It Is Checklist Time Again

We routinely revise our operational checklists when there are changes to how The Virtual Emergency Operations Center operates or to our operational procedures.  Why bother?  After all, with apologies to the bandidos in the classic Western comedy Blazing Saddles, "Checklists, we don't need no stinking Checklists!"

But the reality is that we actually do need checklists.  Operations under the pressure of disaster conditions must be high reliability.  Lost information, bad choices, or befuddled process all have real consequences in delayed or just plain wrong responses to immediate needs.  Regardless of your level of experience, the pressure of the event and the complexity of response will cause you to miss obvious steps if all you have to rely on is your memory of how to do it right.

This is a lesson people who do things that require high reliability have learned.  Pilots, ranging from private pilots to pilots who fly commercial and military aircraft, have checklists to follow for every stage of flight.  Military command center staffs and missile launch crews have checklists to make sure that they can quickly do their jobs in a crisis.  Increasingly medical facilities use checklists for procedures that have a high potential for bad outcomes if the right steps in treatment are not taken in the right order.  The list of checklist users is endless.

Operating an online emergency operations center supporting several organizations is a complex task.  When we operate with only a watch officer the job is single track, but still complex with many tasks to be done and an optimal order in which to do them.  In a big event, with multiple staff members on duty, the checklists help ensure not only that all tasks are completed, but also that they are coordinated between the staff members.

We just completed revision of our online checklists to the new 5 October 2014 edition.  It was time well spent to ensure that we can do the best possible job of supporting other voluntary organizations with effective disaster information management.