A New Operational Procedure for Attending Road Traffic Accident in Lancashire - Case Study Example

A NEW OPERATIONAL PROCEDURE FOR ATTENDING ROAD TRAFFIC ACCIDENT IN LANCHASHIRE 1. INTRODUCTION Almost all projects share a common characteristic, which is projecting ideas and activities into new endeavour. However, risk and uncertainties exist and therefore events and tasks in the project plans can never be prefigured with total precision. For this reason, project management systems today tried to predict as many risks and difficulties ahead so that planning would be more realistic and completion of the project would be more likely despite of various challenges. Proposing for a new operational procedure for attending road traffic accident Lancashire requires extensive research because it will involve a sensible risk assessment and detailed planning. The following section discusses current theories and methodologies of project management systems that can be use to support the proposal for alternative operation procedure relative to fire and rescue operations. Moreover, it will also include a simple project plan to show how the proposed alternative would deal with various tasks involve in the operation. 2. PROJECT DEFINITION and BUSINESS CASE The purpose of this project is to alleviate the difficulties being encountered in attending road traffic accident such as delays in response, extrication, health hazards, reporting, and protecting people from the effect of major road traffic accidents. The project is expected to effectively reduce the time of response while maintaining the standard of safety for all personnel and the public. The project is also expected to improve the process of extrication of victims trapped in their vehicle and reduce hazards caused by oil spills and other chemicals. Since implementing a large project can be overwhelming, this project will be divided into smaller steps to ensure it can be implemented methodically and completed according to schedule. This project acknowledges the limited financial resources available for such work particularly in the field where expenses may be higher thus it will limit its scope as much as possible to indoor research and discussions regarding procedural improvement. Moreover, the time available for research and discussion is also limited by the availability of team members and resource persons. The estimated cost for this project is £8,340 with the total man-days of 48 –see table. The project is inline with the Fire and Rescue Services Act 2004 requirements to provide provision, training, and equipment for the fire service to undertake fire fighting, fire safety; rescue people form road traffic accidents, and other emergency activities (Lancashire Fire and Rescue Service 2007, p.4). The problem with the current situation as far as road traffic accident is concern is the considerable delays in responding to critical incidents such as road traffic collisions (Lancashire Fire and Rescue 2007, p.39). In 2008, Lancashire reported a total response time of 13 minutes on calls involving road traffic collision and other emergencies such chemical spills and people trapped in their vehicle. (Lancashire Fire and Rescue 2008, p.28). The benefit of this project is reduction of the number of emergency incidents and their consequences particularly of the fire service staff. According to Lancashire Fire and Rescue report in 2008, road traffic collisions is grossly affect responders since the nature of their role and difficult rescue activity are often a traumatic experience. Working Days Lost due to Work-Related Injuries of LFRS Staff Source: Lancashire Fire and Rescue, 2009, p.5 Year Days Lost 2005/06 643 2006/07 740 2007/08 481 2008/09 242 It is therefore necessary to increase emphasis on actions required to reduce or prevent such incidents (Lancashire Fire & Rescue 2008, p.21). Moreover, the project can help reduce the impact of such accidents to the environment and ensure a safe working environment to the workforce. 3. THEORIES and METHODOLOGIES APPLIED Project management efforts common objective is to produce a unique product or service (Lewis 2006, p.3) and the only truly successful project is the one that delivers what it is supposed to, gets results, and meet stakeholder’s expectations (Lewis 2005, p.37). Selecting a project management methodology to support the development of the new operational procedure for attending road traffic accident is not easy considering a number of existing project management methodologies all offering an attractive outcome. However, the nature of the work involve in creating new procedures for attending a traffic accident requires a specific methodology that can control progress from beginning to end. Moreover, it should be a methodology with various components that can define each important aspects of the project. More importantly, it should offer a way to monitor the impact of the project. PRINCE 2, a product-based project management system will be use to drive the project by its business case. PRINCE 2 as reviewed seems suitable for a project intended for procedural enhancement like responding to road traffic accident. Moreover, the nature of work is different since it involves development of procedures for critical operations such as accidents response where risk varies and complicated than developing a product to market or a project intended to satisfy customers (Bentely 2002, p.7). 4. PROJECT TEAM STRUCTURE When a road traffic accident occurs, decisive action is required but rapidly made choices may somehow have negative impacts or consequences. For this reason, the team must be structured in a way that every member can contribute. A team that is organised and well prepared. A leader must be selected to lead the team in this project. He is a person that must be able to assume total control and decision making responsibility. A team composed of selected people knowledgeable and experienced in emergency response operations. The Team Structure a. Team Leader – project control and decision making b. Team Member 1 – knowledgeable in health and safety aspect of emergency operation c. Team Member 2 – knowledgeable in overall emergency response operation d. Team Member 3 – knowledgeable in traffic management and control e. Team Member 4 – well-verse in communication and public information f. Team Member 5 – knowledgeable in fire and rescue management 5. PROJECT SCHEDULE Project Task: i. Define Project ii. Define Activity iii. Identify requirements and funding iv. Discuss and Acquire Project Approval from Head of Service v. Plan for Team Structure and Skills Required vi. Identify and Select Members of the Team vii. Conduct Meeting with Project Team viii. Conduct Training and Orientation ix. Briefing and Preparation x. Start Project xi. Control and Monitor Project xii. Review Progress xiii. Write and Finalise Report xiv. Implement Necessary Action xv. Close Project Project duration depends on the number of days to execute which will be calculated based on the number of working hours. Task ID Task Description Estimated Working hours Number of People Task Duration (Days) Total Pay Comments 1 Define Project 16 1 2 £160 Total working hours are divided 8 2 Define Activity 16 1 2 £160 Per hour pay is £10 3 Identify Requirements and Activities 24 1 3 £240 4 Acquire Project Approval 8 1 1 £80 5 Plan for Team Structure and Skills 24 1 3 £240 6 Identify and Select Members 24 1 3 £240 7 Conduct Preliminary Meeting with the Team 8 6 1 £480 8 Conduct Orientation 42 6 5 £2400 9 Start Project 8 6 1 £480 10 Control and Monitor Project 80 6 10 £4,800 11 Review Progress 80 6 10 £4,800 12 Write and Finalise Report 24 1 2 £160 13 Implement necessary action 36 6 4 £1,920 14 Close Project 8 1 1 £80 Total Mandays 48 Project Total Cost £16, 240 Using PRINCE 2, the first step is to direct the project (DP) and proceed with works required to start the project (SU). The diagram below illustrates the proposed project management scheme. Note: See PowerPoint slide for details. Legend: DP1 – Get authorisation to proceed with preparation Project Plan and Business Case DP2 – Get authorisation to start the project DP3 – Check status of project against the project life cycle DP4 – Monitor progress and give advice as necessary DP5 – Make sure project comes to a controlled close SU1- Select members of project team SU2 – Conduct preliminary meeting and discuss aims of the project SU3 – Finalise approach to works that should be taken SU4 – Define stakeholder’s quality expectations SU5 – Planning IP1- Define the level of planning quality expected IP2 – Initiate Planning for the Project IP3 – Refine the Business Case and Risks IP4 – Set up Project Controls IP5- Set up Project Files IP6 – Assemble Project Initiation Documents CS1 – Authorise work to be done CS2 – Gather progress detains about the work being done CS3 – Monitor Changes CS4 – Review of Current Situation CS5 – Finalise a report CS6 – List or Log important details learned CS7 – Take required action MP1 – Check if the work allocated to the team is authorised and agreed MP2 – Plan a coordinated work MP3 – Monitor and ensure completion of work MP4 – Check end results against quality level set MP5 – Submit progress report to Project Manager MP6 – Get feedback SB1 – Plan the next stage SB2 – Revise or Update Project Plan SB3 – Update the Business Case SB4 – Update the risk assessment SB5- Submit a report on the outcome and performance of the preceding stage SB6 – Get authorisation to proceed to the next stage CP1 – Verify and determine the objectives that have been met CP2 – Verify stakeholder’s satisfaction level with the outcome CP3 – Verify and confirm that maintenance and support are in place CP4 – Recommend for follow-up actions 6. PROJECT GANTT CHART Note: see “new procedure Gantt Chart rev2.xls” for more details 7. CRITICAL PATH ANALYSIS A critical path for this project is the series of activities that determine the earliest time by which the project can be completed. A critical path is not the critical activities but the time dimension of the project (Schwalbe 2009, p.228). In order to find the Critical Path a calculation is performed as follows: a. Estimate the duration of each activity b. Add the duration for all activities on each path in the network diagram c. Determine the longest path which is the Critical Path. Calculation of Critical Path Path 1 – Task 1 to 14 except 13 (Project implemented properly and does not require additional action) Path 2 = Task 1 to 14 including 13 (Project implemented but requires further rectification) Adding duration for Path 1 and 2: Path 1 = 2+2+3+1+3+3+1+5+1+10+10+2+4 = 44 Path 2 = 2+2+3+1+3+3+1+5+1+10+10+2+4+4 = 48 Critical Path is therefore Path 2 Chart with CRITICAL PATH (Path 2) – (RED LINE) Chart with NON-CRITICAL PATH (Path 1) – (BLUE LINE) 8. Reference List Bentley C. 2002, PRINCE 2: a practical handbook, Butterworth-Heinemann, UK Lewis J. 2005. Project planning, scheduling, and control: a hands-on guide to bringing projects in on time and on budget, McGraw-Hill Professional, US Lewis J. 2006. Fundamentals of Project Management, AMACOM Div American Mgmt Assn, US Lancashire Fire and Rescue Service, 2007, Risk Management Plan 2008-2011, LFRS, UK Lancashire Fire and Rescue Service, 2008, Community Safety Strategy 2009-20014, LFRS, UK Lancashire Fire and Rescue Service, 2009, Annual Health & Safety Review 2008/2009, LFRS, UK Read More