The idea of getting to an emergency as safely and quickly as possible is nothing new. Emergency Services talk of the concept of the Golden Hour regarding the importance of giving treatment to the victim of a traumatic injury within 60 minutes of it happening. As times and technology change emergency services, including Cadent, are constantly looking at how we can improve the way we do things to ensure better outcomes.
As the UK’s largest gas distribution company and provider of the gas emergency service over our operational footprint, we cover large swathes of the country.
Our vast East region comprises both the East Midlands and East Anglia and includes major towns and cities amid large belts of countryside populated with tracts of farmland and dense forests.
Operating from a limited number of local depots and yards we still need to respond to suspected gas incidents as soon as possible.
Some matters can be dealt with in just a few hours or less, but others will require our presence on site for much longer.
Sometimes we’ll need to interact with other agencies such as the emergency services and local authorities, whilst also having a base of operations and somewhere the public can come and talk to us, that’s dry and has workable office facilities.
For some years we’ve had the Mobile Command Unit or MCU – a large 7.5 tonne truck, Which we’ve used as a command and control facility when dealing with major incidents. We also regularly utilise public buildings such as village halls and community centres as makeshift incident headquarters and customer information centres.
And suitable as both these options are they do have their limitations.
For instance, the MCU is a centrally based vehicle meaning it can take many hours to reach some areas of our network.
It also requires an HGV licence to drive, meaning that a suitably qualified driver must be both sourced and available, not to mention the fact that the vehicle may already be deployed at another incident.
All of these factors can mean a long wait before the MCU can arrive on site, to respond to an incident.
Finding an appropriate community building relies on one being available and again sourcing and booking an appropriate building takes time, especially in more remote locations and outside regular hours.
All the while precious hours and minutes are ticking away.
That’s where our new bespoke Incident Support Unit (ISU) comes in – it’s basically a mini command centre on wheels.
Our East Anglia Emergency team worked with Cadent’s Fleet Team and suppliers Bri-Stor to develop the concept.
We’ve taken a regular VW Crafter Van and retrofitted it with all the incident kit you can think of.
The van packs in its own internal 240v power supply, wi-fi, stationary, printer, desk with road legal seating for four, wall mounted whiteboard, cupboard as well as ample storage for emergency equipment including Hi-Viz gear, cones as well as electric heaters and hotplates for vulnerable residents.
Emergency services in the UK operate a Gold, Silver and Bronze command structure to respond to major incidents, with Bronze being the element at the site of the incident.
Our new vehicle has all it needs to enable our Bronze element in a major incident to effectively plan, operate and communicate from site and is therefore an immensely valuable addition to our fleet.
As it weighs only 3.5 tonnes any of our employees with a driving licence can drive it, which together with the fact that it’s based exclusively in our region means that it arrives on site quicker.
The ISU is a real gamechanger in the way we handle incidents enabling us to get to the
heart of an incident and have a command and control facility set up faster than ever before.
It puts us on a par with other emergency services such as fire, police and ambulance service and means we can operate seamlessly alongside them.
The ISU has already proved its worth when just hours after it was delivered to us it was despatched to assist with a major operation to restore gas supplies to hundreds of homes in Wirksworth, Derbyshire, after a burst water main flooded the local gas network.
It complemented the work of the MCU (Mobile Command Unit) which was also on site very well, providing a mobile
a point of contact and assistance for affected customers in the town.
Moving forward we see it both continuing to complement the work of the MCU and the use of fixed locations such as community centres and also being a standalone option.
For instance, we can deploy the ISU to smaller scale incidents, where the MCU may not be sent to.
Now we’ve done the groundwork with our suppliers the concept is there to be utilised elsewhere in Cadent and other gas and utility networks too.
Cadent is the UK’s largest gas distribution network with a 200-year legacy. We are in a unique position to build on strong foundations whilst encouraging the curiosity to think differently and the courage to embrace change. Day to day we continue to operate, maintain and innovate the UK’s largest gas network, transporting gas safely and protecting people in an emergency. Our skilled engineers and specialists remain committed to the communities we serve, working day and night to ensure gas reaches 11 million homes from Cumbria to North London and the Welsh Borders to East Anglia, to keep your energy flowing.
Here at Cadent we support the Government’s plans to reach Net Zero by 2050. That means we’re backing the introduction of hydrogen as a low carbon alternative to natural gas for the future. We know people love the controllability of gas and, with our network already in place, it makes sense to switch to the lower carbon alternative offered by hydrogen, which we believe can keep homes and businesses warm for generations to come.
Cadent manages the national gas emergency service free phone line on behalf of the gas industry - 0800 111 999*
Cadent Gas Ltd is owned by a consortium of global investors.
*All calls are recorded and may be monitored.
0777 312 2925
