Integrated Emergency Management: Principles, Recovery, and Debriefing

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Integrated Emergency Management
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Contents
Introduction......................................................................................................................................3
P5 Explain the principles of effective emergency incident response..............................................4
P6 Describe the recovery stage following an emergency incident..................................................6
M3 Demonstrate the need for debriefs and reviewing to inform future planning and responding. 8
P7 Identify a range of examples of an emergency incident, both UK-based and international.....10
M4 Investigate the role of the public services in a particular real-world emergency incident......10
D2 Evaluate a particular real-world emergency incident, making reference to the type of
incident, actions taken, collaborative agency working involved, and lessons learned..................11
Conclusion:....................................................................................................................................13
References:....................................................................................................................................14
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Introduction
Integrated Emergency Management (IEM) is fundamentally management of all hazards which
include its control, coordination and direction of the disasters. IEM is sometimes used for
management of computer-based hazards that manage all type of accidents. Audit Commission is
a public sector of the UK; the purpose of this organisation is to oversight the audit process and
financial report of the local government of the UK. In this report, the principles of effective
emergency incident response and its recovery stages will be discussed. The principles of
integrated emergency management are prevention, preparedness, response and recovery. The
relevant legislation of the Audit Commission is the Auditor General of state conducts all auditing
process. It worked in partnership and operated the commission independently. The role of the
public sector in an emergency incident will be explained in this report.
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P5 Explain the principles of effective emergency incident response.
Emergency management creates a framework to reduce the effects of hazards and help to cope
with natural disasters (Therrien, 2019). The principles of integrated emergency management of
the Audit Commission are based on various phases. These phases are:
 Mitigation
 Preparedness
 Response
 Recovery
 Professional
 Flexible
 Risk-Driven
 Coordinated
 Comprehensive
Mitigation Phase: In this phase, Audit Commission assess the annual hurdles mitigation risk
which helps to identify the most crucial hazards on which organisation needs to focus in future.
By focusing on those risks, it helps to reduce an issue to organisation, employees and its
consumers.
Preparedness: Crisis Action team of Audit Commission is focused on preparedness activities.
Provide training to all employees for emergency management process, make operational plans —
all the members of the organisation prepare and aware of their role and responsibilities.
Response: The objective of this phase is to save the life of employees, protection of property and
affected area should be safe. A response is conducting operational plans and implementation
process. The actions are taken to deal with the emergency.
Recovery: It is a long term process, and the main objective of recovery is organisation back in
the previous stage as soon as possible. It is the phase in which the condition of an organisation is
restoring, rehabilitating after the emergency.
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Flexible: The manager uses flexible and creative techniques to solve the hazards of organisation
which are easily understood by the employees.
Coordinated: Emergency responders coordinate with all the stakeholders of an organisation for
achieving the common goal.
Risk-Driven: The emergency responders use management principles of sound risk which
include identification of hazard and its impact.
Comprehensive: The manager should provide analysis and makes an account of all type of
hazards, all stakeholders and all effects which occur by a disaster.
The principles of integrated emergency management help to protect the organisation by
coordinating all activities which reduce the effects of hazards. Effective communication is a key
to emergency management; it helps to exchange the information from emergency responders to
those which affect by the hazard or emergency event (Echo, 2019).
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P6 Describe the recovery stage following an emergency incident
In the words of Penny (2017), after the hazards destroy the facilities of an organisation, every
minute is counts in the recovery stage after an emergency. The organisation has been affected by
the flood, and for its recovery stage, there are six main major steps which helps to minimise the
effect of the disaster, these are:
Aware of safety hazards: Loose scattered pieces are not unique after a severe emergency.
Precaution is better than cure so; make sure employees shut down the electricity in the affected
area which helps to restore the condition without notice.
Review of the emergency operational plan: Organisation already has an emergency
preparedness plan with all information about emergency responders which deals with
emergencies. Provide information to all employees about the preparedness plan in regular staff
meetings; it helps to provide knowledge about emergency management and reduce panic in a
crisis.
Clean the surface: After an emergency incident clean the surface with disinfectants, remove all
the contaminated material from the surface thoroughly clean the surface. Contaminated elements
spread contaminants very easily to another place of the organisation so; be careful while
removing the material and disinfectant the surfaces.
Disinfectant the floor: Clean the floor which is affected by flood deeply. The flood water has
various contaminated bacteria for reducing its growth clean the floor with chemicals with high-
pressure steam.
Water Lines: Flood damage the facilities of Audit Commission Organisation like pipe
blockages and breaking of water lines. Check the pipelines after the disaster, if they require any
renovation and repair do act accordingly.
Check glass and doors: Glass and doors are the two most important elements which are needed
to asses after the disaster. Check the glass of windows, door locks, and handles after a flood
event. Minor damage in these items can be converted into big trouble and create a problem for
staff and travellers of the organisation.
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In the words of Entech (2019), the elements of the recovery plan which are used for
complete the recovery after the emergency incident is:
Role assignments and communication plans: Communication about the recovery plan helps to
know about the duties and responsibilities to all employees. Emergency responders of Audit
Commission should discuss the recovery plan with all staff members and distribute duties to all
employees.
Make an effective plan: Organisation has a plan for protecting the articles of the company from
the flood. Wrap all the articles or equipment in plastic and move into an area with no windows. It
helps to secure the articles from flooding.
Data continuity: Before making the emergency recovery plan, identify the operational and
financial needs of the organisation which is essential for the growth and running of the business.
Photos of the office and articles: Management of Audit Commission should take pictures of
office and articles before and after the recovery plan. It helps identify the articles which were
used by staff before the incident.
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M3 Demonstrate the need for debriefs and reviewing to inform future planning and
responding.
According to the words of Sundheim (2015), Debriefing is a method which is used to evolve
plans in continuous manner until they are implemented. The military orients this method for
quickly learning because the situations of the military rapidly change and it is used to analyse the
problems of that field. But in business industry debriefing is used in the achievement of difficult
objectives, accelerating projects. It helps in teamwork; enhance the relationships of employee
and employer and fast learning.
Debriefs are the simple tool which provides the ability to self-correct to employees, act as a gel
for the team and increase their performance. By debriefing, the staff should judge their
performance from past experiences and discuss them. Debriefs give opportunities for
performance improvement.
Debriefing is important to ensure that all staff are informed about emergency management and
not harm in both ways physically and mentally. It is carried out within two to six days of the
emergency disaster. It is a voluntary discussion between the management and employees to make
the abnormal situation into normal condition.
Debrief is a common method of experimental analysis of the emergency crisis in an organisation,
but it is not fully recognised in all fields. It includes stress-reducing techniques which are used to
secure the employees mentally and psychologically after the emergency incident.
The organisation has both formal and informal structure of learning with efficient debriefing
skills which help adopt the rapid changes in the environment.
In the words of Murphy (2019), the benefits of debriefing in Audit Commission are divided into
two categories one is tangible, and other is intangible benefits and cultural benefits.
Tangible benefits from Debriefing:
The first benefit: It helps to complete the projects or achieve the objectives of the organisation.
Debriefing helps to identify the root causes of the problem.
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Second benefit: It provides the opportunity to improve the safety level of the organisation.
Debriefing training gives knowledge about the causes which can harm the organisation in deep
level if they are not addressed.
Third benefit: Once the issues or causes are identified, debriefing helps to make plans and
develop lessons learned for solving the root causes. Consulting firm helps to make lessons
learned, and its requirement and the manager is responsible for its actions. It helps to make plans
which are beneficial in future. The management is communicating with each other via a suitable
medium (Murphy, 2019).
After identifying the root cause, make lesson learned and its implementation the condition of the
organisation is improved. The consulting firm provides a straightforward approach to the
improvement of the process.
Cultural Benefits of Debriefing:
For changing the all over organisational culture implementation of debriefing is an important
step. It is a type of exercise which improves the physique of employees in different ways.
The culture which is developed by using debriefing is honesty, learning environment and
boldness in all employees of the organisation. Honesty and boldness are an important part of the
lesson learned. Successful debriefing needs honesty which removes the ego from between
employees.
The main objective of a consulting firm in debriefing is to remove the employees who are talking
about each other on their back and educate the employees to participate in each other opinion and
advice actively.
Debriefing is developed trust between the leaders and their team members. When a team is
discussing with each other about the project, it is important that they should understand the
unique challenges and hurdles of each other. All team members and leader are supported each
other to complete their challenges.
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For developing a learning culture in an organisation debriefing is an essential tool because
today’s world is unpredictable, so that’s why making any prediction about it is not possible
(Murphy, 2019).
P7 Identify a range of examples of an emergency incident, both UK-based and
international.
In the words of Professional Security (2016), the organisations and individuals are dealing with
emergency incidents once in their lives. All emergency incidents may affect the lives of a large
or small scale. In business Industry of the UK and another international level, all the incidents
affect the status of the organisation and its profitability and reduce the business growth.
Incidents can happen at any time like in travelling, during work etc. Sometimes incidents teach
some lesson and sometimes create problems. The definition of the incident in the dictionary that
it is an event which is may be unwanted and unhappier.
The examples of emergency incidents, both UK and international based are like car accidents;
robbery, fire etc. can cause death.
The Aurora ship is an example of incidents that deal with the situation very perfectly. Total
passengers in the ship are 2000 on board and return into 24 hours due to breaking down the ship.
It was the trigger incident which is dealt with by the management of the ship. They had already
emergency operational plan which is used in that situation to save the lives of all passengers. The
company shoul be successful in maintaining its publicity in the market. Reputation is essential
for a successful business; if they delayed in their action, the loss was much greater. Effective
planning is essential for a successful business (Professional Security, 2016)
M4 Investigate the role of public services in a particular real-world emergency incident.
Paris terror attacks occurred on November 13, 2015, that is considered as the most devastating
events that had been taken place in France since the period of the Second World War. The
attacks were made by suicide bombers as well as shooters in public places such as bars,
restaurants, major stadium, and a concert hall. It had been reported that about 130 people were
dead and hundreds of people were got injured out of which more than 100 people were facing the
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critical health condition. At this time of sudden, devastating events, public services of the UK
such as Audit Commission came forward and played their crucial role differently.
Audit Commission and other public services responded actively for providing medical and other
types of aid involving investigation in the case as well. The medical aid had been provided to the
victims of the attacks on an immediate basis. The doctors, ambulance, first aid kits, and medical
facilities were provided immediately after the attacks occurred. Not only had this, but the
families of dead people and injured victims were also provided with adequate financial support
to bring their lives to the normal (Phillips, et. al., 2016). Apart from this, the public services
including the Audit Commission helped in providing health support to the injured people to
facilitate sound health. The Audit Commission established an association with the hospitals and
other medical services providers to participate actively by providing health and care services to
the injured people.
Apart from this, the nearby fire service providers were given immediate orders by the UK
Government for mitigating the further casualty. Not only had this, but the Audit Commission
along with Apple and other companies and the UK government also investigated the mastermind
behind such terror attacks in Paris. The UK governmental agencies gave the orders for posing
strict security in the places where the attacks were taken place as well as the public places. The
duties and responsibilities of the policemen were widened, and no ignorance was acceptable
(Bartholomew, 2016.). Audit Commission instructed the medical services for establishing the
processes and procedures to undertake a strict inquiry. Through social media platforms, the
Audit Commission developed awareness among the general public of the UK and other countries
of the world. The Audit Commission provided its vital support to the victims of the attacks and
attempted for the prevention of such incidents.
D2 Evaluate a particular real-world emergency incident, referring to the type of incident,
actions taken, a collaborative agency working involved, and lessons learned.
Paris terror attacks were the most drastic casualty events for the UK. With the association with
other governmental agencies and the UK government, the Audit Commission provided its
assistance to the general public and showed empathy towards the victims and their families. The
collaborative agencies for this event to manage the emergency events, Audit Commission helped
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in minimising the effects of events that are many times, devastating, violent, or harmful
(Goralnick, et. al., 2017). The key collaborative agencies for supporting the initiatives had
provided cash. The collaborative agency is comprised of the hospitals, medical care staff, police,
fire brigades, and other public service agencies.
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