Defining a major incident

A major incident can be defined as any emergency that requires the implementation of special arrangements by one or more of the Emergency Services, the NHS or local Authority for:

1. The initial treatment, rescue and transport of a large number of casualties.
2. The involvement, either directly or indirectly, of large numbers of people.
3. The handling of a large number of enquires likely to be generated, both from the public and the news media, usually to the Police.
4. The need for large scale combined resources of the emergency services.
5. The mobilisation and organisation of the emergency services and supporting organisations, e.g. local authority, to cater for the threat of death, serious injury or homelessness to a large number of people.

Overall coordination of major incidents, other than those that are purely fire related, will usually be the responsibility of the Police.

The North Yorkshire Local Resilience Forum may also have details of major incidents in the county.