Resilience expert Helen talks preparedness, cyber security and volcanoes
Meet Helen Hardy, Resilience and Business Continuity Manager for the Local Authority Resilience Partnership, a key part of the Local Resilience Forum. She explains why resilience matters and how a love of volcanoes led to a career in emergency planning!
Why is resilience so important?
Resilience is important for all of us because the risks we face are increasing.
Since I joined the Resilience Partnership in 2018, I’ve helped communities to deal with Covid, gas outages, flooding, fire, avian flu, public disorder and cyber attacks. The list really is endless!
What can people do to prepare for these risks?
Start by making sure your household is prepared – for instance, by putting together a grab bag of essential items they’ll need in an emergency.
Then think about creating a Community Response Plan. These encourage communities to think about local risks in advance and put measures in place to deal with them. This could be something as simple as drawing up a list of emergency contacts, identifying volunteers to help in an emergency, or deciding on a venue that might be used to offer shelter.
These are the best ‘starters for 10’ to make sure you’re as prepared as possible. And that’s where the LRF can help.
How did you end up working in resilience?
I was always fascinated by volcanoes! Because of that, I chose to study Environmental Hazards and Disaster Management at uni. While I was there, I found myself focusing more on risk – so it’s no surprise I ended up working in emergency planning.
What does an average day look like for you?
My role is to make sure communities and organisations are as prepared and resilient as they can be to cope with any challenges that come their way.
That involves lots of meetings with partner organisations about the risks, updating and reviewing emergency plans, and organising training for local authorities and other agencies.
The best bit is that I get to work with so many different people.
How do you make sure you’re prepared for an emergency?
At home, I have a grab bag (it’s actually a box!) which has copies of passports and insurance documents, a notebook with key details, tinned food and bottled water. I also make sure the cat carriers for our three cats are easily accessible.
This month is Cyber Security Awareness Month so we’re reminding people how important it is to have strong online security, for instance, by using strong passwords and multi factor authentication and backing up files.
Luckily, my partner works in IT security so I’ve got that covered!
Are there any incidents that stand out from your time at LRF?
All incidents are important because they all have an impact on people’s lives.
One of the most complex I was involved in was a large fire which was close to a school and a railway and involved the possible evacuation of nearby homes. There were also lots of people who couldn’t move their cars because of the fire so I worked with the voluntary sector to set up an emergency rest centre. I also needed to make sure that social care and other services could get access to make their routine visits to local people.
There were lots of factors to consider and lots of agencies involved, all following the JESIP principles [JESIP stands for Joint Emergency Services Interoperability Principles and provides guidelines for joint agency working in an emergency].
It's part of my job to anticipate how the incident will unfold and how people and businesses might be affected. Ultimately, my aim is always to keep people, property and the environment safe.
How do you stay upbeat when you’re always thinking about disaster?
It’s really important to stay positive. As a team, we always try to identify a solution. And when you work with lovely people, it’s easy to be positive!
Everyone at the LRF has the same outlook: we’re here to create a safer, stronger community.