Emergency Management

Emergency management has ancient roots. Early hieroglyphics depict cavemen trying to deal with disasters. As long as there have been disasters, individuals and communities have tried to do something about them; however, organised attempts at dealing with disasters did not occur until much later in modern history.

One of the first organised attempts to improve emergency preparedness dates back to the efforts of Benjamin Franklin (1736). Franklin led the Union Fire Company, a group of volunteer

fire fighters, to develop a model of best practice for dealing with fires. This model of best practice was subsequently adopted by numerous Philadelphia fire companies.

More recent global catastrophes, such as the leak of methyl isocyanate from Union Carbide’s plant in Bhopal India (1984) resulting in over 3,000 deaths and the explosion in reactor four of the Chernobyl nuclear power plant in Russia (1986) have impacted on attitudes to Emergency Management. Consequently, there has been a substantial global increase in the professional preparation for, and mitigation of, business disruptions and large-scale emergencies, crises, and disasters. Since the turn of the century, new legislation and related guidance has been published in many countries. These include the UK, Europe, the USA, Australia, New Zealand, Canada, as well as all of the Middle Eastern countries.

The Four Phases of Emergency Management

Since World War II emergency management has focused primarily on preparedness. Often this involved preparing for enemy attack. Community preparedness for all disasters requires identifying resources and expertise in advance, and planning how these can be used in a disaster. However, preparedness is only one phase of emergency management. Current thinking defines four phases of emergency management: mitigation, preparedness, response, and recovery.

Mitigation

Mitigation activities take place both before and after events and are designed to prevent future emergencies or minimise their effect.

Preparedness

Preparedness events take place before an emergency and may include plans or preparations made to save lives and help response and rescue operations.

Response

Response activities take place during an emergency and include actions taken to save lives and prevent further property damage. Response is putting your preparedness plans into action.

Recovery

Recovery activities take place after an emergency. These include actions taken to return to a normal or an even safer situation following an emergency.

UCLan PROTECT Shaping the Future of Emergency and Crisis Management

The University of Central Lancashire (UCLan) in Preston, UK, launched UCLan PROTECT in 2017. UCLan PROTECT is a new offering within the university that builds on our outstanding reputation in providing high quality courses including Fire Safety Management, Fire Investigation, Cyber Security, Counter Terrorism, Paramedic Practice, and Policing and Criminal Investigation. The team is headed by Patrick Cunningham; who is a former Chairman of the UK Emergency Planning Society. He led the Society’s input into discussions with the Home Office, Cabinet Office, and Office of the Deputy Prime Minister with regard to the development of the UK’s Civil Contingencies Bill. Other members of the team bring significant practitioner experience gained in a wide range of environments including the emergency services, local authorities, health authorities, the nuclear industry, high hazard industries COMAH sites, utilities, the military, port and aviation authorities, and academia.

UCLan PROTECT offers a range of new courses and consultancy services covering all four phases of emergency management. The aim is to provide the very best in emergency management training and business continuity enhancement. PROTECT is unique in its ability to provide an extensive range of courses, from one-day short courses delivered at your own premises, through to Bachelors and postgraduate degree courses and degree level apprenticeships. The course portfolio encompasses a holistic range of products designed to provide real-life training to emergency managers and government officials in a diverse range of industries and countries.

Despite its short life span PROTECT has already started to develop both a National and International reputation and client base. Successful training and exercise consultancy solutions delivered in the UK include many high profile organisations such as Tata Steel, Valero and National Nuclear Laboratories; while overseas clients include BAPCO (Bahrain), Oiltanking Star Energy (UAE), and QAPCO (Qatar).

The portfolio of short courses, ranging from 2 days to 5 days, which can be delivered in any part of the Gulf includes but are not limited to the following:

Working at the Strategic Level of Emergency Management
Working at the Tactical Level of Emergency Management
Working at the Tactical and Strategic level of Emergency response
Creation of Emergency Plans
Creation of Business Continuity Plans
Risk Management for Resilience Professionals

UCLan PROTECT aims to deliver its MSc in Emergency Management in High Hazard Industries in Bahrain. Working in conjunction with BAPCO it is anticipated that this course will be available early in 2019. The MSc will be delivered by part time study and is aimed at the many people who now have a professional role in this subject area, particularly in the nuclear, petrochemical, oil refinery, pipeline, ports and aviation industries. The course will also appeal to professionals in the public services (Police, Fire, Military, Health, Government, etc) who have identified high hazard sites which may impact upon their communities if an incident occurs on these sites. The course is designed to enhance the knowledge and career prospects of resilience professionals through the application of technical expertise to practical, business and managerial situations. Lectures, seminars and tutorials are designed to develop understanding, implementation and response to rapidly evolving policies, interventions, market opportunities, and of course to disruptions and extraordinary incidents. Modules in the programme include:

Emergency Planning Skills
Emergency Preparedness
Command Control and Coordination
Emergency Response
Psychological Aspects of Emergencies
Recovery from Emergencies and Disruptions

In addition to providing subject specific knowledge the course aims to deliver a breadth of professional development for emergency managers and related professionals by providing:

A critical approach to theories, techniques and methods in application to emergency management. This will provide an applied focus for postgraduate study with a strong professional and industrial orientation.
A cross-disciplinary perspective on contemporary emergency management issues and processes, including emergency preparedness, response, recovery and psychological aspects of emergencies.
A variety of approaches regarding how people and organisations adopt emergency management legislation in their decision-making
Enhanced employability and increased ability to liaise effectively with those with roles in emergency management.
The opportunity to develop their critical understanding of emergency management and its constituent processes from both a theoretical and practical perspective.
Students with a variety of approaches regarding how to involve people in decision-making.

University of Central Lancashire: A World Class Reputation

In 2010 UCLan became the first UK modern university to appear in the QS World University Rankings. In 2015 the Centre for World University Rankings placed UCLan in the top 3.8 percent of all worldwide universities, highlighting the progress the institution had made in providing students with real-world learning experiences and reflecting the institution’s broad pool of academic talent. The University has a long and distinguished history of international collaboration and has strategic partners in Mauritius and Hebei (China). UCLan has continually developed collaborative partnerships around the globe such as in Oman, Qatar, Hong Kong, Sri Lanka, Singapore, Egypt and across Europe, amongst others, as well as having established the first British University in Cyprus.

For more information, go to www.uclan.ac.uk or mwknowles@uclan.ac.uk