Category: Emergency Management

Logistics Makes for Successful Emergency Response Team Deployment

My academic instruction and my own continued readings reinforce the premise that logistics will make or break an emergency response effort. My experience and what I hear from other deployed teams strengthens my belief in the absolute importance of logistical considerations. The debrief session from one of our emergency response teams’ deployment for the G8 [...]

Thursday August 19th, 2010 in Emergency Management | Comments Off

Verify the Veracity of Advice You Receive by Email – Even When It Comes from Trusted Sources

Bad information flows around anywhere, even within networks of emergency management professionals. Just yesterday, there was an article credited to Doug Coup flying around the email system. It came to me from an individual in my branch, who got it from someone at another branch with a lot of emergency response experience, who got it [...]

Friday July 16th, 2010 in Emergency Management, News & Commentary | Comments Off

Operational Details Matter: Things to Pay Attention to In an Emergency Operations Centre

They say that the devil is in the details. They also say that God is in the details. Whichever one is true, the main gist is correct: you’ve got to pay attention to the details if you want your emergency operations centre (EOC) to operate smoothly and effectively. You need to pay attention to details [...]

Tuesday June 29th, 2010 in Emergency Management | Comments Off

It’s Only Ridiculous Until You Experience The Real Deal: BCP & Emergency Management Exercises

Designing and undertaking exercises are critical to the development and validation of business continuity plans and emergency management plans. They are also critical to the training & familiarization that your organization’s people will need in order to respond as effectively as possible when the time comes. Yet, exercises often aren’t taken seriously by management or [...]

Tuesday June 29th, 2010 in Emergency Management | Comments Off

Words Define Perspectives: The Security World’s Black & White View

Many movies, particularly blockbuster action movies, are very simplistic in their portrayals and characterizations. Good guys vs bad guys – that’s it, that’s all you need to know, that’s all they’re telling you. That’s fine when it’s for entertainment, although even then my opinion is that more nuanced and complex characters make for more interesting [...]

Monday April 26th, 2010 in Communication, Emergency Management, News & Commentary | Comments Off