Environmental incident - action record

Dealing with the aftermath of an environmental incident may involve many actions over a long period. Record this timeline in our document.

Damage limitation

If there’s an environmental incident, you must act promptly and properly to minimise the potential impact; for example, to prevent pollution spreading too far. This, in turn, will keep clean-up costs to minimum. It will also reduce the likelihood of you facing the full force of the Environment Agency.

Keep a detailed record

Because dealing with an environmental incident is unlikely to be a quick and simple affair it’s easy to lose track of who did what and when. However, if you use our new Environmental Incident - Action Record, you can keep a detailed timeline of what steps have been taken to deal with the incident.

What happened?

The first part of the document asks you to record: (1) “Details of incident”; (2) “Summary of damage caused”; (3) “Date of incident”; (4) “Location of incident”; (5) “Manager responsible for area/process affected”; and (6) “Manager responsible for investigation and clean-up works”.

What’s been done

The next part of the document provides boxes for you to record the “actions” taken by your staff and others. You’re also asked to give details of any “evidence” that may support what you have recorded. This may include reports, surveys, receipts for work, e-mail communications, etc. Record as much information as possible, as it will help you to manage the clean-up exercise and will be good evidence to show inspectors what you’ve done and when.