As a crisis and emergency manager, business as usual in a typical work day consists of conducting training, building a response team and developing drills, 其他职责. But life changes dramatically when an serious incident happens, and plays out over an extended period. I am often struck by how different that new reality becomes. 工作时间长, the change in eating and the strain on family life all become part of this new reality.
That's why it's important for emergency planners and managers to support their teams during an incident response. An incident's impact on responders' lives can be dramatic and often not well-considered in planning. As the outcomes of a fire or a spill worsen and further affect the community, 同事, 还有环境, the response team can become absorbed in their focus and motivation to stay with the problem, 这是工作的一部分. Attending to one's own needs just isn't natural in these cases.
Working long hours in an intense environment is physically and emotionally exhausting. Moreover, responding to an incident can be a traumatic experience for team members. 几年前, I responded to an incident involving a fatality shortly after losing a close family member, which triggered me emotionally. Experiencing a response that hit close to home while working long hours was daunting.
你能帮什么忙? 根据我的经验, I found it very helpful when the command center offered regular support to help me get through the response rather than expecting me to rely solely on myself. Command center staff can cap the number of hours that responders work and encourage fellow responders to check in with each other and observe. It's also important to make sure the team receives adequate and nutritious food and water and that medicine for basic first aid, 头痛, 或者可以缓解疼痛.
最终, having that support goes a long way toward reducing staff turnover, maintaining decision-making ability, 防止职业倦怠. 在我接下来的帖子中, I'll discuss some additional tips on how to support responders, including how digital solutions like Jensen Hughes SMARTPLAN™ can help streamline your organization’s response planning.
