We never know when emergency situations are going to arise and the events in London on 7th July 2005 proved the need for all those involved in off school site activities, including work experience employers and supervisors, to have contingency plans. We estimated there was in excess of 10,000 school students on work experience in central London on that day and hundreds of school organised trips to workplaces, museums, galleries and places of special interest, including St Mary's Hospital in Marylebone which received the first of the appalling casualties. These notes should be used in conjunction with any guidance issued by the police, fire brigade or other authorities, including local authority guidance or your organisations policies. We apologies if some of the following tips are rather obvious.

The chance of being caught up in a major emergency or incident is low. Nevertheless they happen and here are a few pointers to enable schools, students, parents and employers to be better prepared to protect themselves and others. Essentially a major emergency is something on a scale that needs special arrangements to deal with it, such as:

• serious transport accidents (plane, train, vehicle pile-up)
• extreme weather
• major crime/terrorism/public disorder
• explosion/fire/industrial accident
• toxic chemical spillage/radioactive release
• shortages of essential supplies - water, food, power.
• infectious disease outbreak

Always remember that students may be confused and lack the experience of dealing with emergencies and threatening situations and therefore need very specific guidance and direct supervision to ensure their safety.

Work experience employers

On becoming aware that an incident has occurred, whether you are affected or not: -

• If you have a television or radio switch it on in order to monitor the situation and receive guidance and instructions from the Police and other authorities.
• Think about the possibilities for making the student safer. For example if there is the threat of bombs and you are in a vulnerable area, move the student further away from windows and the street. Close doors, steel security shutters etc.
• Reassure students and keep them calm. Treat them as adults by giving them appropriate information and discuss the situation.
• Enquire where the students live and their normal travel routes to and from work.
• Identify the nature and effects of the incident through television and radio news reports, phoning transport companies, etc.
• Try to contact the parents and work with them to identify the safest time and route to get them home.
• There may be a need for an adult to accompany the students to their home or to a pre-arranged point where their parents can meet them.
• In some situations there may be a need to make arrangements for emergency accommodation for the students if they cannot get home safely. In such situations they should be accompanied by a trusted adult and the arrangements need to be approved by the parents or the school if the parents cannot be contacted.
• Ensure that the students contact their parents as soon as possible to let them know they are OK and make arrangements for getting home. Mobile phone networks may not be accessible, make a landline available to them. Lines may be very busy and e-mail may be another possibility.
• If possible contact the school to let them know the student is OK and the arrangements for getting home. However, the school may be inundated with calls - do not let this delay you from taking appropriate and timely action.

There may be other factors and ongoing developments to consider which may affect decisions that are made. Please remember that work experience is part of the school curriculum and therefore the school has the ultimate responsibility for each student's safety and well-being. In the days following an incident they may consider it to be in the student's best interests for them to return to school rather than continue their placement with you, even though you may consider it to be quite safe. You may be able to discuss and influence them but the school and/or the parent's decision is final.

School visits to factories, sites, hospitals, museums, galleries and places of interest
Teachers in charge of pupils during a visit have a duty of care to make sure that the pupils are safe and healthy. They also have a common law duty to act as a reasonably prudent parent would. Teachers should not hesitate to act in an emergency and to take lifesaving action in an extreme situation. Emergency procedures are an essential part of planning a school visit and staff should be aware of local authority guidance on emergency planning procedures. When organizing a visit, especially in a vulnerable city like London, teachers and other accompanying staff should discuss emergency plans with the school appointed Educational Visits Co-coordinator.

Travel precautions
There are other precautions that may need to be addressed in order to keep the party together on the way there and back. For example, the student may be separated accidentally by getting off at the wrong tube station or not making it through the doors in time to get off! Every person should be carrying an instruction sheet indicating the destination, re-assembly possibilities and contact phone numbers from which they can seek advice or notify the school of their plans for continuing the journey or making their way back to school or home. Mobile phones are an obvious benefit for the students and many schools now have them available for staff in order that personal numbers do not have to be given out.

For the benefit of students with English language difficulties the instruction sheet should be constructed in such a way that it would be obvious to the Police or transport officials where the trip is going and who to contact. Maximise the possibilities of the student being able to be re-united with the party. Independent travel for adult working life is an essential skill and it may be considered that with older students groups, a maximum of four, traveling together, is safer. It certainly reduces the risk of a whole class being injured in one incident. Schools should balance the risk with the difficulty of the journey.

If an accident happens, the priorities are to:

• assess the situation;
• safeguard the uninjured members of the group;
• attend to the casualties;
• inform the emergency services and everyone who needs to know of the incident.

Parents
If your son or daughter is on a school trip or work experience, think about the chances of you being contacted if something goes wrong. In the event of a serious incident or emergency employers and school staff may have to contact you urgently. Take time to ensure that before they leave home they have a note of how to get hold of you quickly. If they have a mobile phone make sure they have recorded the relevant contact numbers.

Emergency procedures
All those involved in the school trip, including supervisors, pupils and their parents, should be aware of who will take charge in an emergency, the named back up cover and what they are expected to do in an emergency.

Emergency procedures framework during the visit
If an emergency occurs on a school visit the main factors to consider include:

• establish the nature and extent of the emergency as quickly as possible;
• try to get the party to as safe an area as possible, in the case of bombs this may be to the middle of a park or piece of open ground, persuading a shop with steel shutter doors to take the party in, or on a visit to an employer moving away from windows and away from the street side;
• try to get access to television or radio in order to be able to assess the situation and listen to instructions and advice from the Police and other authorities;
• ensure that all the group are reassured and looked after;
• establish the names of any casualties and get immediate medical attention for them;
• ensure that all group members who need to know are aware of the incident and that all group members are following the emergency procedures;
• ensure that a teacher accompanies casualties to hospital and that the rest of the group are adequately supervised at all times and kept together;
• notify the Police if necessary;
• inform the nominated school contact. The school contact number should be accessible at all times during the visit;
• details of the incident to pass on to the school should include: nature, date and time of incident; location of incident; names of casualties and details of their injuries; names of others involved so that parents can be reassured; action taken so far; action yet to be taken and by whom;
• ascertain telephone numbers of anyone involved or witnessing the incident for future calls;
• write down accurately and as soon as possible all relevant facts and witness details and preserve any vital evidence;
• keep a written account of all events, times and contacts after the incident;
• names of those involved in the incident should not be given to the media as this could cause distress to their families. Media enquiries should be referred to a designated media contact in the home area;
• if the incident is likely to a attract the attention of the media, contact your local authority media response team as soon as possible to brief them and obtain advice. If you have a call from them, make sure it is them and not a newspaper!

Getting the party back to school or home
In the event of a terrorist attack it may be advisable to stay where you are and not venture out on to the streets or public transport until you are confident the authorities are letting you know they think the threat level has subsided. In some circumstances it may be advisable for the student to contact their parents to be collected, however, this may involve more people coming into the danger area unnecessarily.

Public transport may not be the best idea and a long walk back may be the safest option. If this is the case you may consider the students sensible enough to make their way back in groups of four to minimize the possibility of a large party being injured in one incident.
This may enable them to be more personally vigilant and more easily navigate a route away from potential bomb dangers like refuse bins, tube station entrances etc. Staff and students can subscribe to Community Safe Alerts http://communitysafe.gov.uk/alerts/all/ and have incidents, suspicious packages, suspect abandoned cars, warnings etc SMS or emailed to their mobile phone and/or PC.

On July 7th 2005 a group of forty Westminster school students and teachers were spending the day at St Mary's Hospital in Marylebone and were in an assembly room above the casualty unit. The situation of a major incident that would involve multiple casualties coming in to the hospital had already been considered as a possibility by the hospital and the EBP involved. The students were evacuated by a pre-planned route that avoided meeting the horrifically mutilated passengers from the Edgeware Rd bomb. The packed lunches that had been distributed were collected in again for the use of the paramedics and nursing staff and the students eventually found their way home safely after very lengthy walks. The pre-planned major incident plan had worked.

The management of health and safety on schools visits
http://www.teachernet.gov.uk/wholeschool/healthandsafety/visits/

Contingency Planning
In the event of a major incident occurring within Westminster this Web site will be used to give the latest information available
http://www.westminster.gov.uk/policingandpublicsafety/accidentsemergenciesandsafety/contingency.cfm

London prepared
This Website offers information and advice to Londoners, visitors and businesses on London's preparations for - and responses to - major incidents and emergencies.
http://www.londonprepared.gov.uk/

Security and contingency planning - The City of London
http://www.cityoflondon.gov.uk/Corporation/our_services/law_order/security_planning/

Community safe
Community Safe is a central point of real-time information and advice on counter-terrorism and crime reduction from the police and your local council.
http://www.communitysafe.gov.uk/ The alerts are logged here and you can subscribe to have them text or emailed : http://communitysafe.gov.uk/alerts/all/

Preparing for emergencies
This website has information on how you can help yourself and others in emergencies. A lot of it is based on common sense advice and may seem obvious or familiar to you, but it has saved lives in the past.
http://www.preparingforemergencies.gov.uk/index.shtm

Protecting against terrorism - MI5
http://www.ukresilience.info/publications/protecting.pdf

Health and Safety Executive web site
http://www.hse.gov.uk/

Five steps to risk assessment
http://hse.gov.uk/pubns/indg163.pdf

UK resilience
The Government's aim is to reduce the risk from emergencies so that people can go about their business freely and with confidence. This website exists to provide a resource for civil protection practitioners, supporting the work which goes on across the UK to improve emergency preparedness.
http://www.ukresilience.info/index.shtm