Effectiveness of the United Kingdom Emergency Management System - Case Study Example

Name Tutor Title: Emergency preparedness and emergency Institution Introduction The United Kingdom emergency management system has faced significant reforms and challenges in the last two decades due to increasing disasters (United Nations 2008). The possibility of facing disasters such as the 2005 London Bombing raise the issue of the effectiveness of the UK emergency planning arrangements in managing huge disasters and mass casualties. This paper explores key organisations involved in disaster managements, types of agency management structures, elements of potential conflicts and recommendations. Disasters in the UK and emergency organisations Disasters in the United Kingdom range from natural to manmade disasters. The geographical location, climate change, sea level rise and rainfall intensity makes it technically and economically impossible to prevent all natural disasters such as flooding, severe storms, as well as gales, heavy snow, heat waves, drought and fires (Sahin, Kapucu, and Unlu, 2008). The 2007 floods, for instance, destroyed more than 55,000 properties, killed 13 people, left 350,000 people with no water access (Pitt, 2008). Today, about 5 million people are living in flood risk areas in England and Wales. Inland regions experience severe storms and guts. Also, heat waves, droughts, global warming present challenges to UK residents. Catastrophic transportation fatalities, air crash accidents, raid road, and sea transportation fatalities call for effective disaster management. In the last decade, riots, and protests incidents result in significant impacts and damages. Emergency recovery involves the process of rebuilding, restoring, and rehabilitating the community after a disaster (United Nations 2008). Recovery involves humanitarian, economic, infrastructure, and environmental aspects that should be rebuilt and restored. Emergency organisations begin the recovery process with the emergency response and continue for days or even months to ensure effective and holistic recovery. Establishing the recovery process as soon as possible minimizes the damage at the scene of the disaster. Red Cross is among the top organisation helping people to deal with emergencies. The British Red Cross organization partners with various emergency organisations to provide swift and effective support during disasters (BritishRedCross 2016). Such organization includes Tesco and Land Rover. During major disasters, Red Cross volunteers access food and other essential supplies from Tesco Stores to help the affected communities in the United Kingdom. The Land rover provides vehicles equipped with a defibrillator to Red Cross. Also, during winter crisis, the Land Rover helps the organisation with extra vehicles. Red Cross through their official web site provides information to the community on how to deal with several emergencies such as drought, fire, flooding, heat wave, thunderstorms, blackouts, and swine flu and terror attacks. The United Kingdom is vulnerable to flooding with several flooding disasters in the past such as Yorkshire and Sheffield floods which resulted in the destruction of property. When it comes to emergency preparedness, Red Cross provides the community with information on the measures to apply before flooding. People are advised to check online or call flood line to determine if they live in flood-prone areas (BritishRedCross 2016). The community should tune in t local radio and television to get news updates. It’s necessary to prepare an emergency kit that comprises emergency numbers, insurance policy, first aid kit and torch. People living in flood-prone areas should pack essential items needed for evacuation such as medication, clothing, and toiletries. People should avoid contact with flood water; keep children away from flood water. After the floods, people should avoid using electrical appliances or gas until they are examined for safety purposes (BritishRedCross 2016). After the occurrence of a disaster, emergency organisations establish communication and management command procedures on how to deal with the emergency situation (Carter 2008). Depending on the scope of the disaster, the response can be undertaken by one emergency agency or coordinated by several agencies. Emergency agencies apply effective communication measures. They communicate and inform the community about the emergencies and safety measures to utilize during the emergency process. Other Emergency organisations include; The Adventists community services provide clothing, bedding, and food products. Also, offer counselling and participate in disaster child care activities. The Lutheran Disaster Response provides emergency preparedness, response, and recovery. Additionally, they provide disaster counselling and support groups. The world vision provides volunteers, recovery activities and distribution of donated goods during emergencies The Disaster Policy The increasing risk emergencies in the UK resulted in the Civil Defence Act of 1948 which sought to reduce causalities in Cold War (Sahin, Kapucu, and Unlu 2008). Since then, policies and guidelines for emergency management have continued to evolve. The Civil Defence in Peacetime Act of 1986 amended the existing system and recognised central and local government responsibility strategy (Sahin, Kapucu, and Unlu 2008). The numerous cases involving civil disasters led to the review of the current emergency management system in 1989 and 1991. The review process of emergency response policies included local level and central focus response policies and framework. The framework would be utilized in emergency preparedness and response at national, regional and local level. In 2001, terrorism disaster concerns led to establishment of effective disaster response framework that resulted in structural changes and reformations. The Civil Contingencies Act of 2004 provided a framework for civil protection in the United Kingdom and replaced and updated Civil Defence and Emergency Power legislations (Sahin, Kapucu, and Unlu 2008). The 2004 CCA act comprises two parts. Part 1 entails regulations, guidance, clear goals and responsibilities for all the emergency organisations involved at the local level. It divided local responders into several sections based on their specific roles and skills. (Sahin, Kapucu, and Unlu 2008). Emergencies Management structures The CCA defined an emergency "as a situation or series of events that threatens or causes serious damage to human welfare, the environment, or security in the UK” (Cabinet Office 2005:p.1). The United Kingdom's civil protection and disaster response management systems have undergone several reforms. However, the general structure of emergency management has remained constant with the central government taking up the role of coordinator and giving guidance. The local agencies and governments control and respond to emergencies (O'Brien and Read 2005). The Emergency management structure in the United Kingdom can be described as decentralized. Disasters are managed at the local level without involving the Central Government depending on the complexity of the disaster (Civil Contingencies Secretariat 2009a). Local agencies are the first to arrive at the disaster scene. One of the principal responder during local disasters is the police. The Police Gold Commander is lead by strategic coordination Group which includes senior representatives and executives personnel from local organizations. The SCG collaborates with COBR through Government Liaison Officer (Cabinet Office 2005). During critical emergencies, the Central Government provides necessary support and coordination (Civil Contingencies Secretariat 2009a). Additionally, the SCG interacts with the local community and other stakeholders to evaluate the needs and determine the recovery process. Emergency organisation in the UK use dynamic recovery processes that respond to the changing needs of the communities affected by the disaster. According to the UK cabinet office (2005), it’s essential to debrief after the recovery process and lesson learnt applied to the future planning and recovery efforts. The management of local multi-agency response and recovery is guided by established national framework. The framework enables the responding agencies to understand their roles and responsibilities during the response and recovery process. The framework includes three tiers; Bronze level- Operational level, Silver Level- tactical level and Gold level-strategic level (Cabinet Office 2009a). Bronze level involves responders and agencies at the disaster scene to collaborate and coordinate so as to maintain integrated efforts. Bronze level responders take immediate action and provide support in particular tasks. Silver level maximizes effectiveness by ensuring that activities taken by bronze level are coordinated and integrated. The Silver commanders create incident command point positioned near the disaster scene (Cabinet Office 2009a). At Gold level, the Strategic Coordinating Group is created to unite golden commanders from suitable organizations and agencies. The SCG develop framework and policy to guide silver level. In most cases, the police lead the SCG. But other agencies may lead depending on the kind and complexity of the emergencies. Incident command system ICS provides tools for command, control, and coordination of emergency response and facilitates coordination of the efforts of agencies involved in the recovery process (Arbuthnot 2005). The ICS employs principles that enhance efficiency and effectiveness in emergency response. The ICS is based on five key components; command, finance, logistics, operations, and planning (HM Government 2008). The incident command system is recognised for its safety and efficiency for managing emergency operations. The management structure provides the major elements of effective incident command in areas such as organisation on the incident Ground, Incident risk management, and command competence. The organisation on the incident ground allows the commander to work, organise and use resources at an incident (Arbuthnot 2005). The incident risk management facilitates identification of hazards, evaluation of risks and implementation of reasonable control measures before accessing an emergency area. Command competence outlines the skills and knowledge required by an Incident Commander and the significance of possessing such skills and knowledge (HM Government 2008). Incident Management Structure Emergency organisation in the United Kingdom use IMS scalable tools to provide a basic approach to emergency response. In most cases, IMS are applied by first responders at the tactical and operational level to serve and delegate decisions. The emergency organisations use IMS to set up clear responsibility and provide a concise framework to help responders conduct effective emergency response (Sahin, Kapucu, and Unlu, 2008). IMS provides a framework to help the decision-making process such as procedures to be used by responders before, during and after the disaster. The key principles of IMS are to ensure availability of resources for every emergency situation such as routine emergency and community-wide disaster. The structure improves the ability to rapidly and effectively initiate emergency recovery procedures. Emergency organizations using the IMS structure manage disasters using trained and well-equipped responders (Sahin, Kapucu, and Unlu, 2008). These responders stay on duty every day responding to all incoming calls. In Terror attacks, IMS approach minimizes the chances of untrained and unprotected responders from accessing the disaster scene. The approach reduces casualties in responders. The IMIS is a recognised management structure that gives room for expansion to meet situational demands. There is only one incident commander at the disaster scene. The role of the incident commander can be undertaken by any emergency responder. However, in practice, the most senior officer to arrive at the scene takes the role of the IC. It’s possible for the command to be transferred to the more senior officers as they arrive at the disaster scene. The management structure starts with the assumption of the command and the designation of specialized operational units to control the risks at the scene (Sahin, Kapucu, and Unlu, 2008). Conflicts Management Conflicts can be described as opposing goals, needs, external and internal demands (Rahim 2001). Conflicts are likely to occur depending on how emergency agencies define and use power. During emergencies such as flooding and terror attacks, the resources in terms of money donated by emergency agencies can provoke conflicts. In the United Kingdom, politicians can attempt to control the distribution of aid materials and resources to benefit their supporters (Beheshtifar 2013.p.403). Conflict may occur due to different values between the different agencies and governments involved in the emergency management structures (Beheshtifar 2013.p.403). Different values include beliefs, priorities, and principles regarding response and recovery procedures which can be complex to resolve. The agencies involved in the emergency response may differ on the type of action to apply during the disaster. Different values between the emergency agencies team result in people working towards different objectives, with different intentions and different outcomes. This damages work relationships, productivity, job satisfaction, and creative potential when resolving disasters (Beheshtifar 2013.p.403). The ability to communicate has a vast impact on command, control, and coordination during emergency response. Failure to communicate well can result in failure of the response efforts (Moore 2008). Huge disasters such as flooding and earthquake can destroy communication infrastructures. For instance, the Hurricane Katrina destroyed the main communication infrastructure within the Gulf Coast region. Destruction of communication equipment impacts the emergency management team due to lack of a reliable network to coordinate rescue procedures. Most of the communication conflicts involve inter-agency information sharing. The communication equipment may be available, but people may hesitate to communicate with other people outside their emergency organization (Moore 2008). Volunteers and donated resources present a challenge to incident management. Many resources go underutilized due to ineffective tracking systems for these resources (Moore 2008). Many organisations lack the capacity to identify or connect to the incident management system due to lack of knowledge, and the ICS is complex and hard to navigate. Emergency agencies tend to have essential skills but lack the capacity to support themselves with resources such as food, water, fuel, and shelter. Additionally, it’s hard to verify the qualifications of volunteers who respond to the emergency. There is no simple standard technique to confirm the credentials and affiliation of volunteers. Also, tracking and maintaining accountability of volunteers’ status is complex (Moore 2008). Recommendation The management structure should have the capacity to expand in order to deal with disasters. The management structure should be flexible enough to expand and accommodate the increasing demands of the disaster response (Moore 2008). The emergency management structures should address inadequate emergency evaluation, poorly coordinated planning, lack of coordinated resource allocation, inadequate communications at the emergency scene. The emergency organisations should be committed to operate the communication systems, and exercise strict discipline to use the system appropriately. It’s important to set up robust contingency plans on how to communicate in the event of technology failures during an emergency response. Creating a communication plan can help the emergency organisations respond promptly, appropriately and confidently during the emergency that will take hours or days to control. The emergency management structure should ensure continuous monitoring of the use of authority and power during the implementation of the emergency plans. This prevents abuse of power and authority and ensures justification of coercive measures applied under the circumstances. The emergency management should establish clear and transparent management structure to ensure all interest groups are represented in a transparent way. The emergency committee should implement robust transparency and accountability mechanisms like complaints processes to mitigate potential abuse of power (Moore 2008). Also, continuous monitoring measures the effectiveness of the emergency plans and facilitates improvements in the future. Conclusion Increasing natural and manmade disasters in the UK create the need for an effective emergency management system. The decentralized system has enabled the UK to establish an effective emergency preparedness and support. The Central government, local authorities and emergency organisations play a vital role by collaborating and establishing emergency management framework. However, improvements need to concentrate on reducing conflicts during the management process. References Arbuthnot, K 2005, multi-Agency Incident Command in the UK: International Workshop on Emergency Response and Rescue, Taipei, Republic of China. Beheshtifar, M 2013, interpersonal conflict, a substantial factor to organisational failure. 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