DISASTER plans have been put in place to protect Provan Gas Works and two whisky bottling plants, as part of Glasgow's plan for a major emergency, it has been revealed.

Glasgow City Council has published its civil contingencies plan in response to a freedom of information request, detailing how services in the city will respond in the event of a major civil emergency.

The masterplan explains what is likely to happen in the event of a disease pandemic, major terrorist incident or catastrophic weather event.

READ MORE: Emergency services are ready for anything ... even a Sharknado

At first the council refused to publish the document, for fear it could help anyone wanting to attack the city. However it has now been released with sensitive passages blacked out.

Different council departments and arms-length bodies such as Cordia and Glasgow Life will have specific roles to play, it says.

Glasgow has already experienced significant incidents including flooding, fires, collapsed buildings, fuel disruption at Grangemouth and acts of terrorism such as the Glasgow Airport attack. Meanwhile major disasters have been depicted onscreen in films such as the apocalyptic thriller Doomsday and World War Z

Council chief executive Anne Marie O'Donnell says services "must always be in a position to respond flexibly and effectively".

The document says two training exercises are held a year to pan for potential crisis on a larger scale, using a range of "gaming" scenarios described as

serialised tabletop, real time tabletop, or live play.

READ MORE: Emergency services are ready for anything ... even a Sharknado

Key strategic objectives will be to preserve lives, prevent an incident escalating, protect property and return to normality as soon as possible.

Police Scotland will treat any incident as a crime scene, unless it is clearly caused by a natural event.

The only specific locations mentioned in the document are Provan Gas Works, the Beam Global maturation plant in the city's East End, and the John Dewar bottling plant in Parkhead. They are identified as 'upper tier hazardous sites'.

It is understood they were singled out as the biggest industrial hazards, not because they are potentially terror targets.

The education department is told schools could have to be closed and opened for use as emergency centres, while educational psychologists will be asked to counsel those traumatised in any incident.

Social work staff will manage emergency centres, locate emergency accommodation if needed and support survivors.

Meanwhile the council's land and environmental services will be expected to provide equipment, vehicles and drivers, and be ready "if necessary" to make "appropriate arrangement ... for immediate internment or cremation of remains."

The council also has plans for emergency mortuaries in the event of "intensive and extensive incidents resulting in mass fatalities", and the plan points out that the Chief Registrar for Scotland will have to be informed if any one incident causes in excess of 50 deaths.

READ MORE: Emergency services are ready for anything ... even a Sharknado

Arms-length council bodies are also tasked with preparations for a range of disasters. City Parking will be asked to clear roads if necessary with four vehicle removal trucks and to lay on car parks for emergency vehicles or possibly as a mass casualty area or area for storing the dead.

City Building will be expected to provide labour to clear debris and attend to emergency power supplies if needed.

Staff at care and services provider Cordia will clear up the scene, and could have to provide emergency catering and feeding centres. Community Safety Glasgow's workers will act as security officers to manage evacuations, and even leisure body Glasgow Life is asked to distribute leaflets to victims and make the People Make Glasgow website available to keep the public informed.

While the council will work with the Scottish Government, the Fire and Rescue Service, Scottish Ambulance Service, NHS Scotland and Police Scotland it is also important the public help themselves, the city's Civil Contingencies Plan says. "The immediate effect on a community of any disaster is an upsurge of community activity which can be channelled constructively towards community self help."

A spokesman for Glasgow City Council said officials had originally refused to release the document over fears it could compromise the safety and security of those involved in the emergency response, or inhibit their work.

READ MORE: Emergency services are ready for anything ... even a Sharknado

He said: “Our civil contingencies plan contains sensitive information about how the council and a variety of partners respond or plan to respond to a variety of emergency situations – including terrorist or other malicious or criminal incidents."

However sensitive areas of the document were redacted before publication.

The spokesman added: "Along with partners, the council takes part in a wide variety of tests and exercises designed to assess our readiness to respond to emergencies and test established plans for specific sites and threats."