Disaster fears unite businesses and public bodies
The Irish Emergency Planning Society (IEPS) is helping companies cope with anything from floods to terrorist attacks.
The group was formed last year and has more than 100 members, including representatives from RTÉ, the port authorities and the Irish Aviation Authority.
“Companies might have their own individual plans in place but we’re trying to co-ordinate everything on a wider basis. At the moment many plans by the gardaí and other State organisations supersede one another,” IEPS spokesperson Claire O’Donoghue said.
The Irish branch of the society, which also operates in Britain, will hold a seminar in Shannon on January 22, where experts will address businesses about disaster planning. This is expected to be the first in a series of nationwide meetings organised by the IEPS.
“When it comes to terrorist attacks like September 11, we will take our lead from the UK where they have prepared for this type of disaster,” said Ms O’Donoghue.
The Shannon seminar will look at communications and crisis leadership during a major emergency. “If companies can keep learning more about emergency planning - and that’s what we’re primarily trying to achieve - then the whole process can run more effectively,” Ms O’Donoghue said.
The Emergency Planning Society was formed in Britain in 1993 through the merger of the Emergency Planning Association and the County Emergency Planning Officers Society.
Already the society organises conferences, workshops, studies and seminars to examine emergency planning practice throughout Britain and the North.
The national emergency plan here will use the Garda Communications Centre, radio and TV, to advise people during a nuclear disaster. There will also be flight restrictions over areas with a high number of industries. People will be told to stay at home, with doors and windows closed and all air conditioning systems will have to be switched off.
Two million packages of iodine tablets were delivered to homes across the country last June as part of the National Emergency Plan for Nuclear Accidents. The tablets give protection against radioactive iodine gas.