Incident Management above the Incident Management Team
Failure in emergency incident management coordination in major events has long been recognised in both the national and the international. In large events breakdowns of information flow, and in particular breakdowns in coordination above the IMT are both common and always problematic.
The findings from the Royal Commission indicate a need to look beyond creating new standard operating procedures or adding to existing role responsibilities. They indicate that, despite the good work that has occurred in the past to build a robust inter-service incident management system, in overwhelming events communication and coordination breaks down and fractures.
This project is seeking to better understand how multi-agency emergency management coordination above the IMT level can be improved in order to reduce the consequences to communities of the emergency event.
The research questions
- What are the existing and best practices for Incident Management coordination?
- How does information flow to and from the Incident Controller (IMT) influence the controllers capacity to develop suitable alternative plans to adjust to emerging conditions?
- How has a lack of shared mental models by key personnel in emergency incident management led to breakdowns in coordination in previous incidents?
- How might we best train and educate personnel in the most effective emergency management coordination above the IMT?
- What social networks of communication best facilitate effective multi-agency coordination?
- What changes are needed to support effective command and control and multi-agency coordination?
Review WIKI
A WIKI has been set-up to help researchers and end-users review the progress of this project. Those involved in this review have been issued with a password to gain access to this WIKI:
