HOC 3/2007 The Emergency Workers (Obstruction) Act 2006

This Home Office Circular provides guidance on the Emergency Workers (Obstruction) Act 2006, Sections 1 to 6 of which came into force on February 20 2007 by virtue of Statutory Instrument 2007/153 (see SI section).

Articles on the Act were featured in the February and July 2006 editions of the Digest.

The Act does not cover police or prison officers in its definition of ‘emergency workers’, as they are already catered for in provisions in the Police Act 1996. Emergency workers are defined as firefighters, ambulance workers and those transporting blood, organs or equipment on behalf of the NHS, coastguards and lifeboat crews.

The Circular clarifies that ‘emergency workers’ include those working under contract and volunteers providing an ambulance service on behalf of the National Health Service, including air ambulances; and it includes those working for the fire and rescue services of local authorities, airports, the armed forces and private companies. This will encompass anyone who is responding to an emergency as part of a reciprocal arrangement with Fire and Rescue Services in England and Wales. Where reciprocal arrangements exist with Scottish Fire and Rescue Services, the law will cover workers from the Scottish service responding to an emergency situation.

The Act creates two new offences. The first of these is obstructing or hindering emergency workers who are responding to emergency circumstances, or who are preparing to do so, and those responding to circumstances when they believe there is or may be an emergency.

The guidance in the Circular explains that preparing to respond to emergency circumstances will include:

• Donning protective suits.
• Attaching hoses to fire hydrants.
• Other immediately preparatory activity.

But it will not include training in preparation for a potential incident, as this will not have the same potentially serious consequences as obstructing them when responding to an emergency or potential emergency.

The guidance also explains that obstruction includes obstructing emergency workers even when the emergency they are responding to does not materialise. It provides an example of this, stating that if a group of young people deliberately call out the fire and rescue service when there is no emergency, but then obstruct them, the young people will still be guilty of an offence, explaining that such behaviour can be damaging, and can prevent the fire and rescue service from reaching another emergency in time.

The second new offence is of obstructing or hindering those who are assisting emergency workers who are responding to emergency circumstances. The Circular’s guidance explains that this covers:

• Voluntary and other organisations who are at an emergency, and who might otherwise not be covered.
• Individuals such as first-aiders, who may be helping at the scene of an accident.
• Those who are directing traffic in order to allow the emergency workers to deal with an incident.

The guidance sets out some examples of obstruction:

• Parking where an emergency vehicle cannot get by and refusing to move.
• Damaging an emergency vehicle or equipment.
• Giving false information at the scene of an emergency which would delay or mislead emergency workers.

It points out that it would not cover deliberate hoax calls, which should be dealt with under other legislation.

The Circular provides some background to the legislation, including information about sentencing. It notes that details of the fact that the offence was committed against those providing a service to the public and other factors, such as evidence of the offenders acting as part of a group or gang, or of the offence being planned and premeditated, should be drawn to the attention of the court.

The reason for this is that these factors are included in the Sentencing Guidelines Council’s guidelines