course | Advanced Crisis Management and Emergency Response

Theory of Major Emergency Management

• Major Emergencies
• The Emergency Manager
• The Emergency Command Centre Facilities and Information Management
• Pre-planning and Maintaining a State of Readiness
• Major Emergencies that can Occur
• Dealing with Stress

Practical Elements of Major Emergency Management.

• Assessing the Situation
• Taking Effective Action
• Maintaining Communications
• Delegating Authority
• Managing Self and Team

Major Emergency Management

• Major Emergencies
• Major emergency types
• Relevant safety regulations
• The emergency factors:
• People
• Environment
• Asset
• Resources
• Support
• Manager’s responsibility for non-essential and responding personnel
• Evaluating the potential for escalation
• Slow and rapid escalation including consequences
• Evaluate available resources required to deal with emergencies

Concerns and apprehensions of the emergency manager

• The Emergency Manager
• Differences between normal mgmt. & major emergency mgmt.
• Factors to consider during an emergency:
• Uncertainty, ambiguity or conflicting information
• Shifting and competing goals
• Time pressures, and stress implications
• Multiple players (team factors)
• Personal factors
• Roles and responsibilities of the EMT and emergency response team (ERT)
• The principles of delegation
• Time management

Emergency Command Centre (ECC) Facilities & Information Mgmt.

• ECC ergonomics
• ECC equipment
• Information Management System (IMS) characteristics:
• Provides information on personnel
• Hazardous Material information
• Weather information
• Firefighting and fire prevention resources
• Indicates availability of resources and estimated time of arrival
• Provides a record of key events and actions achieved
• Benefits of using an Information Management System

Pre-planning and Maintaining a State of Readiness

• The need for the EMT & emergency personnel to be in a permanent state of readiness
• The importance of the training and competence of the EMT
• The Emergency Response Plan (ERP)
• Company procedures
• Operations manuals
• Value and purpose of emergency pre-planning
• Value and purpose of risk assessment
• Purpose of drills and exercises for the EMT
• Maintaining familiarity with emergency resources 

Dealing with Crisis and Stressful Situations

• Sources of stress during an emergency

Stress factors:

• Irritability
• Aggression
• Poor communication
• Inability to remember information
• Disengaging and withdrawing
• Focusing on trivial tasks
• Jumping between tasks

The effect of time pressure on decision making capability

• The effect of information overload on decision making capability
• The reduction in short- and long-term memory during an incident
• Delegate actions to relevant personnel effectively and appropriately
• Taking effective action to maintain activities
• Taking effective action to reduce stress in self and others
• Arranging for the replacement of a stressed person
• Regrouping and reassessing
• Setting up your Crisis Management Team

Dealing with a crisis: the 'communications' perspective Command and Control Issues

• Operational (at the scene)
• Tactical (at the forward control point/incident command)
• Strategic (boardroom level/emergency operations centre)
• On Scene Crisis Management essential elements for success
• Reputation Management –
• Managing the Media.
• Organising a Press Conference Conducting Radio and Television Interviews
• Case Study: Crisis Communications Strategy - develop a crisis communications strategy and action plan based on a given scenario