Emergency response personnel respond to various incidents by communicating in real time to establish command and control at emergency scenes. However, national assessments and after-action reports show communication deficiencies regarding routine incidents management as well as support responses to acts of terrorism and natural disasters. Therefore, emergency management communication is crucial in ensuring acceleration and attainment of interoperable emergency communications in the event of natural or man-made disasters.
Components of Multi-Agency Interoperability for Emergency Management
The components of multi-agency interoperability include governance, standard operating procedures, technology, training and exercises, and usage. Governance involves the groups of agencies and jurisdictions who coordinate the decision-making process. It involves a structure for solving interoperability issues to boost procedures, processes, and policies of key projects through cooperation, coordination, and communication.
Technology involves the communication systems as defined by the local requirements that allow agencies to connect whenever it is necessary. The technologies include interconnections through common interface standards. Standard operating procedures, on the other hand, are the formal written guidelines for response to incidents. They are used by emergency responders for the coordination of incident responses across jurisdictions.
Training and exercise programs are crucial in ensuring that responders can effectively communicate during emergencies. Training ensures that interoperability mechanisms are routinely used and when combined with exercise programs, agencies can arrive at workable interoperability solutions. Usage describes ...
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...ssesses the communication capabilities using the percent of communications sent and received that are comprehendible without ambiguities or at 90 percent ambiguity by the receiver or the sender. They also check for frequency of communication back-up during emergencies in the case of communications failures or overloads.
Incident action plans are also checked to ensure continued service in the face of incidents. As such, officials are notified when incidents occur through relevant technologies and tools. The system also performance measures using time upon which immediate dispatch information is availed to first responders during regular operations. Therefore, effective communications capabilities should act within 60 seconds of dispatch. Moreover, within 30 seconds, first responders should acknowledge receipt as well as total comprehension of radio communications.
Waugh, William L, and Gregory Streib. "Collaboration and Leadership for Effective Emergency Management." Public Administration Review, 66.6 (2006): 131-140.
The National response plan outlines four key actions the disaster coordinator should take. They are gaining and maintaining situational awareness, activate and deploy key resources and capabilities, coordinating response actions and demobilizing. Throughout the response it is essential that responders have access to critical information. During the initial response effort the situation is will change rapidly. Situational awareness starts at the incident site. For this reason it is essential that decision makers have access to the right information at the right time. By establishing an Emergency Operations Center (EOC) all key responders are brought ...
Haddow, G. D., Bullock, J. A., & Coppola, D. P. (2014). The disciplines of emergency management: Preparedness. Introduction to emergency management (Fifth ed., ). Waltham: Elsevier.
Early recognition of a need for ICS and a prompt initiation by the Oklahoma City Fire Department allowed for a swift implementation of a command structure which in turn allowed recourses to be allocated quickly and
Mancock, I., Tristan, C. & Lunn, J., 2004, Introduction to Emergency Management, CD ROM, Charles Sturt University, Australia.
... be fostered. Nevertheless, current coordination is not bad as the MTA is the overall umbrella agency that has coordinated diverse emergency response organizations in the city of New York. For instance, during the time of the blackout, diverse stakeholders shared information although communication systems were weak. The impact of the blackout on the transportation sector and health of New York City was severe and key lessons can be learnt. Learning from past experience such as the blackout in 2003 has been attested by Volpe (2004) who indicates that experience would help improve future emergency response. This can also help design effective emergency policies and plans. Personnel had previously become familiar with each other through day-to-day operations and joint terrorism exercises. However, further research is recommended to expound more on this issue in detail.
Haddow, G., Bullock, J., & Coppola, D. (2011). Introduction to emergency management (4th ed.). Burlington, MA: Butterworth Heinemann.
Another team effort where communication is key is in the field of emergency medicine. Some of the basic roles in the emergency room at a local hospital, such as IV’s, phlebotomy, and triage, must be performed together with doctors, nurses, technicians, ancillary staff, and others to establish a cohes...
When I was in the navy one of my chiefs liked to say, “Communication is the key to success!” I think this applies to many things in life, but it also has a lot to do with the successful implementation of the National Incident Management System/Incident Command System also known as NIMS/ICS. The reasons why good communication is so important in an incident that uses NIMS/ICS is that without it there is no coordination between anyone and the Incident Commander also known as the IC. And if the IC does not get the information he/she needs to properly place resources he/she has it makes an incident that is already bad to worse. The use of proper communication is crucial in an incident. There are many moving parts to NIMS/ICS that requires a lot
Perry, R.W., Prater, C.S., & Lindell, M.K. (2006). Fundamentals of Emergency Management. Retrieved from http://training.fema.gov/EMIWeb/edu/fem.asp.
Effective communication in its various forms is the substratum of crisis management. Internal and external communication is essential during times of crisis if a successful outcome is to prevail. In a crisis, people’s lives are often at risk, these are lives that can be lost or protected; however, their fate lies in the hands of information. A breakdown in communication during times of crisis will interfere in dispensing pertinent and time sensitive information to the target audience, thus placing them at a gross disadvantage in protecting their health. During a crisis, it can be extremely costly to falter in delivering accurate, detailed, and informative information.
Education of all personnel is key. Simulations like the Franklin County are great sources. Schools, hospitals, public and private companies to consider preforming drills or simulations in preparation for disasters such as. Many counties have such drills which sometime involve local hospitals, emergency personnel, and local high school students acting like victims with certain issues like head injury, burns, and other injuries which can occur. The television and radios do emergency testing which reminds watchers monthly the sound and the protocol that occurs in an emergency.
Stephens, K. (2010), How can the emergency management community use technology to improve resilience?. Retrieved from http://idisaster.wordpress.com/2010/09/23/how-can-we-use-technology-to-improve-community-resilience/
The Fire and Rescue Service employ a number of styles of communication to suit diverse audiences and for different purposes. The organization communicates with its members of staff differently depending on the circumstances and the message which is being conveyed. With such a large organization approximately 2200 members of staff effective communication is essential. Effective communication plays a vital role in the delivery of all Fire and Rescue Services.
On a large scale, governance describes methods a governing body uses to ensure its citizens follow established protocol. At the macro level, there is a loosely coupled organizations structure that supervises and maintains respons...