Major Emergency - A Major Emergency is any event (happening with or without warning) causing or threatening death or injury, damage to property or to the environment disruption to the community, which because of the scale of its effects cannot be dealt with by the emergency services and local authorities as part of their day-to-day activities.
Major Incident - The emergency services have the ability within their own organisation to declare an incident that they attend as a "major incident".
As the police perform a co-coordinating role in virtually all "major incidents" it is of relevance to understand their definition of the term, major incident
The rescue and transportation of a large number of casualties.
The involvement, either directly or indirectly, of large numbers of people
The handling of a large number of enquiries likely to be generated both from the public and the news media usually to the police
Any incident that requires the large-scale combined resources of the emergency services
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
Serious Incident - A Serious Incident is any incident that is NOT a Major Incident, but:-o Has the potential to develop into a Major Incident
Involves contamination of the environment, water courses or air pollution
Involves the evacuation or the potential for evacuation of members of the public
Involves major road closures
Involves the distribution of health advice to any members of the public
