Operational partnerships - Roads incident management SOP (R01g)

1. Summary of changes  

1.1. The following changes have been made to this standard operating procedure (SOP) on 12 September 2022:

• paragraph 3.10 updated

2. What this procedure is about

2.1. This procedure applies to all operational officers and staff who attend road incidents.

Compliance with this SOP and any governing policy is mandatory.

3. Detail the procedure

3.1. Road incident management (RIM) shall be applied to an incident that occurs on a road where the incident forms a hazard or potential hazard to other road users or, by owing to its duration, requires police intervention, control and risk management.

3.2. Only suitably marked and RIM equipped vehicles to be deployed. Preferably double-crewed, however if single crewed to dynamically risk assess as to whether additional resources are required.  

3.3. Any officer attending a road incident as defined by this standard operating procedure must be trained and accredited in RIM.

3.4. Officers attending any road incident must wear approved reflective safety clothing as approved by the Equipment Review Group.

3.5. The table below details the resource requirements based upon the road category where the incident has occurred.

Category	Definition	Resource (in priority order)
1.	The strategic road network (The current network covered by roads policing)	1) Traffic patrol vehicle - Roads Policing Unit 2) Marked response vehicle*
2.	High risk roads (Roads with a speed limit of 50mph or above, with motorway features (multiple lanes/slip roads on/off)	1) Marked response vehicle 2) Traffic patrol vehicle - Roads Policing Unit
3.	Any other road (The assessment for response being based upon the likelihood of officer having to manage traffic flow/operate in the carriageway)	1) Any vehicle/crew that are fully RIM compliant 2) Other available resource**

3.6. (* Where available it would be preferable, but not essential, for officers who have received enhanced RIM training to respond to incidents on the strategic road network.

**The above recognises the fact that the force will always seek to send the right vehicle (with the appropriately trained staff) to any call. However, there may be occasions where, in order to prevent immediate risk to the public, other police resources will need to be deployed.

In such circumstances it is incumbent upon the officers attending to risk assess the situation and deploy appropriately based upon that assessment. It is accepted that this may mean officers having to await the arrival of a suitable response before acting).  

3.7. The danger of stationary marked police vehicles being struck by moving vehicles while at an incident on a road or carriageway poses a real risk of serious injury to officers. The higher the speed of a vehicle, the greater the risk.

3.8. Marked police vehicles attending a road incident on a high risk road must be of a suitable profile and specification that affords maximum protection to officers managing the scene and be suitability equipped with emergency safety equipment to allow trained officers to manage and be protected from high-speed traffic flows.

3.9. RIM training will be conducted in compliance with the standards set by the Learning and Development department, Kent Police Training School.

3.10. See hyperlink for traffic signs manual chapter eight part two road works and temporary situations: operations (publishing.service.gov.uk)

3.11. Officers and supervisors must ensure that suitable vehicles are clean and equipped with working mandatory emergency safety equipment (RIM) and standard vehicle equipment is checked at the start of the every shift. 

3.12. On conducting the vehicle checks, any missing or defective emergency equipment will be identified and brought to the attention of the designated local coordinator. They will be responsible for ensuring defective or missing mandatory emergency equipment is repaired or replaced, and the patrol vehicle is deemed fit for purpose. Any vehicle not RIM compliant should not be used to attend RIM compliant incidents.

4. Equality Impact Assessment (EIA)

4.1. An EIA has been carried out and shows the proposals in this policy would have no potential or actual differential impact on grounds of race, ethnicity, nationality, gender, transgender, disability, age, religion, or belief or sexual orientation.

5. Risk assessment

5.1. This SOP has been assessed as high risk.

6. Consultation

6.1. Took place in 2013 with representation from constable to chief inspector rank.

6.2. Corporate consultation took place with representation from:

• Human Resources
• IT Security
• Finance
• Health and Safety
• Legal
• Freedom of Information

7. Monitoring and review

7.1. Ownership of the review of this policy will be with the RPU Inspector. The next review will be in September 2024. 

8. Security

8.1. Kent Police have measures in place to protect the security of your data in accordance with our Information Management policy.

9. Retention and disposal of records

9.1. Kent Police will hold data in accordance with our Records Review, Retention and Disposal policy.