Guidelines for enhancing Incident Management Team communication in Incident Control Centres

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guidelines_for_enhancing_communications_in_incident_control_centres.pdf

Classify & Cross-ref

BushfireTopic:

Community Safety

Fire Management

ResearchAdoption:

Protecting fire fighters

Project Reference:

Enhancing Emergency Incident Management Team Effectiveness and Organisational Learning

Title	Guidelines for enhancing Incident Management Team communication in Incident Control Centres
Publication Type	Report
Year of Publication	2009
Authors	Hickey, G, Owen, C
Abstract	This report and accompanying guidelines were developed and submitted as BCRC Project D5 Commonwealth deliverable 22.2.3: Guidelines developed for enhancing Incident Management Team communication in Incident Control Centres. This report also complements a related piece of work on enhancing incident management communication through enhanced teamwork performance which is reported in Deliverable 22.1.4 A review of the strengths and weaknesses of observed IMT training with recommendations for improvement. A number of internal and external reviews and inquiries have identified the need for improvements in the facilities used as Incident Control Centres during a bushfire response. This report was produced to assist those with responsibility for establishing an Incident Control Centre to do so in such a way as to facilitate the exchange of clear, accurate and timely information. The report was based on information, and data, gathered during 2006 and 2008 by the D5 BCRC research team at the University of Tasmania. The report: · Uses observational research to identify how Incident Control Centres could be improved to assist the flow of clear, accurate and timely information. · Uses the AIIMS defined goals as the basis for understanding whether the Incident Control Centre is facilitating or impeding the work of the Incident Management Team. · Brings together the observations of both researchers and practitioners in order to suggest practical guidelines for the establishment of an Incident Control Centre. · Identifies six interconnected and interrelated areas of Incident Control Centre and Incident Management Team facilitation that require attention. · Provides visual examples of many of the areas and issues identified as important. · Provides a series of guidelines designed to assist those with responsibility for establishing an Incident Control Centre. · Provides the rationale for the development of a checklist of actions that can be taken by those responsible for the establishment of an Incident Control Centre. The report identifies the following six areas which relate to the material configuration of the buildings utilized and the associated technologies associated with obstructing and/or hindering Incident Management Teams in their capacity to manage information in a clear, accurate and timely manner. The six areas identified are: 1. Building size and configuration 2. Role, Unit and Section identification 3. Movement of people 4. Fixed technologies 5. Shared information display 6. Lessons learned The report also has a section, Further comments, that provides some of the additional suggestions and feedback that was obtained from experienced Incident management personnel during the consultation phase of the report and accompanying guidelines, which do not fit within the scope of the current report but are interrelated issues.