HARTLEPOOL COACH CRASH

English Martyrs School Coach Crash, Hartlepool

pOST INCIDENT BRIEFING NOTE

How Would You Respond?  

This briefing note looks at the english martyrs school coach crash and identifies key lessons learned during the response. Whilst on this occasion the incident occurred in Hartlepool, such an event could occur within other areas of Cleveland. This note therefore is designed to encourage others to be as prepared as they can be to deal with such an occurance and considers the question - how well would you respond?

 Incident Details:

On the afternoon of Wednesday 11 July 2007 at 1536 hours, a coach carrying 26 students aged between 12 and 14 years from the English Martyrs RC Comprehensive School was involved in a road traffic collision that occurred outside of school premises on Catcote Road. A significant number of students were present at the time, some sustained serious injuries and many others witnessed the scene.

 The Emergency Services Response:

Emergency Service crews and resources were rapidly mobilised to the scene and a ‘major incident’ was declared. Immediate action to rescue those children trapped underneath the coach was undertaken by the Fire and Rescue Service. Ambulance Service personnel attended to injured students and two seriously injured students were transferred by Air Med helicopter to the James Cook University Hospital. Ambulance Service liaison with receiving hospitals ensured that additional ‘off-duty’ hospital staff and doctors were called in to respond to casualties and begin rapid treatment. A triage facility was established in the nearby Catcote School in order to provide a place of safety for the remaining ‘walking wounded’ whilst they awaited transportation to hospital. Once rescue work by the Fire Service was complete, they played a significant role in the prioritisation and treatment of casualties at triage, assisted by school teachers who organised children into groups according to their treatment prioritisation and used school registers to record pupil names as they left triage upon transfer to hospital. During the response to the incident, an excellent relationship between the Police and the school was evident, with an incident room being rapidly established inside the school to allow pupils to be interviewed to provide witness accounts. Police also worked closely with school teachers and pupils at the scene in order to identify the injured. Overall, 22 casualties were transferred to hospital following the incident, with the University Hospital of North Tees receiving those with ‘priority one’ injuries such as neck and back injuries and the University Hospital of Hartlepool receiving the walking wounded. Local media praised the work of Emergency Services at the scene who demonstrated a high level of professionalism and order during the response.

The Local Authority Response:

Emergency Services rapidly informed the Chief Emergency Planning Officer who, with the Hartlepool EPO, attended Silver Command at Police HQ and worked throughout the evening to ensure that the latest incident information was provided to the Chief Executive, Children’s Services, the Council PR team and the Neighbourhood Services Department. The establishment of this vital link between the work of the Emergency Services and Hartlepool Borough Council was a critical aspect of the response and ensured the rapid provision of local authority resources to support the Emergency Services. For example, the work of the Chief Emergency Planning Officer was paramount in raising awareness of the resources that could be provided by the Local Authority and resulted in rapid notification of Council officers who worked extensively to establish road closure/diversionary systems, provide public relations/media support to the School Headteacher and to provide Welfare Support Officers for humanitarian support to affected school staff and pupils.  

 Council PR Team:

The Hartlepool Borough Council Public Relations Officer (PRO) liaised closely with the Cleveland Police PR team to obtain a situation report, enabling him to brief the Chief Executive, the Director of Children’s Services and the Mayor. The Council’s Assistant PRO responded from home having become aware of the coach crash via Radio Cleveland. An excellent aspect of the PR response to the incident involved the prompt dissemination by the Police of clear, concise and regular statements to the media. A telephone hotline was also quickly established for anyone concerned about casualties. The police media statements were copied to the Council PRO who in turn updated council officers and Councillors from the affected ward area. The PRO also forwarded the statements to the media both regionally and nationally who were following the story. This helped to spread the burden as media organisations were keen to get the latest information for their evening bulletins. Following liaison with the Police at the scene, the Council’s Assistant PRO was deployed to the forward media briefing point of the incident to advise and support the Headteacher. Regular telephone updates took place between the Assistant PRO at the scene the PRO in the Council Press Office. Within the Council Press Office, support staff were placed on standby to issue press statements if required, TV and radio monitoring was implemented and the Council website carried the first media statement from the school Headteacher. Access was granted to the media to take photographs of the crash site with the cordon. The day following the incident, TV / media interest remained significant with recorded footage giving an indication of how busy the road and surrounding area was at the start and close of a school day. The Council’s Assistant PRO assisted in briefing staff and pupils prior to leaving school on the Thursday evening regarding the ongoing media presence and the fact that the media could approach individual staff and pupils. In particular, the Assistant PRO maintained a critical link between the school and the work of the media, ensuring that the press were kept informed, their requests for information were met and he assisted in managing the schools expectations of the press. For example, following a request by the media to have access to the school chapel, the Assistant PRO worked with the school to reach a compromise allowing media access to the chapel after 1630 hours once staff and pupils using the chapel as a focal point for prayer and reflection were no longer present. As a result of such action, the media response and any media intrusion in the aftermath of the incident was effectively managed.  

 Children’s Services:

Children’s Services immediately deployed an Assistant Director to the incident scene to liaise with the Headteacher, provide media interviews and work closely with the Council PRO. Following consultation with departmental colleagues and Police, measures to ensure the coordinated delivery of a welfare support service to those affected, including the driver of the coach, school staff and pupils, were implemented. Professionally trained counsellors and the Educational Psychology Service were made available to provide support as required once the Police had interviewed witnesses. The day after the incident, the availability of welfare support was communicated to school staff and pupils, although upon reflection, this support was perhaps over-resourced at that particular stage in the aftermath of the incident as many pupils were still in shock and wanted to seek information regarding injured friends and classmates as opposed to seeking support to cope with personal experiences. The welfare support service continued to be made available until the end of term. In the days following the incident, Children’s Services maintained telephone contact with the Headteacher and attended multi-agency debrief meetings where it was noted that school involvement in the recently held ‘Schools Out’ exercise, that was organised for local Headteachers by the Emergency Planning Unit and included presentations regarding the role of Emergency Services, had been of great benefit and had greatly assisted the school in increasing preparedness for their response to this incident.     

 “A key priority of Children’s Services was to provide immediate support and advice to the Headteacher, staff and Emergency Services who were at the scene responding to the incident. In the 24 hour period following the incident, the coordination of welfare support services to staff and pupils affected became a critical priority as the wellbeing of those injured remained at the forefront of everyone’s mind. As a result, practical and emotional outreach support methods were made available to meet the needs of staff and children experiencing shock and distress”. 

John Collings, Assistant Director: Children’s Services

 The School Response:

Teachers immediately attended the scene to assist in calming pupils and leading them to safety, working with the police to identify the injured and assisting the Emergency Services to supervise and record children at triage. Key actions of teachers included establishing contact with the families of injured children, responding to queries from worried parents who were concerned that their children had been involved in the incident and latterly praying for the well-being and recovery of the injured. Special school meetings were held on the evening of the incident for Heads of Year and Heads of Department (also attended by Children’s Services and the Council Assistant PRO) to ensure that all were provided with up to date casualty lists. A second special staff meeting was held at 0800 hours the following morning to discuss the condition of those who had been critically injured, the condition and welfare of other injured pupils and the welfare of those who had witnessed the incident. Special school assembles were held for each year group and provided a forum during which the Headteacher could provide facts on the incident and meet the demand for information about the nature of the incident, those involved and their wellbeing. Assemblies were also used to notify staff and pupils of the availability of welfare support for those experiencing distress and they provided staff and pupils with time for reflection, thoughts and prayer. The day after the incident, the Headteacher led a further press conference at the neighbouring Catcote Road School to ensure that the media focus was concentrated away from English Martyrs School. The session included a statement by the Headteacher and an opportunity for the media to direct questions to the Headteacher and Children’s Services representative regarding the measures taken by the school to recover from the incident and support the needs of those affected. Prior to leaving school on the Thursday, school staff and pupils were briefed regarding the ongoing media presence outside of school and the required conduct for boarding school transportation.   

“I have nothing but praise for the exceptionally rapid response of the Police, the Ambulance and the Fire Service, and for the level of care they gave to all the students”.

Joe Hughes, Headteacher, English Martyrs School   

Aftermath & Recovery:

In the days following the incident, the school was visited by the local MP, Iain Wright and the Director of Children’s Services to discuss the incident response and recovery. Several articles featured in local newspapers discussing road safety issues including 20 mph speed limits and additional safety railings outside schools. Council officers have provided a report to the Council’s Cabinet. Finally, our thoughts are with those injured in the crash and they are wished a speedy recovery.

Briefing Note produced by the Cleveland Emergency Planning Unit

Photographs supplied courtesy of:

BBC Radio Tees and the Hartlepool Mail www.hartlepoolmail.co.uk

For further information, please contact the Hartlepool Borough Council EPO on (01642) 221121.