EPLB - Emergency Pocket Log Book© Usage guidelines

  1. The EPLB© can be used for any large scale or Major Incident (MI).It can also be used by operational members of staff for routine recording of any incident related to their interaction with patients or bystanders which may lead to repercussions in the future.
  2. The EPLB© will be a record of one individual who might carry out an incident role over a short period of time or as a longer duration record.
  3. An organisation should ensure that each manager who may have to attend an incident has their own EPLB©. Each operational member of staff should also be provided with an EPLB© to enable an auditable record of their activities to be established
  4. All EPLB© s, Emergency Log Books© (ELB©) and EIRB© s used during an incident would, together, form the organisational record of an incident or as a record of an individual’s duty over some days/weeks
  5. The entry number (sequentially from 1 – n) can be used to mark any other document which relates to that entry, emails, phone messages or other documents. This enables a subsequent analysis to be accurately carried out.
  6. If one book used for a role or incident is used up, the sequel book should start with the n+1 entry number and the number of the sequel incident book identified on the last page of the first incident book to ensure an audit trail can be established.
  7. All entries should be initialed to ensure an accurate and complete record. The role holder or incident manager must initial each entry to signify that it accurately reflects the information received and action taken. If a senior officer/manager should inspect any EPLB© he/she should make an entry in the book and leave a signature and initial on the appropriate page.
  8. The EPLB© will form part of the organisation’s record of a role holders/incident manager’s information received and action taken. It should be securely held for a minimum of 7 years after the end of the incident with all other EPLB© s, EIRB© s, Emergency Log Books© (ELB©) and other records. The unique number of the books will enable any specific EPLB©, EIRB© and/or ELB© to be retrieved from storage for information about an individual’s, role holder’s, incident manager’s or organisational actions during the period in question.

Anyone logging a period of duty or an incident should also follow these best practice guidelines.