The October edition of the Australian Journal of Emergency Management (AJEM) showcases research outcomes and researchers associated with Natural Hazards Research Australia (the Centre), including three articles outlining research findings from the Enhancing decision making in emergency management project.
The project team and authors include A/Prof Chris Bearman (Central Queensland University, University of Central Lancashire, Natural Hazards Research Australia), Dr Peter Hayes (Central Queensland University, Natural Hazards Research Australia), Adj Prof Jim McLennan (La Trobe University, Natural Hazards Research Australia), Dr Greg Penney (Charles Sturt University, Fire and Rescue New South Wales, Natural Hazards Research Australia), Dr Philip C. Butler (Cardiff University, Birkdiff Human Factors, Natural Hazards Research Australia) and Prof Rhona Flin (Robert Gordon University, Natural Hazards Research Australia).
The challenges of decision-making in emergency management, the cognitive aids people use and the decision-making training they receive introduces three literature review papers that together examine the current practice, training and challenges of decision making in emergency management.
A review of cognitive aids and their application to emergency management in Australia explores the use of cognitive aids and how existing knowledge regarding the use of cognitive aids from other industries may be translated to emergency management.
Decision making in disasters and major crises faced by emergency services globally is a difficult combination of science and art to master. To assist decision-makers in these environments, several cognitive aids have been developed and subsequently adopted by individuals and organisations alike. However, these aids vary according to their intent and the context in which they are intended to be applied.
An iterative literature review of academic and industry material related to cognitive aids during incident and crisis response across a broad range of international emergency service and other industries within the last 20 years was completed.
The review found that ultimately, cognitive aids are not a silver bullet when it comes to decision-making in the emergency management context. The correct tool (that is correctly designed) must be correctly applied by trained and competent end users. The Australian emergency management sector may benefit from future research exploring how these existing tools adhere to the good practice principles identified in this study.
Emergency management decision-making in a changing world: 3 key challenges explores some of the challenges faced by emergency management decision-makers through a literature review of 70 papers identified from SCOPUS and EBSCO database searches.
Managing emergencies is taxing for individuals due to the stress of making decisions in dangerous, high-stakes and time-constrained environments. These complex, dynamic environments also make it difficult to coordinate as other responders perform different roles that may have conflicting goals. This study explored some of the challenges faced by emergency management decision-makers through a literature review of 70 papers identified from SCOPUS and EBSCO database searches.
Three major challenges for emergency management were identified: stress and fatigue, interoperability and ethical decision-making. Each of these challenges is examined to explore their nature and how they are likely to evolve in the future. This paper provides helpful advice on how to mitigate these challenges and argues that to better meet these challenges, emergency services organisations need to develop and maintain appropriate doctrine and training, develop a supportive organisational culture and effectively learn the lessons of previous critical incidents.
The challenges of research utilisation and the risks of collaborative research
This report was authored by members of the Predictions in public: understanding the design, communication and dissemination of predictive maps to the public project team, Chloe Begg, Angela Gardner, Amy Griffin, Paula Dootson, Erica Kuligowski and Timothy Neale. It discusses the challenges of research translation and utilisation and considers the risks of collaboration, as well as reflecting on the way collaboration between researchers and practitioners can achieve robust scientific contributions, as well as relevant and useful practical outcomes.
Translating and using research in emergency management policy and practice is challenging. It requires time and collaboration between researchers and practitioners. While it is assumed that working collaboratively will lead to better outcomes than working in silos, clear evidence and guidance on how to achieve successful collaboration is lacking.
Read the October edition of AJEM.