Glossary / Definitions

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Casualty

A person killed or physically or mentally injured in war, accident or civil emergency. For Casualty Bureau purposes the term encompasses any person involved in an incident, including evacuees. In maritime emergencies, it is also used to refer to a vessel or person in distress.

Casualty Bureau

The purpose of the casualty bureau is to provide the initial point of contact for the receiving and assessing of information relating to persons believed to be involved in the emergency. The primary objectives of a casualty bureau are: inform the investigation process relating to the incident; trace and identify people involved in the incident; and reconcile missing persons and collate accurate information in relation to the above for dissemination to appropriate parties.

Casualty Clearing Station

An area set up at the scene of an emergency by the ambulance service in liaison with the Medical Incident Officer to assess, triage and treat casualties and direct their evacuation.

Category 1 Responder

A person or body listed in Part 1 of Schedule 1 to the Civil Contingencies Act. These bodies are likely to be at the core of the response to most emergencies. As such, they are subject to the full range of civil protection duties in the Act.

Category 2 Responder

A person or body listed in Part 3 of Schedule 1 to the Civil Contingencies Act. 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. The Act requires them to co-operate and share information with other Category 1 and 2 responders.

CBRN

Chemical, biological, radiological and nuclear

CCC

Civil Contingencies Committee

CCD

Civil Contingencies Division (of the Scottish Executive Justice Department)

CCRF

Civil Contingencies Reaction Force(s) - Drawn from existing reserve forces, CCRFs are military forces capable of being mobilised to assist in dealing with civil emergencies in support of the civil authorities and regular forces.

CCS

Civil Contingencies Secretariat

CEMG

Central Emergency Management Group

CEPU (NI)

Central Emergency Planning Unit (Northern Ireland)

CFOA

Chief Fire Officers Association

CHALET

Casualties - Hazards - Access - Location - Emergency Services - Type. Mnemonic used by emergency services in incident assessment (see also METHANE)

CHALET

Casualties - Hazards - Access - Location - Emergency Services - Type (see also METHANE)

Civil Contingencies Act

The Civil Contingencies Act 2004 establishes a single framework for civil protection in the United Kingdom. Part 1 of the Act establishes a clear set of roles and responsibilities for local responders. Part 2 modernises the emergency powers framework in the United Kingdom.

Civil Contingencies Reaction Forces

(CCRFs) Drawn from existing reserve forces, CCRFs are military forces capable of being mobilised to assist in dealing with civil emergencies in support of the civil authorities and regular forces.

Civil Contingencies Secretariat

The Cabinet Office secretariat which provides the central focus for the cross-departmental and cross-agency commitment, co-ordination and co-operation that will enable the UK to deal effectively with disruptive challenges and crises.

Civil Protection

Preparedness to deal with a wide range of emergencies from localised flooding to terrorist attack.

CMG (NI)

Crisis Management Group (Northern Ireland)

CMO

Chief Medical Officer

Co-Ordinating Group

A meeting of Silver Commanders and Liaison Officers, usually chaired by the Police Silver Commander, which discusses and agrees future policy, within the strategy of Gold. It also agrees the content of all press releases.

Co-ordination

The harmonious integration of the expertise of all the agencies involved with the object of effectively and efficiently bringing the incident to a successful conclusion.

COBR

Cabinet Office Briefing Rooms

COMAH

Control of Major Accident Hazards Regulations 1998 - Regulations applying to the chemical industry and to some storage activities, explosives and nuclear sites where threshold quantities of dangerous substances, as identified in the Regulations, are kept or used.

Control Centre

Operations centre from which the management and co-ordination of the response to an emergency is carried out.

Control of Major Accident Hazards Regulations 1998

(COMAH) Regulations applying to the chemical industry and to some storage activities, explosives and nuclear sites where threshold quantities of dangerous substances, as identified in the Regulations, are kept or used.

Controlled Area

The area contained by the outer Cordon, which may be divided into geographical sectors.

Cordon - Inner

Surrounds and protects the immediate scene of an incident.

Cordon - Outer

Seals off a controlled area around an incident to which unauthorised persons are not allowed access.

CPA

Comprehensive Performance Assessment

Critical Incident Stress Debriefings (CISD)

A debriefing of emotions and experience pertaining to the incident directed by Welfare Officers/Occupational Health Unit Staff/Colleague Support staff, between 24 and 48 hours after the incident, as a means of lessening the likelihood of individuals developing Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD).

CSIA

Central Sponsor for Information Assurance, Cabinet Office

CTP

Contingency Telecommunication Provision