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SL86-Flood Risk Management, Emergency Response and Business Continuity Policy

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Registration Number: {{org_field_registration_no}}

Flood Risk Management, Emergency Response and Business Continuity Policy

1. Purpose

{{org_field_name}} will take all reasonably practicable steps to protect people receiving regulated care and support, staff, visitors and others who may be affected by flooding, floodwater, loss of utilities or related disruption.

This policy establishes arrangements for:

The policy supports compliance with the Health and Social Care Act 2008 and the Health and Social Care Act 2008 (Regulated Activities) Regulations 2014, including:

It also supports compliance, where relevant, with the Care Quality Commission (Registration) Regulations 2009, the Health and Safety at Work etc. Act 1974, the Management of Health and Safety at Work Regulations 1999, the Care Act 2014, the Mental Capacity Act 2005, the Equality Act 2010, the Data Protection Act 2018, the UK General Data Protection Regulation, the Environmental Protection Act 1990 and the Flood and Water Management Act 2010.

{{org_field_name}} will have regard to current Environment Agency, UK Health Security Agency, local authority and emergency-service guidance when preparing for, responding to and recovering from flooding.

The Civil Contingencies Act 2004 primarily places duties on specified emergency responders. Although {{org_field_name}} will not ordinarily be a Category 1 or Category 2 responder, it will co-operate with relevant responders, commissioners and local resilience arrangements when this is necessary to protect people and maintain essential care and support.

2. Scope

This policy applies to all employees, agency workers, bank workers, volunteers, managers and contractors working on behalf of {{org_field_name}}. It also applies to arrangements made to protect people receiving care and support and visitors at any supported living location from which the organisation provides a regulated activity.

The policy covers:

In supported living, a person’s accommodation will usually be their own home and may be controlled by a landlord, housing association, managing agent or building owner. This policy therefore distinguishes between:

Nothing in this policy authorises staff to exercise powers belonging to a landlord, building owner, emergency service or utility provider. Staff must nevertheless take immediate, proportionate action where necessary to protect life or prevent serious harm.

3. Related Policies

4. Definitions

For the purpose of this policy:

5. Flood Risk Assessment and Prevention

A documented, location-specific flood risk assessment must be completed:

The assessment must consider, as applicable:

The Registered Manager must ensure that identified actions are recorded, assigned to a named person and completed within a proportionate timescale.

Where a risk relates to the structure, drainage, communal areas, utilities or another matter controlled by the landlord or housing provider, the concern must be reported promptly in writing. The manager must retain evidence of the report, agreed action and follow-up. If a serious risk is not addressed, the matter must be escalated to senior management, the commissioner, local authority, environmental health, building regulator, emergency service or other appropriate body according to the nature and urgency of the risk.

Preventive measures may include:

6. Person-Centred Emergency Planning, Consent and Communication

Each person receiving support must be involved, as far as reasonably practicable, in planning how they will be supported during flooding or related disruption.

Emergency planning must reflect the person’s:

Information must be provided in a format the person can understand. This may include Easy Read, pictures, large print, Braille, British Sign Language, audio, interpretation, objects of reference, communication passports or support from a person who knows them well.

Staff must seek the person’s valid consent to proposed emergency arrangements wherever the person has capacity to decide.

A person must not be assumed to lack capacity because they have a disability, make an unwise decision or disagree with staff. Where there is reason to doubt capacity for a specific emergency-related decision, staff must follow the Mental Capacity Act 2005 and the organisation’s Mental Capacity Act policy.

Where a person lacks capacity to make the relevant decision, any action must:

Immediate action may be taken without prior consent where this is necessary and proportionate to save life or prevent serious deterioration, but the reasons and actions must be documented as soon as practicable.

Restrictive measures must never be used for staff convenience or as a substitute for adequate emergency planning.

7. Emergency Preparedness and Planning

7.1 Location-Specific Flood Emergency Plan

A written Flood Emergency Plan must be maintained for each supported living location where flooding or related disruption is reasonably foreseeable.

The plan must include:

The plan must be readily accessible to staff, including agency and on-call staff, while being protected from unauthorised disclosure.

Emergency supplies must be proportionate to the assessed needs of the people supported and the likely duration of disruption. Where relevant, supplies must include:

Emergency supplies must be checked at a documented frequency based on risk and at least quarterly. Checks must include expiry dates, integrity, accessibility, battery charge and suitability for current individual needs.

Medicines must not be stockpiled outside lawful prescribing, dispensing and storage arrangements. Any emergency medicines provision must be agreed with the prescriber, supplying pharmacy and medicines lead.

The manager must identify which equipment and care activities depend on electricity and determine the safe contingency arrangements for power failure.

Portable generators must not be obtained, stored or used unless:

Fuel-powered generators must never be used inside a dwelling, garage, enclosed space or close to doors, windows or ventilation inlets.

Where a person relies on electrically powered life-sustaining or safety-critical equipment, the person’s care plan must identify battery duration, charging arrangements, emergency clinical contacts and the point at which emergency services or alternative accommodation must be sought.

7.2 Roles and Responsibilities

The Registered Provider will:

The Registered Manager will:

The Flood or Business Continuity Lead will:

On-call managers will:

Care and support staff will:

The landlord, housing provider or building manager should be contacted regarding matters within their control, including structural repairs, communal drainage, building services, lifts, communal alarms and access. The provider must not assume that reporting a concern transfers all responsibility. The manager must verify that proportionate protective action is being taken and escalate unresolved risks.

8. Flood Response and Evacuation Procedures

8.1 Response to Alerts and Warnings

On receiving information about possible flooding, the staff member or manager must verify the source where practicable and record:

At flood-alert stage, the manager must consider:

At flood-warning stage, the manager must:

At severe-flood-warning stage, where there is danger to life, staff must call 999 where emergency assistance is required, follow emergency-service instructions and implement immediate life-safety arrangements.

Staff must not enter, walk through or drive through floodwater unless specifically directed by emergency services and it is necessary to protect life. Floodwater may be deeper, faster-moving or more contaminated than it appears.

8.2 Evacuation and Temporary Relocation

Evacuation must be initiated when:

Staff must:

Staff must not use lifts where flooding, power failure, fire precautions or emergency-service advice make their use unsafe.

No person may be physically carried, manually lifted or moved using improvised equipment unless this is necessary to prevent immediate serious harm and no safer option is available. Staff must follow assessed moving-and-handling arrangements wherever circumstances permit.

Alternative accommodation must be assessed as suitable for the person’s care, accessibility, privacy, dignity, medicines, equipment, communication and safeguarding needs.

The service must maintain a record of:

8.3 Refusal to Evacuate

Where a person with capacity refuses to evacuate, staff must:

Where there is reason to doubt the person’s capacity to decide about evacuation, a decision-specific capacity assessment and, where required, a best-interests decision must be undertaken in accordance with the Mental Capacity Act 2005.

Staff must not use force unless there is a clear lawful authority and the action is necessary and proportionate to prevent harm.

8.4 Emergency Staffing

The Registered Manager must ensure that sufficient numbers of suitably competent staff are available to meet people’s assessed needs throughout the incident.

The emergency staffing plan must address:

Staffing decisions must be based on people’s needs and actual risk, not solely on usual rota numbers.

No member of staff may be instructed to enter floodwater, a structurally unsafe building or another area presenting an uncontrolled serious risk.

9. Post-Flood Recovery and Business Continuity

9.1 Safety Assessment Before Return

No person receiving support or member of staff may return to an affected property until the responsible authority or competent person has confirmed that it is safe for the intended use.

Depending on the circumstances, confirmation may be required from:

The return assessment must consider:

Staff must not reconnect gas or electricity, use wet electrical equipment or restart boilers, lifts or other systems unless authorised by a competent person.

A documented management decision must be made before services resume. The decision must identify who provided safety assurance, any restrictions, outstanding work and additional monitoring required.

9.2 Restoring Care and Support

Following evacuation or significant disruption, the manager must review each affected person’s care and support arrangements.

The review must consider:

The manager must ensure that relevant professionals, commissioners, relatives or representatives are informed where lawful, necessary and consistent with the person’s wishes.

Care records and risk assessments must be updated promptly.

The provider must maintain continuity of regulated care even where the person’s home is temporarily unavailable. Where {{org_field_name}} cannot safely meet assessed needs, the manager must escalate immediately to the commissioner, local authority and relevant health professionals and document the interim safeguarding arrangements.

10. Infection Prevention, Contamination and Public Health

Floodwater must be treated as potentially contaminated with sewage, chemicals, oils, sharps, animal waste or other hazardous material.

People receiving support must be prevented from entering contaminated areas unless emergency circumstances make this unavoidable.

Staff involved in an immediate response or clean-up must:

Clean-up and decontamination must be carried out by competent persons. Specialist contractors must be used where sewage, chemicals, asbestos, structural damage, extensive mould or other hazardous contamination is present.

Food, drinking water, medicines, dressings, continence products and other absorbent items that have contacted floodwater must be discarded unless a competent professional confirms that they are safe.

Tap water must not be used for drinking, preparing food, oral hygiene or medicines where the water undertaker or public-health authority has advised that it may be unsafe.

The manager must seek advice from NHS 111, the person’s GP, the UK Health Security Agency, environmental health or emergency services where there is suspected exposure to contaminated water or a risk of infection.

Staff must monitor affected people for symptoms including:

Urgent medical advice must be obtained where symptoms are severe, persistent or affect a person at increased clinical risk.

The UK Health Security Agency’s flood-health guidance for health and social care providers must be considered when plans are reviewed and during an incident.

11. Safeguarding

Flooding, evacuation and temporary relocation may increase the risk of abuse, neglect, exploitation, missing-person incidents, financial loss, medication errors and organisational neglect.

Staff must remain alert to:

Any safeguarding concern must be reported immediately under the Safeguarding Adults Policy. The manager must make or support a referral to the local authority safeguarding team and notify CQC where the notification criteria are met.

Emergency circumstances do not remove the organisation’s safeguarding duties.

12. Training, Competence and Exercises

All staff must receive flood and emergency-response information during induction and refresher training at a frequency determined by risk.

Training must cover, according to role:

Staff must not be allocated specialist duties, including generator operation, electrical isolation, use of evacuation equipment or contaminated-water clean-up, unless they have been assessed as competent and authorised.

Location-based exercises must be completed at least annually and more frequently where indicated by risk.

Exercises may include:

Exercises must not expose people to avoidable distress or unsafe moving-and-handling practices. Participation must be person-centred, and reasonable adjustments must be made.

The manager must document attendance, outcomes, identified learning, responsible persons and completion dates for corrective actions.

13. Monitoring, Audit and Continuous Improvement

The Registered Manager must maintain an assurance system covering:

A post-incident review must be completed after:

The review must examine:

Improvement actions must identify a responsible person and completion date. Senior management must monitor overdue or high-risk actions.

People receiving support and staff must be given an opportunity to contribute to the review in a format accessible to them.

Learning must be shared across relevant supported living locations.

14. Records, Confidentiality and Information Sharing

Emergency information must be accurate, current, accessible to authorised staff and protected against loss, water damage and unauthorised access.

The service must maintain secure backup arrangements for essential electronic records and a proportionate offline contingency for digital-system or power failure.

During evacuation or relocation, only the minimum personal information necessary to protect the person and maintain safe care should be shared.

Relevant information may be shared without consent where this is necessary and lawful to:

The reason, recipient and information shared must be recorded as soon as practicable.

Emergency grab files, printed summaries and contact lists must:

Loss, unauthorised disclosure or destruction of personal information must be reported immediately under the organisation’s data-breach procedure. The Data Protection Officer must determine whether the Information Commissioner’s Office or affected individuals must be notified.

15. Incident Reporting and Notifications

All floods, significant leaks, evacuations, temporary relocations, injuries, medicines disruptions, utility failures, contamination events, near misses and failures of emergency arrangements must be reported through the organisation’s incident-reporting system.

The Registered Manager must determine without delay whether notification or referral is required to:

CQC must be notified where flooding or related infrastructure, equipment, premises or staffing problems stop or may stop the provider carrying on the regulated activity safely and properly, or where another statutory notification criterion is met.

Notifications must be made without delay and within the timescale required by the relevant regulation.

The manager must retain:

A flood does not automatically require notification to CQC. The decision depends on its effect on the regulated activity and on the health, safety and welfare of people receiving support. However, an event that stops or may stop the service running safely and properly falls within CQC’s notification framework.

16. Openness and Duty of Candour

{{org_field_name}} will act openly and transparently with people receiving support and, where applicable, their lawful representatives following flood-related incidents.

Where an incident meets the statutory definition of a notifiable safety incident, the Registered Manager must ensure that the duty of candour procedure is followed. This includes:

Even where the statutory threshold is not met, staff must communicate honestly about significant disruption, errors, delays or changes affecting a person’s care.

The duty of candour is distinct from notifying CQC. Both requirements must be considered separately. CQC describes the duty as a general requirement for registered providers and managers to be open and transparent with people receiving care.

17. Emergency Communication

The manager must establish and maintain clear arrangements for communicating with:

Communication must be:

Only an authorised manager may communicate with the media or publish information on behalf of {{org_field_name}}.

Staff must not post photographs, personal details, locations or commentary about the incident on personal social-media accounts.

A communication log must be maintained during significant incidents.

18. Insurance, Property and Personal Belongings

The provider must maintain appropriate insurance for risks within its responsibility and understand the boundaries between the provider’s insurance, the landlord’s insurance and the individual tenant’s contents insurance.

Staff must take reasonable steps to protect people’s belongings where this can be done safely, but protection of property must never take priority over life or health.

Any handling, movement, damage, loss or disposal of a person’s possessions must be documented.

Contaminated possessions must not be discarded without:

The organisation must not accept liability or promise reimbursement unless authorised under its claims procedure.

19. Policy Review

This policy will be reviewed at least annually and sooner where:

The review must consider feedback from people receiving support and staff.

Changes must be approved through the organisation’s governance process, communicated to relevant staff and incorporated into training and location-specific plans.

Responsible Person: {{org_field_registered_manager_first_name}} {{org_field_registered_manager_last_name}}
Reviewed on: {{last_update_date}}
Next Review Date: {{next_review_date}}
Copyright © {{current_year}} – {{org_field_name}}. All rights reserved.

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