@article {bnh-6773, title = {Staying on task: a tool to help state and regional-level emergency management teams}, journal = {Australian Journal of Emergency Management}, volume = {35}, year = {2020}, month = {01/2020}, pages = {38-44}, abstract = {

The demands on teams coordinating emergency management at state and regional levels can be considerable. These teams may be supporting multiple incidents and are prioritising resources, liaising with other organisations and managing public interests. Also, during large-scale emergencies, teams will be working under conditions of stress and fatigue, which are known to impair cognitive processes such as memory and decision-making. This paper describes a checklist-based cognitive aid that can be used by teams to help retain their focus on tasks that need to be completed. This checklist is based on a hierarchical task analysis that was developed with emergency management agencies using observations, subject matter expert advice and prototype piloting. The checklist is a simple, straightforward set of prompts that help managers keep track of operational tasks and, thus, helps to reduce mental workload and improve cognition. The checklist can be used as a prompt to help emergency managers address the tasks they have oversight for, as a training and development resource, and as a diagnostic and monitoring tool to assess how well a control centre is operating. This can be assessed in real time and through the after-action review process. The checklist is a flexible tool that can help people better manage emergency response activities.

}, keywords = {decision-making, Emergency management, teams}, url = {https://knowledge.aidr.org.au/resources/ajem-january-2020-staying-on-task-a-tool-to-help-state-and-regional-level-emergency-management-teams/}, author = {Peter Hayes and Christopher Bearman and Mark Thomason and Peter A. Bremner} } @article {bnh-4079, title = {Don{\textquoteright}t just do something, stand there! Mitigating goal seduction in emergency management}, journal = {National Emergency Response}, volume = {29}, year = {2016}, month = {09/2016}, pages = {12-17}, chapter = {12}, abstract = {

Paper presented at the Australian and New Zealand Disaster and Emergency Management Conference, Broadbeach, Gold Coast (QLD), 30-31 May 2016.

}, url = {http://search.informit.com.au/documentSummary;dn=534876517163486;res=IELHEA}, author = {Christopher Bearman and Peter A. Bremner} } @inbook {BF-4302, title = {Firefighter decision making at the local incident and regional/state control levels}, booktitle = {Human Factors Challenges in Emergency Management Enhancing Individual and Team Performance in Fire and Emergency Services}, year = {2014}, publisher = {Ashgate}, organization = {Ashgate}, chapter = {8}, abstract = {This book provides an overview of state-of-the-art research that has been conducted within Australia, funded by the Bushfire Cooperative Research Centre 2006-2010. The chapters source and contextualize their own research practice within the context of the international research literature. Therefore, while the research has occurred within Australia it will be of particular interest to scholars, students and practitioners in a number of other countries, particularly within the United States of America and in Europe. The fire and emergency services is a particularly large industry - in Australia alone it employs 250,000 personnel - yet there is very little by way of published human factors books addressing this sector directly. Emergency events frequently involve problems for which there may be unanticipated consequences and highly interdependent consequential effects. In short, emergency events are not necessarily as containable as may be work in other domains. As Karl Weick once commented, emergency events do not "play by the rules". This means that these research chapters tell us something about a potential future world of work that is highly dynamic, interdependent and for which improvisation and critical thinking and problem-solving are necessary pre-requisites. The discussions about individual and team performance will also be pertinent to others working in similar high-reliability, high-consequence domains. The chapters connect into an integrated body of work about individual and group performance and their limitations. }, isbn = {978-1-4724-0523-4}, url = {http://www.ashgate.com/isbn/9781472405234}, author = {Owen, Christine and Peter A. Bremner} } @article {BF-3748, title = {A day in the life of a volunteer incident commander: Errors, pressures and mitigating strategies}, journal = {Applied Ergonomics}, volume = {44}, year = {2013}, month = {5/2013}, pages = {488 - 495}, abstract = {To meet an identified gap in the literature this paper investigates the tasks that a volunteer incident commander needs to carry out during an incident, the errors that can be made and the way that errors are managed. In addition, pressure from goal seduction and situation aversion were also examined. Volunteer incident commanders participated in a two-part interview consisting of a critical decision method interview and discussions about a hierarchical task analysis constructed by the authors. A SHERPA analysis was conducted to further identify potential errors. The results identified the key tasks, errors with extreme risk, pressures from strong situations and mitigating strategies for errors and pressures. The errors and pressures provide a basic set of issues that need to be managed by both volunteer incident commanders and fire agencies. The mitigating strategies identified here suggest some ways that this can be done. }, issn = {00036870}, doi = {10.1016/j.apergo.2012.10.011}, author = {Christopher Bearman and Peter A. Bremner} }