If the procedures for responding to emergencies that were given in Chapter 4 are followed, the emergency will be either under control or being controlled. Now the mitigation of the damage to collections, buildings and services begins. Some assessment of the scale and potential impact of the incident is required to formulate a strategy to minimize further damage. This phase can be simple for smallscale incidents but the response and recovery operation of major incidents must be project managed. In disaster recovery situations, time is limited before additional damage might occur and pragmatic decisions may be required.

Emergency Management Team meeting

Members of the emergency team should meet and decide their approach for managing the incident. If access to the building is possible ask some or all of the team to conduct a site tour, so they can observe the scale of the incident; this knowledge will be important in planning the recovery operation.

If the area is not accessible, set up a control point (preidentify potential locations in the plan), which is private and where the response can be planned. It may be necessary to set up a separate area for communications, including dealing with the press. Liaison will be required with the emergency service personnel if they continue to control the site, but organization of disaster recovery should start using whatever information can be gleaned, including locations and levels of damage, the status of utilities, when access will be permitted and any anticipated structural damage. The fire service's commander will be positioned outside the building and one person from the Emergency Management Team should liaise with that person. If the damage is severe, it is crucial to ensure that the required resources are in position at full strength as soon as entry is permitted.

If the overall volume of damage, range of objects affected and extent of water penetration inside the boxes are estimated it will help quantify the response required. Include a ‘readyreckoner’ in the plan, so that should there be water damage to the whole bottom row of a store, the Emergency Management Team can calculate the approximate number of crates that will be required.