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Qualifying the UK’s response
A successful response to large scale emergencies depends on the interoperability of the many responder agencies involved. Understanding the UK’s capabilities in this field is just one of the subjects on the remit of the Royal United Services Institute’s new Research Analyst.
An adequate response to any large-scale, multi-agency emergency, be it a terrorist attack, flooding, a chemical accident or foot-and-mouth disease, often depends on the efficiency of the communications network and the ability of all the agencies and organisations involved in the response to communicate with one another – both technologically and organisationally.
This is something that the Homeland Security and Resilience Department of the Royal United Services Institute has long since recognised. Communications interoperability was a major issue in the US emergency services’ response to the terrorist attacks of 11 September 2001, and has been identified as a major concern in UK emergencies as diverse as the 1987 King’s Cross underground fire, the 1989 Hillsborough football disaster and the 7 July 2005 bombings on the London transport system.
While the situation does improve with each emergency, there is still a need to analyse subsequent responses and to keep research into new technologies high on the agendas of both the public and private sectors.
Therefore, six years after establishing its Homeland Security and Resilience Department, the Royal United Services has formalised its research into emergency response and crisis management with the creation of a new research position: Research Analyst, Emergency Management.
The establishment of the post is the culmination of 18 months work into emergency response issues by Jennifer Cole, who joined RUSI in January 2007 as editor of its monthly publication Homeland Security and Resilience Monitor, with research responsibilities for annual workshops on Command and Control and Emergency Response. Cole’s research interests have since expanded to include the Role of the Media in Emergency Response and the role of the third sector in facilitating and promoting community resilience. The new job title of Research Analyst, Emergency Management, formalises this research aspect of her role and gives a clear point of contact within the Homeland Security and Resilience Department for external organisations that are keen to engage with RUSI.
Since joining RUSI, Cole has carried out research into such diverse subject areas as the co-ordination and management of multi-agency response; volunteer integration into emergency response; and multi-agency communication during emergencies. In particular, during analysis of last summer’s floods, Cole looked at the management and communication of requests for mutual aid, and the integration of multiple agencies such as the Fire and Rescue Service and the Royal National Lifeboat Institute into the inland flood rescue operations, including how this was co-ordinated through operations centres such as the National Flood Command Centre set up by the Fire and Rescue Service in Worcestershire and the RNLI’s central information room in Poole. During this time, Cole has also attended and observed a number of inter-agency emergency planning exercises.
As this side of RUSI’s research is relatively new, it is not as well known as some of Institute’s work into more military subjects but it is a significant and growing area of interest. RUSI is keen to use the establishment of the new Research Analyst post to reach and engage with members of the emergency response community who may not yet be aware of the institute or its relevance to them.
As part of its efforts to improve RUSI’s profile amongst the emergency response community, the institute will be exhibiting at the Emergency Services Show in Stoneleigh Park, Coventry on 19 and 20 November. This will give responders and suppliers the chance to speak with Jennifer, discuss emergency response issues and learn more about the institute’s research programmes.
