Disaster Management in Aircraft Industry - Essay Example

Disaster Management In today’s world, unexpected disasters are continually occurring. Disaster management policies have become a major necessity. The scenario describes a situation in which counter-terrorism investigation has led the police to a house in which they have found related suspects and pieces of evidence relating to a possible upcoming terrorist attack. Simultaneously reports are being placed in Blackpool that an aircraft is spraying a similar chemical as discovered in the house, which has caused a number of people lying around on the streets, and emergency telephone lines are overflowing with calls. The aircraft spraying the chemical has crashed into the Blackpool Tower, creating a chemical fire and structural damage. It is up to the government, the police, fire departments and disaster management teams to handle the issue and mitigate the chaos. Six basic activities must be covered when preparing for an emergency (UK Emergency Response Arrangements, slide 4, 2009). These include: 1) Anticipation and assessment of an event: Risk identification and analysis is needed of potential direct and indirect developments to anticipate and thus manage the consequences. Secondly the exact type of emergency have to be assessed, as depending upon it the, government support may include direction, co-ordination, people, expertise, specialized equipment, advice or financial support. 2) Prevention process : When ever an emergency occurs, often it creates a lot of chaos and disrupts the environment and things seem to get out of control. so for that purpose effective management is required to keep things under control and to prevent further loss.this requires the development of an effective prevention strategy and communicating it to the entire organisation. 3) Groundwork: That requires for emergency control systems to be prepared for any sudden disaster. Therefore all those individuals and organizations that might have to respond to emergencies should be properly prepared, including having clarity of roles and responsibilities. 4) Response: Response to emergencies should be grounded in the existing functions of organizations and familiar ways of working, albeit delivered at a greater tempo, on a larger scale and in more testing circumstances.. 5) Recovery management: This is considered to be the most important as well as extremely meticulous step in dealing with a disaster. Because the consequences are everlasting of a disaster or catastrophe. Therefore an effective consequence management is required post disaster. And it is the duty of the strategic co-ordinating group to plan for managing the after effects. 6) Situation analysis: Also, it needs to be determined whether an emergency has occurred, and a procedure for this must be described in emergency plans that identify the person responsible for making the determination. In the UK, “emergency” is described as “An event or situation which threatens serious damage to human welfare at any place in the UK, the environment of a place in the UK, or war or terrorism which threatens serious damage to the security of the UK,” (HM Government – Emergency Preparedness 2005, pg. 6,). An emergency must fulfil certain requirements. These requirements include for it to be as damageable to the extent that it is necessary or desirable to act to control the effects of the emergency, and for the situation to be so severe that the emergency control would be unable to act normally without changing the deployment of its resources. and to aid planning and understanding the intensity of a situation, three other types of emergency have been identified in addition to local emergencies (or major incidents).these are: a. Significant emergency (Level 1): Emergencies on this scale include prison riots, severe weather, or a terrorist incident with limited consequences. It requires a narrower focus regarding central government support, primarily from a lead government department or devolved administration in addition to the work of the emergency services, local authorities and other organizations as part of their normal day-to-day activities. b. Serious emergency (Level 2): Is one which has, or threatens, a wide and prolonged impact requiring sustained central government co-ordination and support from many departments and agencies, including the regional tier. And where appropriate, the devolved administrations. Such challenges would include a major terrorist attack or serious outbreak of animal disease. And the black pool incident discussed in the above case-study also falls under the type 2 emergency. This thus involves the support from all the government and regional agencies. c. Catastrophic emergency (Level 3): Is one which has a high and potentially widespread impact and requires immediate central government direction and support such as a 9/11 scale terrorist attack in the UK, or a Chernobyl scale industrial accident. Along with assessing the type of emergency, the amount of risk of a situation must be fully understood. Because it is through the risk assessment process, that an appropriate command structure to handle a disaster is developed, and analysed that whether it is sufficient enough to overcome the disaster or it requires modifications. Which afterwards must be included in the emergency plan and the information should be communicated to all related personnel. The command structure during an emergency consists of three levels of command, i.e.: 1) The Bronze, 2) Silver and 3) Gold commands. 1) THE BRONZE LEVEL: The bronze command refers to operational activities and is responsible for the deployment of services. “A Bronze (operational) Commander is normally an operator from the Ambulance Service, Fire and Rescue Service, and Police Service,” (National Policing Improvement Agency 2009, pg. 40).At this level the Implementation of the tactical plan is done which is determined by the Silver level personnel. Here the commander has to take intuitive decisions based on problem solving.the information requirement are task oriented. Finally the outputs are communicated to the silver level in order to maintain an accurate operational picture. 2) THE SILVER LEVEL: The silver command level refers to tactical activities, which are to coordinate and manage the entire event. The Silver Commanders are usually the supervisors of the Ambulance, Fire and Rescue, and Police Services, who describe the procedure of performing operations as described by strategies. They provide a link between strategic and operational levels. Decision making involves of choosing among the alternatives. And outputs are task specific to bronze and the information is being transferred to the gold level. 3) THE GOLD LEVEL: The strategies are determined by the Gold (Strategic) Commanders of the command structure. At this level the aim, objectives, policies and overall responses to disaster are determined. Gold Commanders are usually Chief Officers, Principal Officers and Executive Level Managers of the Fire, Ambulance and Police Services. They have the overall command for the incident. Plus they are responsible for the deployment of appropriate resources to perform the ground level operations. At this level the decision making is broad based. In addition to the above mentioned basic command levels, there is one another group that operates beyond the gold level. It is: STRATEGIC CO-ORDINATING GROUP It’s basically a multi agency group which is established at the gold level, in order to just compliment the individual agency strategic management structures, not replacing them. Their foremost duty includes communicating and co-ordinating across borders and thus involves government offices. Its example can include when responding to the black pool incident mentioned above. As it is a serious emergency therefore it would be involving all the government and other agencies along with the regional civil contingencies committees and the central government COBR. Hence therefore it would requiring a multi-level coordination and for that purpose the strategic -coordinating would have to manage the chain of command along with all the three other levels, the bronze, silver and gold. According to Hampshire & Isle of Wight Local Resilience Forum, the difference between Category 1 and Category 2 responders is as follows: Category 1 responders are the responders that directly deal with the response part of the disaster management process. These responders include local authorities, such as county, borough, city and district councils; government agencies, such as the environment agency; emergency services, such as the fire and rescue, ambulance, and coastguard services; health bodies, such as strategic health authorities. They assess risk of emergency, and maintain and arrange for publication of emergency plan (Kershaw 2009, slide 7). Category 2 responders play the role of supporting Category 1 responders. They include utilities companies, such as electricity, gas, water, and public communications; transport, such as railways, airport, highways; government agencies, such as health and safety executives; and the health sector, such as the Strategic Health Authority. There are eight guiding principles that need to be followed when dealing with an emergency (HM Government – Emergency Response and Recovery 2005, pg.6). The first principle is continuity i.e. “emergency response and recovery should be grounded in the existing functions of organisations and familiar ways or working”. The second principle is preparedness, which states that, all roles and responsibilities must be pre-defined and explained clearly to all the related individuals. The third principle is subsidiarity that recommends that “decisions should be taken at the lowest appropriate level, with co-ordination at the highest necessary level”. The next principle is direction, which requires purpose of the response and recovery plan to be clear and its objective should be supported, agreed, understood, and sustained by all agencies and individuals involved. The fifth principle is integration, which suggests that effective co-ordination needs to exist between and within all organisations. The next two principles are cooperation and communication. Cooperation focuses on the level of information sharing between and within all agencies while communication expands on this principle by adding effective communication between and within all agencies, considering that all information communicated is reliable and is delivered to the public. The last principle is anticipation, which states that “ongoing risk identification and analysis is essential to the anticipation and management of the direct and indirect consequences of emergencies”. In this scenario the following Category 1 responders need to be contacted and collaborated immediately: police, fire, ambulance, health bodies, HM Coroner, and local authorities (UK Emergency Response Arrangements 2009, slide 7). Each of these Category 1 responders plays a key role in dealing with the disaster. Also all agencies and responders should consult, collaborate, cooperation and share information with each other as this is key in responding to the crisis at hand. Police is responsible for aiding in the protection and saving of lives at the disaster scene, while simultaneously protecting and preserving the scene itself. Police needs to be in charge of further investigation into the terrorists responsible behind the attack. Police is also meant to help in the collation and dissemination of casualty information and the identification of the victims of the disaster. It should help in the recovery process by restoring and maintaining the situation at normality. Lastly, in cooperation with other responders at the scene, police needs to help coordinate activities at the scene itself. (UK Emergency Response Arrangements 2009, slide 17). Fire service is in charge of not only extinguishing fires, but also helping to recover bodies and taking protective measures to ensure that the fire does not worsen or reignite. The fire service should also assist other agencies in the recovery process by helping in the removal of large quantities of floodwater. Lastly, the fire service should assist the police in the investigation process, especially the part that relates to fire. The issue of the injured or harmed must be taken into account by three Category 1 responders, health bodies, ambulance and HM coroners. Health bodies and ambulance need to deal with taking care of the hundreds of people on the streets and ensuring that medical aid reaches all individuals. HM Coroner is responsible for enquiring into the deaths that have occurred during the disaster. There are four key elements of dealing with victims of a disaster which include ensuring accurate and complete information is provided at all times, there is respect shown for those who have not survived, a sympathetic approach is used in taking care of the harmed, and mistaken identity should be avoided to as great of an extent as possible. Individual human rights must be taken under consideration when dealing with the bereaved. Local authorities will be largely responsible for creating and implementing all emergency plans and helping maintain communication between all related members of the response process. Government authorities could also play a role of a Category 1 responder, considering that terrorists are involved that affect the sovereignty of a country. Therefore, the government agencies should also play an active part in dealing with the scenario as described above and should be responsible for informing all agencies and other Category 1 responders of any terrorist-related information they may discover. There are many reasons behind why any of the bodies found at an emergency scene must be treated and identified such as administrative, social, religious, humanitarian and legal. Interpol Resolution AGN/65/Res/13 (1996) states that “...human beings have the right not to lose their identities after death, and the identification of victims is of importance for police investigations,” (Cable 2009, slide 37). A number of teams need to work on the process of dealing with human bodies. The overall incident commander should appoint a Senior Identification Manager to work on this operation. Senior Identification Manager (SIM) will thereafter designate the identification process duties to the Identification Commissioner. The Identification Commander’s responsibility would include body recovery, casualty bureau, family liaison and the Post/Ante Mortem Teams. “The Post Mortem Team comprises members of the various units forming the Mortuary Documentation Team, together with the pathologists who perform post mortem examinations and [Orthodontist] responsible for dental comparison,” (Cable 2009, slide 39). While the Post/Ante Mortem teams determine the causes behind the deaths of bodies found and create a list of missing persons discovered, the body recovery and casualty bureau deal with discovering bodies and placing them in mortuaries with proper funerals. The role of the family liaison is to inform the next of kin of a victim. Treatment of the survivors of the incident is also a necessity as they can face many problems, physical and mental. Physically so many people have been exposed to the gas that they all have the possibility of suffering from future reactions to the gas. Also, many survivors start to suffer from post-traumatic stress disorder and psychological help must be provided to them. What also needs to be taken into account is that the spread of dead bodies over the city can also create bacteria in the air and lead to illness of other uninjured victims. Communication is essential to dealing with a disaster, and lack of communication will only add to chaos. Information sharing should also play a vital role and all form of information should and must be shared between the public and disaster management units, and between the various disaster management units themselves, ranging from individual field-workers to the management sitting at the top of these units i.e. the CEOs of Fire, Ambulance and other such departments. Informing the public of accurate and complete information is necessary “based on the belief that a well-informed public is better able to respond to an emergency and to minimise the impact of the emergency on the community” (HM Government – Emergency Preparedness 2005, pg. 94). Communication with the public can be divided into two distinct duties i.e. public awareness, and warning and informing. Category 1 responders are responsible for “advising the public of risks before an emergency and warning and keeping it informed in the event of an emergency.” Arrangements for public distribution of information must be done in advance. This can be achieved with the support of Category 2 responders, such as telecommunication agencies. The emergency plan described must also ensure that the plans are appropriate to the scale of the event. Communication arrangements and their testing should be done in advance. Also, what needs to be focused on is the kind of message the public receives behind all the information provided. The message should not be one that adds to the existing chaos, but should help people remain calm. A strategy needs to be formed to deal with the media in such an event. “In any disaster response...It is only through the knowledge of the media's needs, and an appreciation of the ways in which it can assist the disaster team, that planners can best forge a relationship with the media that will confer the greatest mutual benefit,” (Friedman 1999). The media should be informed of all emergency response reactions taken by Category 1 and Category 2 responders, and accurate information about the casualties should be delivered so that when the public views the news through the media, no exaggerated or misguiding information is passed on and the public is also calmed down. Passing on information to the media should be the responsibility of Gold Commanders to ensure that all strategic plans are communicated. A possible press release for the attending media could be as follows: “A small unidentified light aircraft was sighted spraying an unknown chemical along the Promenade at Blackpool.  At the time, the Promenade was packed with tourists who had come to watch the Christmas Illuminations. Soon after the reported incident, emergency services received a large volume of distress calls and several hundreds were taken to be treated after suffering from a possible reaction to the sprayed substance. The situation has been compounded by multiple vehicle collisions in the area and there are reports that several people require assistance at the scene.  Furthermore, subsequent reports have confirmed that the light aircraft, after seemingly dispatching its payload, flew into the base of the Blackpool Tower and exploded on impact, causing significant structural damage to the Tower and enveloping the base of the Tower in flames. To cope with the rapidly increasing number of victims affected by the hazardous compound, an emergency rendezvous point has been set up, 400 metres south of the Promenade, to treat those affected. The chemical’s composition has not yet been confirmed but the pattern of events has lead investigating officials to suspect a connection with an earlier incident at the Birch Green area of Skelmersdale where a raid by counterterrorism officers lead to the discovery of the manufacture of a mixture of chlorine, sodium hydroxide and hydrogen gas. The raid yielded significant evidence, including hang gliding location sites, glider designs for spraying and stolen credit cards, to suggest that the two incidents are related. All the suspects at the site were apprehended.” Following the response process is the crucial recovery process to assure the public that things have indeed returned to normality. After a fire in a school in India, which killed 93 children, recovery measures were highly satisfying to the relatives of the children. “The findings indicate a high level of parent and stakeholder satisfaction in the majority of response and relief efforts associated with the disaster. Also reinforced were the importance of adherence to school safety regulations; the role of effective relief and rehabilitation; public-private partnership in disaster management; and the importance of media management, humanitarian assistance during crisis management and response, gender sensitivity in relief and rehabilitation, and services provided to reduce mental health risks for the injured children and families who lost their children in the incident, (Satapathy and Walia 2007). While response is necessary, the process of recovery is just as crucial when dealing with a disaster. References 2009, Incident Command Procedures, University of Central Lancashire. 2009, United Kingdom Emergency Response Arrangements, University of Central Lancashire. Cable, S. 2009, Casualty Management, University of Central Lancashire. Friedman, FD. 1999, ‘Public Relations in Disaster Management and Planning for Emergency Physicians’, J Emerg Med, vol. 13, issue 5 Hampshire & Isle of Wight Local Resilience Forum 2004, viewed 12 November 2009, . HM Government 2005, Emergency Response and Recovery - Non-statutory guidance to complement Emergency Preparedness, HM Government. HM Government 2005, Emergency Preparedness - Guidance on Part 1 of the Civil Contingencies Act 2004 & its associated Regulations and non-statutory arrangements, HM Government. Kershaw, B 2009, Civil Contingencies Act, University of Central Lancashire, viewed 12 November 2009, . Practice Improvement 2009, Guidance on Multi-Agency Interoperability, National Policing Improvement Agency. Satapathy, S, Walia, A 2007, ‘Affected Parents' and Other Stakeholders' Perception of a Fire Disaster Management in India: A Situational Analysis’, Journal of Emergency Nursing, 5(4): 111-118. Read More