Emergency Management 1: Emergency Plans
Emergency plans require
- harmonised procedures,
- available resources and
- suitable personnel.
Emergency plans should ideally be drawn up in consultation with those who play a relevant role in the handling of the emergency. If this cannot be guaranteed, suitable instructions, training or exercises must be carried out to ensure that all those involved are sufficiently familiar with the plans. The handling of emergencies should be practised and trained regularly. As exercises during events in particular (especially one-off events) regularly fail due to a lack of resources, it is advisable to at least establish a preparatory scenario workshop (table-top exercise) with all those involved.
Emergency planning always includes measures at the following levels
- Organisation:
- Definition of responsibilities,
- naming of persons involved,
- allocation of rights and duties,
- establishment of committees (e.g. coordination group)
- creating plans,
Interorganisational coordination
The emergency plans must be coordinated with the general plans and the respective organisation-specific plans. In practice, there are often several concepts side by side: organisers, police and fire brigade each draw up their own emergency plans, which are often not coordinated with each other. However, in order to ensure smooth cooperation between the parties involved, it is essential to coordinate the respective plans: Resilient emergency planning always means the existence of inter-organisationally coordinated planning.
Resources
In most cases, the handling of emergencies requires additional personnel and material. This can be additional security staff to enable an orderly evacuation without having to give up positions that are also secured by security staff, or a team that carries out the initial investigation at the scene of the incident (before the emergency services arrive).
The necessary resources also include the appropriate material to implement the measures envisaged in the emergency plan (additional barriers, side cutters to open fastenings (e.g. privacy screens) or flutter tape to quickly cordon off areas). Additional resources may also be required in the form of additional specialised knowledge or skills (e.g. water or height rescue).
Participants
The personnel deployed as part of emergency planning must be suitable to fulfil this function. Depending on the function, this may mean special requirements in terms of stress resistance and information processing or may also include physical requirements. Personnel who have a relevant function in the handling of emergencies must be available quickly and are no longer available for other tasks – this must be taken into account when allocating tasks.
Irrespective of the function, it must be ensured that the persons involved are instructed and trained in their respective tasks. In decision-making positions, it must also be ensured that the respective persons have sufficient authority to issue instructions and make decisions.
