The Radiation (Emergency Preparedness and Public Information) Regulations (Northern Ireland) 2019

Regulations 10(3) and 11(3)

SCHEDULE 6 Principles and purposes of emergency plans

PART 1 Principles to which emergency plans shall have regard

1.  Any person with responsibility for preparing an emergency plan under these Regulations shall consider the following principles when preparing that plan—

(a) the necessity for the plan to respond to the particular characteristics of a given radiation emergency as those characteristics emerge;

(b) the necessity to optimise protection strategies to ensure that the proposed response, as a whole, is predicted to do more to mitigate the radiation emergency and facilitate transition from that emergency to an existing exposure situation than to increase its duration or consequences, taking into account—

(i) the health risks arising from exposure to ionising radiation as a result of the radiation emergency, in both the long and the short term;

(ii) the economic consequences of the radiation emergency;

(iii) the effects of the disruption, both on the premises and the area immediately surrounding it, and on the public perception of the effects of the radiation emergency;

(c) the necessity of avoiding, so far as possible, the occurrence of serious physical injury to any person; and

(d) the necessity of ensuring that an appropriate balance is struck between the expected harms and benefits of any particular protective action so as to maximise the benefit of that action.

PART 2 Purposes of emergency plans

2.  Any person with responsibility for preparing an emergency plan under these Regulations shall ensure that the plan, if implemented, would fulfil the following purposes—

(a) to reduce or stop the effects of the radiation emergency;

(b) to reduce the exposure to individuals and to the environment resulting from the release of ionising radiation;

(c) if necessary, to ensure that provision is made for the medical treatment of those affected by the radiation emergency; and

(d) to prioritise the implementation of the plan in relation to any person exposed to a dose in excess of the reference levels set out in regulation 19.