... and we really should not. In running an emergency operations center there is often a baseline assumption that the people staffing the facility know how to do certain basic things. Anyone can make a good log entry or can complete a formatted report or follow an emergency operations plan, as examples. But experience suggests that clearly is not true.
A number of years ago, I was one of the search mission coordinators on a search for a missing aircraft en route from Florida to points north. We flew hundreds of search aircraft sorties low level in dangerous summer weather looking for the aircraft, at some risk and considerable cost over a two week period. And the last day we had planned to search, one of our aircrews made the find. As we were cleaning up the room we had used to coordinate search operations, we found a torn piece of a legal pad with information on it from a witness that pinpointed the crash within 2 miles on a several hundred miles long flight path. It had slipped down behind a desk. A scribbled date and time indicated that this information was received on the first day of the search. Someone clearly did not know how to manage witness reports and ensure that the information entered the system.
And a number of years ago, I was serving as an observer for a county level disaster exercise. The Fire Battalion Chief and Emergency Medical Services Captain (both of whom I knew to be highly competent leaders on scene) staffing the emergency services position were presented with a problem. The dialog went something like this:
Fire - "I don't know what to do about this, what do you think we should do ...?"
EMS - "I don't know either, what do you think?"
Fire - "I just don't know, maybe we ought to call the Chief"
EMS - "yes, that makes sense, lets call the chief."
Me, trying to be helpful - "well what does the plan say to do in cases like this?"
Fire - "what plan?"
EMS - "a plan? There is a plan?"
Me, trying to control myself, and pointing to the red, three ring binder, a foot and a half in front of them, clearly labeled EMERGENCY OPERATIONS PLAN in very large white letters - "well that binder has PLAN on it, so maybe that will help ..."
Fire and EMS pull the plan towards themselves and open the binder.
Fire - "there is a lot of stuff in here."
EMS - "yeah, I can't figure out where to look."
Me, trying to be helpful - "well I can see that there is a tab there that says ANNEX K. EMERGENCY MEDICAL SERVICES ... maybe there is something in there."
Fire, opening up Annex K - "boy, there sure are a lot of words in here."
EMS - "yeah, there are too many words, we better call the chief and ask him what he wants us to do."
Fire, dialing the chief's number - "yeah, the chief will know what to do."
Me, pulling the last handful of hair out of my head, and writing furiously on the comment sheet ...
This is not a ding on either fire or emergency medical services personnel. It could have been anyone. In years of working in emergency operations centers, I have seen very few staff members actually open up a plan and apply the planning to their problem.
We assume that people can do a wide variety of tasks. And these tasks are important. In the first case, doing the job correctly in establishing a log and recording the witness information in it, could have saved 13 days of flying search aircraft sortie after search aircraft sortie. In the second not knowing what to do or where to find guidance delayed the response. In a real event, with the chief unavailable, what would the two officers have done?
The important lesson is that training is important, but a lot of training misses the mark. The search staffs were trained and all were certified in their jobs. The fire and EMS officers were very well trained in their day to day jobs. But no one had sat down, put pencil to paper, and sketched out exactly what unimportant little details they needed to know to be competent in the command/coordination center environment. Something as simple as writing a good log entry takes ability and knowledge. So look for the small details, train on those, and your performance will improve.
