@conference {bnh-3873, title = {Identifying lessons from exercising and training for emergency management decision-making}, booktitle = {AFAC17}, year = {2017}, month = {09/2017}, publisher = {Bushfire and Natural Hazards CRC}, organization = {Bushfire and Natural Hazards CRC}, address = {Sydney}, abstract = {

Decision-making is a skill that permeates every emergency event and every level of emergency and disaster management. \ The decision environment is often complex and uncertain, with challenging physiological contexts such as fatigue, and major consequence for poor decisions. This makes for a fertile ground for decision scholars, and significant opportunities to support the continual improvement of the management system. Emergency management organisations maintain, assess, and improve the quality of decisions in a number of ways. \ These include exercising teams in simulated emergency events and training focused on improving skills and knowledge.\ 

We report on a series of training and exercising related studies that specifically examined this area. \ Study One included observation and surveying participants following multiple exercises in a range of end-user organisations. \ Study Two included detailed analysis of the set of decisions made by a commander during a Search and Rescue deployment to evaluate the core skills utilised. Study Three involved a training intervention {\textendash} a one day decision- making course where participants were provided with both knowledge and tools to assist them in their decision-making.

Our results identify several consistent themes in terms of where participants perceive their organisations to be performing well, and several lessons are identified that can lead to improvements in decision-making. \ 

Finally, we describe how the BNHCRC Research project {\textquoteleft}Practical Decision- Tools for Improved Decision-making in Complex Situations{\textquoteright} is building and testing cognitive decision tools based on these results.\ 

}, author = {Brooks, B and Steve Curnin and Christopher Bearman and Owen, Christine} }