay in, Tune in!
Close all doors and windows and stay inside until you are advised the emergency is over. Listen to local radio for information updates!
There may be situations when it's simply best to stay inside and avoid any uncertainty outside. Use available information to assess the situation. There may be situations where there are large amounts of debris or toxic smoke in the air and the information you have received has advised you to stay indoors.
At the earliest opportunity, the agencies involved will make available to the media information for the public on how best to respond.
If the danger is inside, the best advice is to
Get out, Stay out, Call the Fire Service out!
Don't go back inside the building until you are advised by the emergency services that it is safe to do so. If somebody is missing, tell the emergency services who will organise a rescue operation.
There may be situations when there is an incident close to your property and the emergency services direct you to evacuate. The emergency services consider the need for evacuation very carefully in view of the public safety risk. You should
always follow the advice of the emergency services who are working to protect your safety.
Evacuation is a last resort! In the event that an evacuation is necessary, plan how you will assemble your family, what you will need to take with you and anticipate where you will go.