The Politics of Crisis Management - Example

Crisis Management Customer Inserts His/Her Name Customer Inserts Grade Course Customer Inserts Tutor’s Name Insert Date Here (Day, Month, Year) Introduction Meaning of crisis Sudden unforeseen damage or suffering caused by humans or upheavals in nature requiring immediate attention accounts for crisis. It’s a calamity occurring any time to any body taking any form like fire, bomb threat or any other terrorist activity, burglary, earth quake, storm, tornadoes etc causing complete destruction to life or property. In case of crisis, it is a duty of agency or person concerned to deal with it in the most effective manner. For the case study, I took Ewood Park football stadium, an avenue for Blackburn Rovers Football club, having capacity of 31, 514 spectators and has three, two- tier stands, naming Jack Walker stand, The Blackburn End Stand, The Darwen End Stand and fourth is single tier stand which is River Side End stand. There is one retail shop also which is located within the stadium complex but it is separated from the stands. Jack Walker Stand, formally known as Nuttall Stand, has a capacity for 11,000 seats and was built in 1990. This stand constitutes dressing rooms and media/conferencing facilities. It had been renewed in 1984 when fire erupted in the place during summer and was again rebuilt recently. The Blackburn End Stand has a capacity for 8000 people and stands near Blackburn town. The boardroom at the Nuttall Stand was disgruntled piece by piece and, when rebuilding was over, it was again assembled at the Blackburn End and this is considered to be a main stand of the ground. Another is River Side End renamed Fraser Eagle Stand during 2007-08 with capacity of 5000 people. Its structure was replaced in 1985 when it was found as unsafe during high winds. The stand was again opened in 1988. Last one is Darwen end having 8000 seats and houses supporting two tier stand mirroring Blackburn End. Intention It is very difficult to predict crisis as it can come anytime and without knocking. But it is possible to predict crisis and determine exact exigency plan and responses for the same. The following case study I have taken of Black Burn Rovers Football Stadium and how its plans and determines strategies in case of any emergency. Legislative Controls for Security In United Kingdom, The Safety of Sports Grounds Act formulated in 1975 ensures that stadiums and clubs are maintaining all safety measures to meet any exigency or any emergency situation that may cause damage to property or loss of life. Controls are mainly imposed through safety certificates that are issued by local authorities for sports grounds designated by the Secretary of State. This certificate entitles limitation to the spectators in the stadium or club that can enter into the stadium. (Merseyside Fire Liaison Panel 2008: Online) The statutory function of the club council is to survey the safety standards at Ewood Stadium, in terms of Safety of Sports Grounds Act 1975 holding a Safety Certificate in terms of the legislation. All the safety measures are monitored by the Working Group of Officials comprising Fire and Rescue Service, Democratic Services, Development Services, and Transportation Services, which in turn reports to Police, Fire and Safety Committee. Crisis Management Crisis Management team Even before any eventualities, planning of crisis is the most unique and distinct part of the crisis management team. To effectively implement the crisis plan, it is very essential to impart proper training to the team involving conducting of regular exercises. The steps needed for the training includes notification and activation; tabletop; and simulation. (Trest & Guernsey 2003: Online) Every crisis management team has a model comprising of the formulation of the Emergency Response Team, consisting of the members trained during the emergency cases like fire, electric short circuits, gas leakage, chemical attacks etc. The team includes First aid team, communication team, fire fighting and rescue team. Their exercise involves each member to show their caliber in the way they receive information about the potential crisis including the way they assess the situation and the way team should handle it. They are also judged on their leadership skills, the way they communicate and organize the structure. In the final training process, they make detailed plans about various aspects of the crisis management. Every organization including stadium has its own action team whose main goal is the prevention of crisis and reduce the effect of the same. The team requires effective leader that can help in proper coordination, regular meetings, training process and evaluation of the threats. As per Gonzalez-Herrero and Prat model, written plan is formulated including communication plan for fast and effective exchange of information and creating an environment that could help in dealing all crises in a most effective and cooperative manner. Threat analysis is done and use of threat matrix is conducted for formulating plans for high alerts. The plan is also written to ensure that no confusion is left about the roles that every authorized person needs to play while dealing with crisis. Following this, the local authority with the help of the Safety Advisory Group should be encouraged to give their comments and recommendations on the plans. The ground management thus allotted should also make sure that contingency plans are reviewed and lessons learned. Emergency Crisis The intention of the plan is the fire management i.e. to handle the crisis due to extremity of the fire if it engulfs the stadium. Gonzalez-Herrero and Prat crisis management model is best to prepare the plan to handle the fire crisis. It consists of four phases and these are issues management, planning, crisis and post crisis. (Gonzalez-Herrero & Prat 1995: 26) The intention is the preparation of the plan, which enables stadium to respond effectively and the way the stadium can involve emergency services or related agencies to meet the crisis and save people and stadium. For e.g. what and how the crisis management team make plans to tackle the crisis and to save the spectators in case of fire? Before formation of any contingency plan, there should always a need for the competent person to impart a safety audit and assessment of risk with the process including recognition of the danger to which spectator can get easily exposed to and assessing the extent of the level of this risk, and making assessments on the adequacy of present safety measures. According to the Fire Precautions (Workplace) Regulations 1997, and as amended by the Fire Precautions (Workplace) (Amendment) Regulations 1999, it is a duty for the ground management to make adequate arrangements to make such contacts with emergency services and make rescue work effective. (Football Licensing Authority 2007: Online) The ground management must ensure the key safety measures are located at proper places like control room and back up facility, ingress/egress points and circulation routes for spectators; fire alarms and fire fighting equipment; key telephone points; first aid points; gas and water stop cocks; storage areas covered by the Control of Substances Hazardous to Health (COSHH) Regulations; and vehicle parking areas. To deal with the emergency situation, command is given to the Nominated State Officer or we can also call him Safety officer. Once safety officer has been nominated to ensure responsibility for the management and control of the emergency situation, he would act in cooperation with the police commander and fire station team who can take total command as per the agreement stated in the statement of intent. A certain set of contingency plan has been framed according to the requirements of the club and the stadium and the plan is formulated to help the authorities of the stadium that could easily act to the emergency situation according to its severity and on the basis of the site. This plan is a preplanned and prepared as a response to any emergency like fire acting independently but with the corporation of the emergency services and local authorities wherever applicable. Besides security officers, there are other officers like ground manager; chief executive / secretary; duty electrician; duty engineer; and crowd doctor. As soon as it has become apparent that fire has engulfed one part of the stadium or whole stadium, the first response of the security officer would be to immediately inform control room about the crisis. Secondly, Senior Ambulance officer would be present and immediately fire service people would be called; by the time the outside emergency services arrive, the Stadium’s Emergency response team comes into action and takes control of the situation. Their first action would be the evacuation of the persons. Hereby Security officer has already assessed the situation beforehand but now it is the time to take quick action. Security officer should arrive at the back end of the stadium where there is CCTV facility is available. This system helps in the evacuation process. It also has back-up system for controlling the final exit doors. These exit doors should be easily visible and accessible to the spectators and the exit route should be free from any blockages. Without arousing any panic, spectators should be calmly moved out through all the exit doors, here the police personnel can come to an aid who could check and control any chances of panic. Stadium has fire alarm system located at the main stand and Stewards who would immediately activate the system could use this system. As soon as the system is activated, an alarm would be heard and a signal would be seen on the control panel whereby the fire station officers would be intimated about the location of the fire at the main entrance foyer, and rescue service department would be immediately sent who would control the fire. It is recommended that there should be an expert system that could predict any mishappening quickly. These results have been achieved by the computers having large memories and high-speed capabilities for processing of data. More over, they also have capability to predict multi-tasks activity such as fire prediction, presentation of data, signal displays in the evacuation process etc and hereby expert system can easily make use of the computer process for analysis of the huge amount of information to predict fire propagation and in a very appropriate way. This fire expert system can be converted to function as a fire crisis management team as soon as fire is announced. This expert system can be of very use when the situation gets out of control for a human being. It also helps in the evacuation process of the crowds by providing instructions for the same. It can also help the fireman team while they are in the process of automatic installation. In short we can say that this system imparts information, helps the fire management team in making decisions, formulate actions for immediate actions, helps in the evacuation process of the effected persons including stopping of the spread of heat, fumes, smoke or any exclusion. During the process of prediction, this system compares it with the signals from the detection device(s) and makes adjustments accordingly. (World Intellectual Property Organization: Online) Recovery after the incident After necessary steps are undertaken, the ground crisis management team should ensure that normal operations are again started without any hindrance or delay. After the incident, the team ensures the stadium owners get their insurance claim. Their other jobs include making contact to the loss adjuster, again making available all the plans and designs, making assessment of the damage done and time taken for reparing and ensuring how the daily routine and activities start even though repairing needs to be done, ensuring security of the effected site temporarily, operation of the salvage team, ensuring and looking after the role of surveyors and engineers. Besides they also assure and arrange alternative ground for the continuation of the matches. Conclusion During major fire, first three minutes are very important as in these three minutes lives of the people need to be saved. In these three minutes, responding officers should make quick decision first on the method to save people and then to save property. Their decision involves making assessment on the severity of crisis with fire expert system. His quick and effective decision can not only save numerous lives but also have an impact on the agency, community and their careers. Any failure or wrong decisions could lead to grave consequences. First responder to the scene of disaster considers five factors before making final decision, the first factor is the deployment of the protocol, like tactical deployment, laying parameters and taking steps in evacuation process. The second factor is how in the most effective way policies of the agency are dealt with, the third is the way first responders display their professional maturity, the fourth factor is the way they partner and coordinate with the other agencies like police, ambulance services, local agencies and media etc and lastly the decision and effectiveness first responders show also depends on the training they had got from their agency. (Calea: Online) As soon as responders reach the scene, they deploy their work force according to the deployment option based on the gravity of the situation. Their next task is the prevention of chaos and panic that may arise among the victims who would rush to save their lives and in this chaos, there may cause more accidents. Captain Dennis L. Potter, Jefferson County (CO) Sheriff's Department, a 32-year veteran of law enforcement commented that, “tactical intervention by first responders is an issue with which many agencies find it difficult to deal” (Calea: Online). Further he said that SWAT teams, which are generally used, are not very effective in dealing with these situations, as SWAT teams are only used to solve particular problem, which does not require abrupt attention. Problems arise when police teams give instructions to the respond teams to lay down the parameters and then wait for the SWAT teams. This is not practically applicable instead respond team should solve the problem in the most tactical manner. But in situations it is felt that tactical intervention is not required then it becomes very necessary for the first responders to adopt next best deployment option. Setting of a parameter could be effective to prevent any unnecessary trespassing, and making adequate arrangements for the evacuation of the people or their resettlement to the safer places as the need arises. If citizens are displaced through the process evacuation, it becomes responsibility of the agency officers to provide them housing, security, and care for all those who are excavated. When this process is over, the next step is the control of fire requiring several types of dynamic systems. These systems consist of two parts: rule or dynamic, which specifies the way system, should evolve. Some of the systems originate in a very complex way, irregular and appears like if flouting rules. Practically it is not very possible to predict the applicability of the system and not very possible for the next system to make prediction from the previous one. Even every minute error can cause grave consequences and disconnection between their complete organizational setup. Hereby the most important aspect to overall management crises is effective communication between different agencies. Lack of communication can cause many misunderstandings and serious repercussions and even loss of life. To facilitate the communication, all agencies must be equipped with high technology equipments, which could be easily handled and make the communication easier even in the gravest crises. All in all for crises management team, handling grave crises like major fire at a stadium becomes the matter of life and death. Their efficient operation and modifications in their current plan and system according to the need of the hour and leadership qualities of the team leader of the immediate responders can reduce the gravity of the situation and immediate alert and prompt action can even avert the major crises. Reference List Billington, M.J., Ferguson, A. & Copping, A G. 2002. Means of Escape from Fire. Oxford: Blackwell Publishing Boin, A., Hart, P., Stern, E. & Sundelius, B. 2005. The Politics of Crisis Management: Public Leadership Under Pressure. New York: Cambridge University Press. Calea Online. The First Three Minutes: Law Enforcement’s Role in Crisis Management. [Online] Available: http://www.calea.org/online/newsletter/No82/first3minutes.htm [6 January 2008] Catherwood, D.W. Kirk, R.L.V. & Ernst, G.Y. 1992. The Complete Guide to Special Event Management. NJ: John Wiley and Sons. Cote, A. E. 2003. Organizing for Fire and Rescue Services: A Special Edition of the Fire Protection Handbook. Jones & Bartlett Publishers. Council of Europe. 1991. Recommendation on the promotion of safety at stadia (91/1). [Online] Available: http://www.coe.int/t/dg4/sport/resources/texts/sprec91.1_en.asp [6 January 2009] Diamantes, D. 2004. Principles of Fire Prevention. New York: Cengage Learning. Fried, G. 2005. Managing Sport Facilities. Leeds: Human Kinetics. Football Licensing Authority. 2007. Contingency Planning. [Online] Available: http://www.flaweb-dev.org.uk/docs/publications/pubs/cplan.php [6 January 2009] Gonzalez-Herrero, A., & Pratt, C. B.1995. How to manage a crisis before or whenever - it hits. Public Relations Quarterly, 40: 25-30. Karlsson, B. & Quintiere. 1999. Enclosure Fire Dynamics. Boca Raton, Florida: CRC Press. Hoff, L.A. 1995. People in Crisis: Understanding and Helping. Jossey-Bass. John, G. & Sheard, R. 2000. Stadia: A Design and Development Guide. Oxford: Architectural Press Merseyside Fire Liaison Panel. 2008. Fire Safety and Safety of Places of Sports. [Online] Available: http://www.firesafe.org.uk/html/premises/fs&spos.htm [6 January 2009] Silvers, J. R. 2007. Risk Management for Meetings and Events. Oxford: Butterworth-Heinemann. Shethi, S., Jones, F. & Mchugh. 2007. Risk managers: How good is your risk management plan? Disaster Recovery Journal : 36-40. Tarlow, P.E. 2002. Event Risk Management and Safety. New York: John Wiley and Sons. Thompson, P. Tolloczko, J. J. A. Benedetti, Jean & Clarke, J. N. 1998. Stadia, Arenas and Grandstands: Design, Construction and Operation. Oxon: Routledge Trest, G. & Guernsey, C.H. 2003. Effective Crisis Management. [Online] Available: http://www.todaysfacilitymanager.com/tfm_03_02_news2.asp [6 January 2009] World Intellectual Property Organization. FIRE CRISIS MANAGEMENT EXPERT SYSTEM. [Online] Available: http://www.wipo.int/pctdb/en/wo.jsp?IA=CA1993000114&DISPLAY=DESC [6 January 2009] . Read More