ERP 49 Operation Link

To send an alert message, FIM’s, Contingency or Ops Planning staff should access Courier.

From the top navigation bar:

• Select the directory “Op Link”
• Select “Messages”

Then click “Create new message”. This will open a pop-up box.

Message title

Add the message title “OPERATION LINK ACTIVATION – AVON AND SOMERSET POLICE”.

Message text

Your message text must include that it is from Avon and Somerset Police (as this message is read out on the auto voice system and without this, regional partners will not know which police service is activating Op Link).

Example message

To follow is an example of a message, with a suggested format and structure.

“This is Avon and Somerset Police activating Operation Link for a multi agency teleconference / Teams meeting taking place at (insert time at least 30 mins from message send time) relating to an incident (insert type. Ie: RTC / Fire / Explosion/ Water Leak) at (insert location).

Please ensure your duty officer dials in on 02038 555202 Entering the passcode of 174 584 626” or by selecting the Microsoft Teams Op Link invite you hold on file.

Please acknowledge this message by selecting the appropriate response”.

Message recipients

Under the message text, add or amend recipients by pressing EDIT.

Populating recipients

Under “Groups” on the left hand menu you will see a list of folders. Click on the “LRF OP LINK” folder. Do not select “All Contact Groups”.

Once you have added to a folder, it will populate the Op Link contacts page. Click “Select all” on the right hand side. This will tick all of the Op Link contacts and load them into the message.

Viewing the message

To view your message, press the “GO TO MESSAGE” button on the bottom right of the screen.

Rail network, Bristol Airport, Hinkley Point, COMAH sites, Op Bridge

If the incident being reported involves the rail network, Bristol Airport, Hinkley Point, COMAH sites, or Op Bridge (for Lord LT’s and High Sheriffs) select EDIT next to Recipients. You can now select an additional contact folder if needed and add them to the message.

Press “select all” and the additional folder of recipients will be added to the message distribution.

Responses

Select the “RESPONSES” Tab to allow you to receive responses from the message recipients.

Suggested responses

Suggest responses are: “MESSAGE RECEIVED AND WE WILL BE DIALLING IN”, and then press ADD, and then enter into the next text box “MESSAGE RECEIVED BUT WE WILL NOT BE DIALLING IN”. See Fig 11. (over page).

Sending the message

Having added the second response you can now continue to either SEND the message, or select an auto resend, which will continue to deliver the message every 5,15,30,60 minutes until the recipient selects a response. (We generally leave this set to NONE unless there is a particular reason we must get an immediate response).

Viewing responses

You should now select the “MESSAGES” tab at the top of the page to see the list of sent messages and after a few seconds click on your sent message to see that it has gone successfully and start to see the responses from the Op Link recipients.

Message responses are also available in a downloadable Excel format which can be saved and forwarded to the person who requested the Op Link activation or to the Police Force Duty Officer (FDO), so they know who to expect and names and contact numbers if required.

Follow up messages

In the event that you wish to send a follow up message to the original alert you can select “Follow Up Message” and reply to all the recipients, or just those that have acknowledged they can dial in, or to those that cannot. This allows further messages to be sent to just those involved in the incident without disturbing all the Op Link contacts if not required.

When the new message window pops up you can select from the “response groups” which response “yes” or “no” you want to send the message to, and delete the “response group” you don’t want to reply to.

Stopping messages being sent

If you have selected a follow up message or an automatic re-send, there is an option to STOP the message from being sent.

Access the Microsoft Teams meeting for Operation Link.

Participants can also dial into the meeting from a phone by dialling 02038 555202 using the conference ID: 174 584 626 and then pressing #

As the senior police representative on duty, the Force Duty Officer should coordinate the Op Link request and call.

The conference will commence when all participants have joined, or at discretion of the host (which is normally the Police initially). Where a roll call will be taken and the Chair will be handed over to the lead agency who initiated the call.

To facilitate speedy and efficient conference calls all participants should:

• ensure they are on mute when not speaking to eliminate background noise (to unmute a mobile phone which has been muted by the organiser, the phone user must press *6)
• introduce themselves by first name and organisation when speaking
• refrain from dialling out of the call when someone is already speaking as vital information may not be heard
• use the MS Teams chat facility or hand signal to indicate they would like to comment
• be prepared to stay online after the conference call to discuss particular subjects in more detail

Contingency telephone number

In the event that the Microsoft Teams system is not available or fails to work. The contingency is to use the dedicated BT Public Sector Conference Line.

The Op Link message / alert will need to be resent to all agencies with the MS Teams details omitted and replaced with the below:

0800 917 1956 entering the participants passcode of 9059 5924 #
The host code for the Force Duty Officer to join the meeting and chair it, will be 3500 8725#

To follow is a list of potential participants. For the meeting, you should record the name of the attendee.

1. Avon/Somerset Local Resilience Forum

Emergency Services

1. Avon and Somerset Police
2. British Transport Police
3. Avon Fire and Rescue Service
4. Devon and Somerset Fire & Rescue Service
5. S. Western Ambulance Service NHS Trust
6. Bristol International Airport Fire Service
7. Civil Nuclear Constabulary
8. Bristol Port Police

Local Authorities

1. Bristol City Council
2. Bath and Northeast Somerset Council
3. North Somerset Council
4. South Gloucestershire Council
5. Somerset County Council

Health

1. NHS England
2. UK Health Security Agency
3. Bristol N Som S Glos (BNSSG) Integrated Care Board
4. BANEs, Swindon & Wilts (BSW) Integrated Care Board
5. Somerset Integrated Care Board

Government Agencies

1. Maritime and Coastguard Agency
2. Environment Agency
3. Met Office
4. Dept. for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities
5. Resilience and Emergencies Division (RED)
6. National Highways

Utilities

1. Wessex Water
2. Bristol Water
3. National Grid Electricity Transmission (NGET)
4. National Grid Electricity Distribution (NGED) (previously Western Power Distribution)
5. Scottish & Southern Electricity Network (parts of Somerset)
6. National Grid (Gas)
7. Wales and West Utilities

Military

1. Army JRLO
2. RAF LO
3. RN RLO

1. Roll call (if not able to see all participants on Microsoft Teams) (Lead = Chair)
2. Situational briefing (M/ETHANE) (Lead = reporting agency)
3. Declaration of interested parties
4. Declaration of urgent items for attention

(Opportunity to dial out)

1. Review outstanding actions (where applicable)
2. Gather information and intelligence specialist / subject matter expert updates
3. Assess risks and develop a working strategy 
4. Consider powers, policies and procedures:
   Business continuity plans
   Command structure
   Resources available
   Battle rhythm
5. Identify options and contingencies (Lead = Comms):
   Media communications – consider current local media activity and necessity for proactive communications.
   Consider need for Logistics Cell and Mutual Aid
6. Any other business
7. Establish date and time of next meeting
8. Closure of business

No formal multi-agency co-ordination is required – it is envisaged, that for the vast majority of events or situations notified, existing arrangements for multi-agency co-ordination will be adequate, and there will be no need for any additional multi-agency management arrangements to be set up.

In these circumstances, information sharing enables partner organisations to be aware of the event or situation, without necessarily needing to actively participate in its management. For information sharing to be effective in these circumstances, it will be necessary for the FIM to ascertain:

• If it would be advantageous to instigate a teleconference / Teams meeting using a different access code (Contingency Planning Dept. to be contacted)
• Why the calling agency considers the event or incident to be a potential emergency?
• What are the possible impacts and/or consequences of the event?
• Who, in the opinion of the calling agency, should be told of the event?
• Who has the calling agency already advised?
• What immediate action (if any) does the calling agency consider necessary?
• Who has the calling agency already advised?
• What immediate action (if any) does the calling agency consider necessary?

Avon and Somerset Police in consultation with the Contacting Agency will give consideration to convening a TCG (these are initially virtual using Teams or tele conference) but could be a physical meeting depending on the situation and location of incident.

Where there is agreement to convene a TCG, the Police will be responsible for making all necessary arrangements, including the provision of a Secretariat.

Incidents that may require a response over a long duration or when the Strategic level of command has not been established, would fall into this category.

The Police will chair the meetings unless agreed otherwise.

When a TCG is convened in response to an incident notified via this protocol the following will apply:

1. Invitations to the meeting will be sent by the Police to all the organisations and agencies required
   (This can be achieved by using the Courier system for a full Op Link, or using selective agencies / organisations selecting from Courier to send the message).
2. A suggestion for representation beyond organisations and agencies represented will be decided by the chair prior to invites being dispatched.
3. The ASLRF Coordinator, in consultation with the police and contacting partner agency, will provide a written brief to all invitees detailing the reason(s) for convening the TCG.
4. The meeting notification process will be the same as that used for meetings of ASLRF.

The SCG is responsible for determining the strategic aims, objectives and priorities of a situation or event.

Normally a request to activate an SCG will originate from an existing Tactical Commander, however an SCG may be established without a tactical level of command requesting it. For example, intelligence led operations. In both instances the cascade outlined in Appendix B must still be used.

It should be noted that whilst, in accordance with this protocol, an agency may be notified of an incident, the notified agency is solely responsible for any initiation of in-house procedures. The agency remains, at all times, responsible for any actions it takes in response to the initiation of this protocol.

The agency that identifies the need for a PEAT will assume the lead role throughout the rising tide event. They should:

• create and publish a PEAT community page in Resilience Direct (RD)
• arrange their own Microsoft Teams meeting and attach the hyperlink in the content area of the PEAT community page

Assistance may be given to the requesting agency to set up either parts of this process by Avon and Somerset Police and/or the ASLRF Secretariat, but they will not become the Chair, Host or Administrator on behalf of the requesting agency.

The requesting agency will email ASP Contingency Team group mailbox and/or the ASLRF Secretariat group mailbox during operational hours (Monday to Friday, 08:00 – 16:00), asking for a mass notification message to be sent out.

On receipt of the initiating email the message must be checked for the following information:

• contact details for the officer requesting the PEAT
• details for the officer chairing the video conference call
• confirmation that the RD community page has been published
• exact details of the rising tide event:
  • date and time of the event
  • potential risks/hazards/threats
  • likely impact and/or consequences
  • identified or potential mutual aid request(s)

As a result of this email the ASLRF Secretariat or Police Contingency Planning Team may request a short meeting/phone call with the requesting agency to discuss the PEAT arrangements.

An initial message will be sent out using the police mass notification system, to the Emergency Duty Officer(s) for each partner agency informing them of the PEAT. All subsequent messages will be sent via RD alerts by the agency requesting the PEAT.

To send an alert message, FIM’s, Contingency or Ops Planning staff should access Courier.

From the top navigation bar:

• Select the directory “Op Link”
• Select “Messages”

Then click “Create new message”. This will open a pop-up box.

Message title

Add the message title “PEAT ACTIVATION” and the name of the requesting organisation.

Message text

Copy and paste the following into the message text, replacing the bold text with relevant details.

“This is Avon and Somerset Local Resilience Forum activating a Pre-Event Assessment Teleconference call as requested by (insert requesting agency name) taking place at (insert agreed date and time) relating to a rising tide event (insert type. Ie: RTC / Fire / Explosion/ Water Leak) at (insert location) which is due to take place, approximately (anticipated date and time). The (insert requesting agency) has created a Community Page in Resilience Direct where your duty officer can select the Microsoft Teams conference hyperlink, or dial in using the contact details”.

Message recipients

Under the message text, add or amend recipients by pressing EDIT.

Populating recipients

Under “Groups” on the left hand menu you will see a list of folders. Click on the “LRF OP LINK” folder. Do not select “All Contact Groups”.

Once you have added to a folder, it will populate the Op Link contacts page. Click “Select all” on the right hand side. This will tick all of the Op Link contacts and load them into the message.

Viewing the message

To view your message, press the “GO TO MESSAGE” button on the bottom right of the screen.

Rail network, Bristol Airport, Hinkley Point, COMAH sites, Op Bridge

If the incident being reported involves the rail network, Bristol Airport, Hinkley Point, COMAH sites, or Op Bridge (for Lord LT’s and High Sheriffs) select EDIT next to Recipients. You can now select an additional contact folder if needed and add them to the message.

Press “select all” and the additional folder of recipients will be added to the message distribution.

Sending the message

Having added the second response you can now continue to either SEND the message, or select an auto resend, which will continue to deliver the message every 5,15,30,60 minutes until the recipient selects a response. (We generally leave this set to NONE unless there is a particular reason we must get an immediate response).

Viewing responses

You should now select the “MESSAGES” tab at the top of the page to see the list of sent messages and after a few seconds click on your sent message to see that it has gone successfully and start to see the responses from the Op Link recipients.