Major Emergency Management and Major Emergency Plan
A Major Emergency is any event which, usually with little or no warning, causes or threatens injury or death, serious disruption of essential services or damage to property, the environment or infrastructure beyond the normal capabilities of the principal emergency services. It requires the mobilisation of additional resources to ensure an effective and co-ordinated response
Planning for Major Emergencies
Cork County Council has an ongoing major emergency planning programme in place. The programme involves:
- Hazard analysis and risk assessment
- Response planning
- Recovery planning
- Involvement in inter-agency training, exercises and regional forums
Major Emergency Plan
As part of this ongoing programme and in accordance with the requirements of 'A Framework for Major Emergency Management' (2006), the "Cork County Council's Major Emergency Plan" has been prepared to facilitate the response to, and recovery from major emergencies as well as ensuring the Council's arrangements are coordinated with those of the other designated Principal Response Agencies, the Health Service Executive and An Garda Síochána
The version of the Major Emergency Plan accessible to the public is available at the following link;
Cork County Council Major Emergency Plan (pdf)
Advice to Householders
Major Emergencies are very rare events. For householders, practical advice on sensible steps which can be taken to cope with an emergency has been issued by the Office of Emergency Planning through the publication and distribution of the handbook "Preparing for Major Emergencies" and the advice on their website www.emergencyplanning.ie
Severe Weather
Following severe weather events in recent winters which involved flooding and severe cold, the Government launched an information campaign to provide advice and information to help the public to be better prepared to deal with a period of severe weather.
The Office of Emergency Planning has a website winterready.ie to provide practical advice and contact details of the main services that can provide help in extreme weather-related emergencies. This website includes advice on travel during severe weather, as well as contact details for local authorities, bus operators, rail operators, ferry operators, airports and airlines.
This guide for businesses on preparing for severe weather (pdf) includes a practical checklist to provide businesses with a basic template, which could help identify weaknesses in their business continuity plans in the case of a severe weather event.
The Road Safety Authority have advice on travelling during severe weather on their website: The Road Safety Authority - Severe Weather Advice
Information on weather warnings issued by Met Eireann is available on their website: Met Eireann Weather Warnings Explained; Met Eireann Weather Warning Updates
Cork County Alerts
Cork County Alerts is a free text message, social media & email alert service. Register for this free service to received text messages directly to your mobile phone or via an app. This service is available for the administrative area of Cork County Council and covers the alert categories listed below:
- Floods
- Severe Weather from Met Eireann
- Road Closure & Scheduled Road Works
- Planning Application Alerts
Find out more about Cork County Alerts
Further Information:
Framework for Major Emergency Management: www.mem.ie
Office of Emergency Planning: www.emergencyplanning.ie
Office of Emergency Planning: Preparing for Major Emergencies
Department of Housing, Local Government and Heritage: Emergency Management
