Please find below a useful list of terminology and acronyms, which you may come across working in emergency planning and preparedness.
| Acronym/phrase | Meaning | Further info |
| Airwave | N/A | The mobile communications network used by the emergency services. |
| BCP | Business Continuity Plan | Procedures and information developed, compiled and maintained in readiness for use in an incident to enable an organisation to continue to deliver its critical activities at an acceptable pre-defined level. |
| Bronze command | Operational level | Bronze command leads the operational deployment of resources on the ground. |
| BTP | British Transport Police | BTP police Britain’s railways, providing a service to rail operators, their staff and passengers across the country. |
| C2 | Command and Control | Command and control is the authority and capability of an organisation or organisations to direct the actions of personnel and the use of equipment. |
| Cat 1 responder | Category 1 responder | An organisation/agency likely to be at the core of the response to most emergencies (e.g. emergency services, Local Authorities). |
| Cat 2 responder | Category 2 responder | These are co-operating responders who are less likely to be involved in the heart of multi-agency planning work but will be heavily involved in preparing for incidents affecting their sectors (e.g. Utilities, transport). |
| CBRN | Chemical, Biological, Radiological and Nuclear | CBRN is commonly used to describe the malicious use of Chemical, Biological, Radiological and Nuclear materials or weapons with the intention to cause significant harm or disruption. |
| CCA2004 | Civil Contingencies Act 2004 | The Act, and accompanying non-legislative measures, delivers a single framework for civil protection in the UK. It came into effect in order to ensure the UK is better prepared to cope with potential risks. The Act deals with Emergency Preparedness and establishes a clear set of roles and responsibilities for those involved in emergency preparation and response at the local level. |
| CNI | Critical National Infrastructure | Facilities, systems, sites, information, people, networks and processes, necessary for a country to function and upon which daily life depends. (e.g. Safe drinking water, electricity, internet connectivity). |
| COBR/COBRA | Cabinet Office Briefing Rooms | COBR/COBRA is shorthand for the Civil Contingencies Committee that is convened to handle matters of national emergency or major disruption. Its purpose is to coordinate different departments and agencies in response to such emergencies. |
| COMAH | Control of Major Accident Hazards | COMAH aims to prevent and mitigate the effects of major accidents involving dangerous substances which can cause serious damage/harm to people and/or the environment. |
| CRR | Community Risk Register | The community risk register is a collection of assessments of emergencies that might happen locally. |
| CTSA | Counter Terrorism Security Advisors | Police officers who provide advice on preventing and mitigating the effects of acts of terrorism. |
| CTP | Counter Terrorism Policing | Counter Terrorism Policing is a collaboration of UK police forces working with the UK intelligence community to help protect the public and our national security by preventing, deterring, and investigating terrorist activity. |
| CTPNE | Counter Terrorism Policing North East | CTPNE delivers specialist support to police throughout the country, and in particular, forces in the North East region. The Unit draws on a wide range of expertise including; skilled detectives, financial investigators, community contact teams, intelligence analysts, forensic specialists and high-tech investigators. |
| CTUs | Counter Terrorism Units | Another name for the regional Counter Terrorism Policing units. The regional CTUs collaborate daily to confront the threat from terrorism. They have officers and staff working in a range of specialist fields such as investigations, forensics, digital exploitation, financial inquiries, community liaison and communications. |
| DIM | Detection, Identification and Monitoring | DIM teams/equipment are deployed with the initial aim of delivering a substance detection, analysis and identification capability to support mass decontamination and hazardous materials incidents. |
| DVI | Disaster Victim Identification | DVI is the method used to identify victims of mass casualty incidents, either man-made or natural. |
| EPRR | Emergency Preparedness, Resilience and Response | NHS term used to describe the area of work that looks at planning for, and responding to, a wide range of incidents and emergencies that could affect health or patient care. (e.g. extreme weather conditions, infectious disease outbreak, major transport incident). |
| FLO | Family Liaison Officer | FLOs will liaise with families of victims of crime (primarily homicide), road fatality, mass fatality or other critical incident. They will ensure bereaved families are given timely information in accordance with the needs of the investigation. |
| GLO | Government Liaison Officer | In situations where there is a significant central government role, a Government Liaison Officer (GLO) will normally be despatched immediately to act as the primary liaison channel between departments and local responders in the local Strategic Co-ordination Centre. |
| Gold command | Strategic level | Gold command has overarching strategic leadership and will set the strategic objectives of a response. |
| HART | Hazardous Area Response Team | HART provides ambulance response to major incidents involving hazardous materials, or which present hazardous environments resulting from an accident or deliberate cause. HART paramedics are specifically trained and equipped to work in hazardous areas where traditionally it would be unsafe for ambulance staff to work. |
| HAZMAT | Hazardous Material | A material (e.g. flammable or poisonous) that may pose a reasonable risk to health, property, or the environment. |
| HSE | Health and Safety Executive | The Health and Safety Executive (HSE) is Britain’s national regulator for workplace health and safety. |
| IC | Incident Commander | The Incident Commander is the person responsible for all aspects of an emergency response. |
| JESIP | Joint Emergency Service Interoperability Principles | JESIP principles for joint working should be used during all phases of an incident. They support the development of a multi-agency response and provide structure during the response to all incidents. The principles are: Co-locateCommunicateCo-ordinateJointly understand riskShared situational awareness |
| JDM | Joint Decision Model | The Joint Decision Model (JDM) should be used as the standing agenda for tactical co-ordinating group meetings. It was developed for multiple agencies to bring together available information, reconcile potentially differing priorities and make effective decisions together. |
| JOL | Joint Organisational Learning | Joint Organisational Learning (JOL) provides emergency services and other responder agencies with a consistent and accountable mechanism to ensure lessons identified are acted on and to ensure they become lessons learned. |
| JRLO | Joint Regional Liaison Officer | Officer of the Ministry of Defence (MOD) providing liaison between local or regional civil Emergency Control Centres and the MOD’s United Kingdom command structure. |
| LRF | Local Resilience Forum | Local resilience forums (LRFs) are multi-agency partnerships made up of representatives from local public services, including the emergency services, local authorities, the NHS, the Environment Agency and others. |
| MACA | Military Aid to Civil Authorities | Military Aid to Civil Authorities aka MACA, is the help and support provided by the Armed Forces to authorities in the UK, like the Police, NHS or local authorities. The government can call on the military to assist at times of need, to share the burden on civil organisations. |
| MAGIC | Multi-Agency Gold Incident Command | Multi-agency Gold training. The emergency Services use the MAGIC course to train senior leaders to be prepared to operate as a Gold Commander in major multi-agency incidents. |
| MAIC | Multi-Agency Information Cell | A Multi-Agency Information Cell allows shared situational awareness in a complex and ever-changing incident. It can be a physical or virtual cell, and works across tactical and strategic levels, for all organisations involved in an incident. |
| M/ETHANE | Major Incident (yes/no?) Exact Location Type of Incident Hazards Access Number of Casualties Emergency Services | A reporting framework used by emergency responders to ensure essential information is shared during a Major incident. |
| MHCLG (previously known as DLUHC) | Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government (previously Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities) | The Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government is central to the mission-driven government, from fixing the foundations of an affordable home to handing power back to communities and rebuilding local governments. MHCLG is a ministerial department, supported by 16 agencies and public bodies. |
| MOD | Ministry Of Defence | The Ministry of Defence is the department responsible for implementing the defence policy set by His Majesty’s Government and is the headquarters of the British Armed Forces. |
| Moulage | N/A | The art of applying mock injuries to volunteers/actors for an emergency response exercise, to give a ‘real-life’ element. |
| NILO | National Interagency Liaison Officer | A NILO is a security vetted, trained and identifiable responder from the emergency services who is a tactical adviser but can assume a command role if required. (Equivalent to ‘Ops 1’ in West Yorkshire Police). |
| NoK | Next Of Kin | |
| NPO | National Power Outage | The loss of power that will affect the whole Country for a prolonged period. |
| NRR | National Risk Register | The National Risk Register is the external version of the NSRA. The risks that meet the threshold for inclusion in the National Risk Register would have a substantial impact on the UK’s safety, security and/or critical systems at a national level. |
| NSRA | National Security Risk Assessment | The government’s assessment of the most serious risks facing the UK. |
| OIC | Officer In Charge | The OIC is responsible for directing personnel and providing supervisory oversight for their shift. They also serve as a critical communication link for involved parties in their organisation. |
| POB | People On Board | Relates to People on Board (passengers and flight crew) when dealing with an aviation incident. |
| RCG | Recovery Coordinating Group | Following an emergency, local authorities will usually co-ordinate the multi-agency recovery process, including chairing and providing the secretariat for the Recovery Co-ordinating Group, with support from the full range of multi-agency partners as necessary. |
| ResCG | Response Coordinating Group | A ResCG may be convened where the local response has been or may be overwhelmed and wider support is required, or where an emergency affects a number of neighbouring SCGs and would benefit from co-ordination or enhanced support. |
| RED | Resilience and Emergencies Division (part of DLUHC) | DLUHC RED provide a link to central government for local responders. The Division works with local organisations to build resilience, to support Local Resilience Forums (LRFs) working together and, as appropriate, support the response to any emergency. They are responsible for co-ordinating information from across multiple Local Resilience Forums and SCGs to generate situational awareness across all areas. |
| ResDirect (or RD) | Resilience Direct | The UK’s secure, web-based platform sharing emergency response and planning information between key agencies. |
| SCC | Strategic Coordinating Centre | The role of the SCC is to provide support to the SCG and to coordinate the strategic response to the incident or operation. |
| SCG | Strategic Coordinating Group | The purpose of an SCG is to take overall responsibility for the multi-agency management of the emergency, and to establish the policy and strategic framework within which lower levels of command will operate. |
| Senior Investigating Officer | SIO | The SIO leads on specified crime investigations. They manage the investigative response, and all resources associated with the investigation. |
| Senior Identification Manager | SIM | The senior identification manager (SIM) is a senior police investigator and leader responsible for managing all aspects of the identification process. Consults with the senior investigating officer (SIO) and manages the disaster victim identification (DVI) process. |
| Silver command | Tactical level | Silver command leads the tactical response and develops a plan to achieve the strategic objectives. |
| SitRep | Situation Report | A SitRep is a concise operational document, providing an update from each organisation on the current needs, response and gaps in an emergency. |
| STAC | Scientific and Technical Advice Cell | The STAC operates as an advisory group and is not an operational group. Its focus is to provide practical advice on public health, environmental, scientific and technical issues to those responsible for mounting and coordinating the response to an emergency. |
| TCG | Tactical Coordinating Group | The tactical group co-ordinates the overall response. They carry out and follow the policy and guidelines from the Strategic Coordinating Group (SCG). |
| VCFS | Voluntary, Community and Faith Sector | The term ‘Voluntary, Community and Faith Sector’ encompasses all not-for-profit voluntary, community and faith groups, organisations, charities, social enterprises, cooperatives and mutuals, large and small. |
| WYRF | West Yorkshire Resilience Forum | WYRF is the Local Resilience Forum for West Yorkshire. Also referred to as West Yorkshire Prepared. |
PLEASE NOTE: A longer list of terminology can be found in the UK Civil Protection Lexicon (resilience.gov.uk).