Planning in Pictures — the future of critical incident planning and response
Planning in Pictures — the future of critical incident planning and response
By Keith Germain , COO , Critical Response Group , Inc .
Scan the reports , articles , and official statements in the wake of an active shooter or mass casualty incident , and you ’ ll see the same observations and statements show up again and again . Looking at just a pair of airport shootings ( one in Los Angeles , the other in Fort Lauderdale ) yields the following parallel observations and admissions : “ hampered by poor communication and a lack of coordination between agencies ,” “ problems that contributed to a chaotic evacuation and delays reaching victims ,” “ deputies were unfamiliar with the airport ’ s layout , which caused delays responding ,” “ the aviation department denied access to airport blueprints to SWAT teams trying to sweep and secure the terminals ,” “ officers arriving at the airport didn ’ t know where to go .”
If you continue to dive into the myriad of post-incident reports in the wake of mass casualty incidents in the United States , you ’ ll quickly notice the frequency with which we continue to experience these problems stemming from the lack of a common language and lack of spatial awareness .
The reason lies in the inherent difficulty in trying to use text-based plans in the time-compressed chaos of an actual incident . From the days of Columbine , virtually every industry , profession , and institution has endeavored to develop and promulgate emergency action plans . Many highly-skilled and well-intentioned professionals have put their efforts and energy into developing effective plans . Unfortunately , those plans typically reside in dustcovered three-ring binders on a bookshelf ( or the modern digital equivalent ) in the form of thousands upon thousands of words . In that time-compressed space surrounding an actual incident , these text-based plans predictably fail to be put into action based on the following challenges :
• When an incident occurs , can you locate your binder or digital equivalent in a timely manner ?
• If you find it , can you search through the hundreds of pages to find the specific information you need ?
• If you can find the information you need , can you disseminate it to the ever-growing number of emergency responders from multiple jurisdictions who are descending upon the scene ?
• If you can beat the odds and locate your plan , the page within the plan , and disseminate it to the intended recipients — can they read , understand , and communicate off of the plan in time to mitigate and minimize the casualties ?
Objectively evaluating those questions brings to light an unrelenting truth : In order for a plan to be real it must be both accessible and understandable . Accessible means having the ability to easily get the plan into the hands
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