Linking the actors and policies throughout the disaster management cycle by "Agreement on Objectives" – a new output-oriented management approach

Current management of disaster risks is often fragmented due to a lack of coordination between involved actors, i.e. civil protection and spatial planning – a phenomenon which is known as the "problem of interplay". This paper presents an output-oriented risk management approach ("parametric governance"). Here, the modality of the achievement of objectives remains in the hands of the given addressees. This implies a shift from a top-down to a more collaborative, process-oriented form of decision-making. The approach has been successfully applied in two hazard cases and three administrative contexts: (a) the City of Dortmund (Germany) facing flash floods, (b) East Attica region (Greece) facing forest fires, and (c) Lazio Region (Italy) also facing forest fires. As proved by the applications of the concept, a dialogue among experts, stakeholders, and decision-makers is indispensable in order to guarantee inclusion of all diverse and competing values, opinions, and claims. Moreover, a structured communication path is needed to meet the requirements of a risk governance process. Finally, a win-win-situation among the involved actors has to be created to reach an agreement on common goals and actions to achieve them in due time

Agreement on objectives as a tool for an effective and efficient governance of risks resulting from extreme events

Obecne zarządzanie ryzykiem jest często podzielone z powodu braku koordynacji między politykami i aktorami wspólnie odpowiedzialnymi w zakresie zarządzania ryzykiem, tj. w zakresie ochrony ludności, planowania przestrzennego i planowania sektorowego. Zjawisko to jest znane jako "problem współdziałania". Takie podejście może spowodować szereg niekorzystnych następstw: luki w tak zwanym łańcuchu Reagowanie-Gotowość-Zapobieganie-Naprawa (który powinien funkcjonować jako kontinuum), minimalną uwagę na profilaktykę, rozwój i wzrost ryzyka zamiast jego łagodzenie, brak synergii między zaangażowanymi stronami, jak również powielane lub nawet rozbieżne środki i finansowanie. Poniższy artykuł przedstawia podejście do zarządzania ryzykiem zorientowane na wynik. Takie podejście umożliwia znalezienie bardziej efektywnych i skutecznych sposobów radzenia sobie z danym ryzykiem, a także jego zmniejszenie za pomocą tak zwanych "umów docelowych". Prezentowane podejście skupia się na współpracy i formie procesu, który jest bardziej zorientowany na wyniki. Podejście zostało z powodzeniem zastosowane w dwóch przypadkach zagrożeń i trzech kontekstach administracyjnych: (a) Miasto Dortmund (Niemcy) w obliczu powodzi gwałtownych, (b) Region Wschodniej Attyki (Grecja) w obliczu pożarów lasów oraz (c) Region Lacjum (Włochy) również na przykładzie pożarów lasów. Poniższy artykuł koncentruje się na przykładzie "Dortmundu" i tu szczególnie na środkach, mających na celu poprawę zdolności reagowania jednostek ochrony ludności (np. straży pożarnej). Ponadto podkreśla on konieczność i znaczenie ochrony ludności jako aktywną część w cyklu zarządzania ryzykiem oraz przejścia do zarządzania ryzykiem, które jest zorientowane na użytkownika końcowego.Current management of disaster risks is often fragmented due to a lack of coordination between policies and actors with joint competence for risk management, i.e. civil protection, spatial planning and sectoral planning - a phenomenon which is known as "problem of interplay". However, disconnected risk relevant policies might cause several adverse repercussions: Breaks in the Response-Preparedness-Prevention-Remediation chain (which should function as a continuum), minimal attention to prevention, risk expansion and growth instead of mitigation, lack of synergies between involved actors as well as duplicated or even diverging measures and funding. The following article presents an output-oriented risk governance approach. It offers a way how to achieve a more effective and efficient way of dealing as well as reducing a given risk by using "Agreement on Objectives". The presented approach focuses on a more collaborative, process-oriented form of decision-making. The approach has been successfully applied in two hazard cases and three administrative contexts: (a) the City of Dortmund (Germany) facing flash floods, (b) East Attica region (Greece) facing forest fires and (c) Lazio Region (Italy) also facing forest fires. The following article will focus on the Case Study "Dortmund" and here especially mitigation measures that aim at improving the response capacity. Furthermore it highlights the necessity and importance of civil protection (e.g. fire brigades) as an active part in the risk management cycle and the shift to an end-user oriented Risk Governance

On-line monitoring of methanol and methyl formate in the exhaust gas of an industrial formaldehyde production plant by a mid-IR gas sensor based on tunable Fabry-Pérot filter technology

On-line monitoring of key chemicals in an industrial production plant ensures economic operation, guarantees the desired product quality, and provides additional in-depth information on the involved chemical processes. For that purpose, rapid, rugged, and flexible measurement systems at reasonable cost are required. Here, we present the application of a flexible mid-IR filtometer for industrial gas sensing. The developed prototype consists of a modulated thermal infrared source, a temperature-controlled gas cell for absorption measurement and an integrated device consisting of a Fabry-Pérot interferometer and a pyroelectric mid-IR detector. The prototype was calibrated in the research laboratory at TU Wien for measuring methanol and methyl formate in the concentration ranges from 660 to 4390 and 747 to 4610 ppmV. Subsequently, the prototype was transferred and installed at the project partner Metadynea Austria GmbH and linked to their Process Control System via a dedicated micro-controller and used for on-line monitoring of the process off-gas. Up to five process streams were sequentially monitored in a fully automated manner. The obtained readings for methanol and methyl formate concentrations provided useful information on the efficiency and correct functioning of the process plant. Of special interest for industry is the now added capability to monitor the start-up phase and process irregularities with high time resolution (5 s).Austrian research funding association (FFG) COMET753761

Experience in System Design for Human-Robot Teaming in Urban Search and Rescue

The paper describes experience with applying a user-centric design methodology in developing systems for human-robot teaming in Urban Search and Rescue. A human-robot team consists of several semi-autonomous robots (rovers/UGVs, microcopter/UAVs), several humans at an off-site command post (mission commander, UGV operators) and one on-site human (UAV operator). This system has been developed in close cooperation with several rescue organizations, and has been deployed in a real-life tunnel accident use case. The human-robot team jointly explores an accident site, communicating using a multi-modal team interface, and spoken dialogue. The paper describes the development of this complex socio-technical system per se, as well as recent experience in evaluating the performance of this system