Hazardous industries in the UK and Europe are under pressure to increase
the transparency and accountability of the ways in which they manage their
hazards and the risks they pose to the population and environment. The
literature has indicated that the field would benefit from a risk-based,
continuous improvement approach to emergency management in hazardous
industry.
The aim of this research was to construct a framework to enable assessment
of the emergency management performance and capability within UK
hazardous industry operators. Continuous improvement models from other
fields were examined, and an established model called the Capability Maturity
Model was selected to form the basis of the framework.
A three-stage data collection methodology was designed to gain an overview
of an organisation's emergency management capability. This methodology
involved reviewing a sample of emergency plans related to UK hazardous
industrial sites and observing eight emergency exercises at major hazard
industrial sites. The third stage was to record the learning capability of the
organisation by observing their feedback processes and interviewing
members of staff were necessary.
Analysis of the resulting data enabled the construction of a set of eight key
processes that define an emergency management system. Using the five-
level structure of the Capability Maturity Model along with the principals of
continuous improvement, an emergency management assessment framework
was constructed.
The assessment framework was successfully tested in a large Local Authority,
using its emergency plan, a major exercise and a follow-up interview to collect
the relevant information. The assessment provided clear details of current
capability and maturity of the emergency management system, giving
structured guidance on weaknesses in specific process areas and more
generally in particular stages of the emergency management system. This
ultimately enabled the Local Authority to focus its improvement efforts,
increasing their efficiency in learning and effectiveness in preparedness and
response
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