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Gold–silver–bronze command structure

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Gold Strategic
Silver Tactical
Bronze Operational

A gold–silver–bronze command structure is a command hierarchy used for major operations by the emergency services of the United Kingdom.

Some practitioners use the term strategic–tactical–operational command structure instead, but the different categories are equivalent.[1] In some cases, the national government (via the Cabinet Office Briefing Rooms) will assume ultimate control and act as a "platinum" level.[2]

Command structure in practice

The 2005 Buncefield fire is an example of how the command structure functions. After the explosions on Sunday, 11 December 2005, the strategic operation to bring the incident under control was commenced at Hertfordshire Constabulary's headquarters in Welwyn Garden City, some distance from the incident.

  • Hertfordshire Fire and Rescue Service's Chief Fire Officer Roy Wilsher was based at Gold Command "within one hour of the incident".[3]
  • Bronze was situated on the fire ground and was a Hertfordshire fire service control unit. Each of the services had its own senior officers who assumed the roles of gold, silver, and bronze.

During the first three days of the fire, the gold command committee met at 11:00 a.m. and 2:00 p.m.; each session was usually followed by a media briefing. The command meetings were attended by the commanders of the main emergency services, local authority, health and safety officials, and civilian press officers from the emergency services.

The effectiveness of elements of interoperability and communications with this structure have been called into question by the Pollock Report of 2013.[4]

See also

References

  1. ^ "London Emergency Services Liaison Panel: Major Incident Procedure Manual 8th ed (accessed 5 Dec 2014)". Archived from the original on 2009-08-08. Retrieved 2005-10-05.
  2. ^ Alejandro López-Carresi (2012). "42". In Ben Wisner; J.C. Gaillard; Ilan Kelman (eds.). Handbook of Hazards and Disaster Risk Reduction and Management. Abingdon, Oxfordshire, UK: Taylor & Francis Books. p. 509. ISBN 978-0-415-59065-5. Viewed 21 February 2018.
  3. ^ Herts Direct: In Focus – special edition – Buncefield (accessed 12 Dec 06)[permanent dead link],
  4. ^ "Emergency Planning College Occasional Papers New Series Number 6" (PDF). Archived from the original (PDF) on 2014-12-17. Retrieved 2014-11-03.
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