Click on the headings below for more information.
A ‘Place of Safety’ is a local facility that can be opened during the immediate response to an emergency to provide basic shelter and safety to those affected.
Back To TopPolice Scotland may open a facility as an initial place of safety for those displaced during an evacuation.
However, some communities make locally agreed arrangements with facility owners or management committees to open a pre-identified facility as a community-led place of safety.
Back To TopThere is no expectation that community-led place of safety arrangements replace those of statutory responders. Instead, a community-led response to open a ‘place of safety’ is a voluntary arrangement that provides an opportunity for the community to:
- Open a facility for people to take refuge if responders are unable to reach the area - e.g., due to severe weather
- Work with statutory responders during an emergency response to quickly open a suitable facility
Community-led place of safety arrangements can be developed and owned by your community.
Your arrangements may form part of your wider local community emergency resilience arrangements, such as your community emergency plan. Some communities choose only to develop an activation plan for a local community-led place of safety without the need for a wider community emergency plan. This is up to you.
Fife Council’s Emergency Resilience Team can support your community to develop place of safety arrangements. Get in touch by emailing: emergency.planning@fife.gov.uk
Back To Top- Location
- A local facility suitable for providing a basic shelter and safe space
- Examples could include a community centre or hall, Church Hall, sports club hall, pub or restaurant
- Contacts
- Contacts for keyholders of identified facilities, to enable your community to open the facility
- Local Community Volunteers – to support the opening and running of the facility
- Fife Council Emergency Resilience Team – notify the team by contacting us at the earliest possible time, please get in touch to discuss further.
- Responsibilities
- Health and Safety
- Consider a risk assessment for this activity
- Insurance
- Contacting the Emergency Resilience Team
- Resources
- Volunteers with agreed roles to co-ordinate and activate arrangements, and open and set up the facility.
- Depending on existing locally available resources, you may also wish to consider additional resources that would be useful in a place of safety such as refreshments, phone chargers, games for children etc.
- Activation Plan
- Compile the above points and any additional details and ensure this is agreed with key community contacts.
- An example of a community led place of safety activation plan is available – contact the Emergency Resilience Team
- Communicate your arrangements
- To ensure the wider community is aware of the location of the place of safety and associated arrangements.
- Your finalised arrangements should be shared with Fife Council’s Emergency Resilience Team.
Your community lead for co-ordinating your community-led place of safety arrangements should notify Fife Council’s Emergency Resilience Team at the earliest opportunity.
Your community lead and the Emergency Resilience Team will work together to ensure Fife Council can organise support for people within the centre. This may include deployment of Fife Council Emergency Centre Response Team Volunteers, other Council Services or a request for support from partner agencies, as required. If an alternative location is required, this can also be arranged.
Back To TopFife Council Emergency Rest Centres
There are key differences between a facility that has been opened by the community in response to an emergency as a 'Place of Safety' and one that has been opened by Fife Council as an 'Emergency Rest Centre'. See the table below.
| Community Led ‘Place of Safety’ | Fife Council Emergency Rest Centre |
Lead | Community. | Fife Council. |
Purpose | A facility is opened as an initial ‘place of safety’. It provides an immediate basic shelter and safe space for those affected by an emergency. For example, people may have been evacuated from their homes or a location nearby. | Fife Council has a statutory duty to care for people affected by an emergency. In response to an evacuation, Fife Council will set up an Emergency Rest Centre to accommodate evacuees. An Emergency Rest Centre is a short-term way of providing alternative accommodation and support. |
Location | A nearby facility that can be opened by local community members, such as a church hall or community centre. The facility should be assessed as safe and accessible. | A nearby facility such as a community centre or school. The facility will be assessed as safe and accessible. |
Responsibilities | Where your community does open a facility as an initial place of safety, the same health and safety requirements that are in place during daily use and operation of the community facility apply. Your community group should ensure insurance is in place regarding your resilience activities. If your community opens a place of safety, contact the Emergency Resilience Team at the earliest opportunity. | Once notified by Police or the community, the Council will discuss the requirement for an Emergency Rest Centre. Fife Council has a duty to care for people affected by an emergency, providing support as required. |
Resources | As outlined above, the main purpose of a Place of Safety is to provide immediate shelter. Additional resources are dependent on local community arrangements and resources. For example: tea and coffee, food, charging point for phones. Where additional support is required from statutory responders including Fife Council, it will be considered if the place of safety should transition to a Fife Council Emergency Rest Centre – see the Standdown section below. | Arrangements are in place to ensure individuals are supported during their time in an Emergency Centre. Fife Council has a team of Emergency Centre Response Team Volunteers that will be deployed to manage the emergency centre operation. Additional support can be brought into the centre. This could include Social Care, Housing Services (if someone is unable to return home), interpreter support from Fife Interpreters, and other 3rd sector support. |
Stand-down | The Community-appointed Lead should contact Fife Council’s Emergency Resilience Team to notify that a community-led Place of Safety has been activated. At this point, the Community Lead and Fife Council’s Duty Emergency Resilience Officer will discuss the need for the Place of Safety to transfer to a Fife Council-led Emergency Rest Centre. At the point of handover, the initial community-led Place of Safety can be stood down. | Where people cannot return home within a reasonable timeframe, Fife Council Housing Services will arrange temporary accommodation. The Emergency Rest Centre will be stood down once all members of the public have returned home/arrangements are in place for alternative accommodation. |
Multi-Agency Care for People (Including Emergency Centre) Response Arrangements
The purpose of Multi-Agency Care for People arrangements is to ensure there is a co-ordinated and effective multi-agency approach to meeting the needs of those who have been affected by an emergency.
Responder agencies work together to maintain and activate these arrangements. In Fife, this includes Fife Council, Fife Health and Social Care Partnership, NHS Fife, Police Scotland, Scottish Ambulance Service, Scottish Fire and Rescue Service, and 3rd Sector partners such as the British Red Cross.
Emergency Centre arrangements form part of the multi-agency Care for People response arrangements to ensure the safety of, and provide care for, those displaced by an emergency.
'Emergency Centre' is an umbrella term used for the following types of centres. The type of incident and impacts will influence the type of centre established, there may also be more than one type established.
- An Emergency Rest Centre is set up to accommodate evacuees and tends to be short-term. This is the most commonly activated type of Emergency Centre. Fife Council leads the activation and operation of this centre.
- A Survivor Centre is set up to accommodate those affected by/potentially injured during an emergency but that do not require immediate hospital treatment. Police Scotland leads the activation and operation of this centre.
- A Friends and Family Centre is set up for friends and family of survivors/deceased to obtain updates and information about their loved ones - again, led by Police Scotland.
A Humanitarian Assistance Centre is set up as a one-stop shop for support for anyone affected by the emergency and will be jointly led by Fife Council/Police Scotland. This is a longer-term form of support and can be a physical centre and/or virtual.