Posted By MLong Does anyone have a bomb threat procedure for a multi tenanted building? I am having a meeting tomorrow with the building manager to update their procedure to incorporate the other building tenants. Many thanks in advance

Posted By Swis ‘One out’ ?? (out what? – bomb from a rat hole) ‘Call police with suspicions’?? (why with suspicion– they’ve got nothing with the bomb – have they?) ‘Await their arrival’?? (Who’s arrival – await for evacuation? Await where what/where? ) After all – it’s not that simple at all.

Posted By Kevin Brown Unless you know exactly what and where the threat is you don't want to be rushing out of the building. If you do need to evacuate you need to get at least 500 metres away from the location of the threat unless you can get the protection of surrounding constructions or landscape. (You don't want to be congregating at the Fire Assembly Point in the car park 50 metres way from the building next to a conveniently parked anonymous white van). What about dirty bombs, chemical or biological agents? Prevailing wind direction? Avoiding secondary targets eg transport interchanges? You need to make sure that personnel don't automatically evacuate the building, so using an alarm or siren might be counter-productive. Depending on where the threat is you might want to ban the use of particular escape routes etc. Simples? Nyet tovarisch.

Posted By Dave Merchant As Swis says, it's a long way from simples. How big is this property? Are there enhanced-risk tenants on lower floors (so evacuations can transiently concentrate people nearer the likely GZ)? What's the fabric of the building? Is there an identifiable threat profile (e.g. animal labs, political parties, etc.) and has the site received any threats in the past? Which areas have public access? Does the fire alarm have multiple tones or voice options? If it's a relatively small property, or a flat site (low-rise industrial estate etc) then evac is easier to pre-plan, but the decision to make that call depends critically on who the residents are. Even in these times of heightened awareness, there's an economic impact to kicking 5000 people out of a factory because someone in the cafe next door got a prank call which has to be taken into account - and because of that there's no such thing as a "template" for threat response, so starting from scratch is the best way to ensure the policy fits. The CCA resulted in regional resilience forums being created, and yours should be able to assist for major sites. As you have a public-sector email address I guess you can find the local emergency planning office phone number, who'll point you in the right direction.

Posted By rucksac56 It requires each client to have a system for carrying out a check of their own area. Only they know if a bag is suspicious or belongs there. The MI5 web site gives good information about setting up a plan

Posted By Bob Shillabeer I remember the bombings in London, the bus was just around the corner from us. The process we have adopted is quite simple it divides the situation into three basic senarios, In the building, evacuate, within 200 yards move to a part of the building awau from the site but remain in doors and away from windows and thirdly over 200 yards. Always be prepared to follow the instructions of the emergency services, they have the last position on evacuating the area.

Posted By MLong Thank you all for the help you have given me on this issue. I'm pleased to say the problem has now been resolved and our building in question has a much better procedure in place.

Posted By Rod D Swiss One out’ ?? (out what? – bomb from a rat hole) ‘Call police with suspicions’?? (why with suspicion– they’ve got nothing with the bomb – have they?) ‘Await their arrival’?? (Who’s arrival – await for evacuation? Await where what/where? ) After all – it’s not that simple at all. This is the kind of negative response that I do enjoy on these forums. Yes Swiss it is not that simple, however please enlighten the forum with your wisdom in this instance. Aye, Rod