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that when they’re not there our systems
break down rather quickly, they’re not
very resilient at all, and we might be
more vulnerable than we realise.
When standards fail to address the
vulnerabilities inherent to the system
new avenues need to be explored
for managing crisis. Borodzicz
recommends that generic training
for crisis management should teach
teams to respond more flexibly during
crisis events, by encouraging them to
develop and run their own exercises for
example.
Borodzicz argues, ‘the majority of the
work is done by trainer, not trainee’
and, ‘…the players should become the
exercise designers’. Trainees would
design specific scenarios where the
rules don’t work. ‘If the rules work it’s
not a crisis exercise, it’s an emergency
response exercise. This forces them
to find inventive ways of resolving
the problem. I believe that’s a really
effective way of building capability’.
he says.
Going beyond the rules in order to
manage crisis doesn’t mean that people
should not work to prevent risk − yet
preparations should be made for when
risk management fails.
According to Borodzicz, the protocols or
standards relied upon for emergencies
are not appropriate for resolving a crisis.
In fact, the rules in place could actually
have contributed to or caused the crisis
to begin with, or may make us even more
vulnerable if they fail.
While reliance on technological systems
in modern society has led to substantial
improvements in quality of life, in
some cases they have exposed human
populations to new vulnerabilities. This
is well-illustrated by transport systems
that have become highly sophisticated,
but can easily fail if exposed to the
‘wrong’ hazard. In many cases all that
is needed is a volcanic ash cloud or
in the UK particularly, a snow storm,
and suddenly the systems in place are
severely hampered or could fail to operate
altogether. Borodzicz gives the example of
communication infrastructure:
In terms of communication, we take it for
granted that communication facilities are
there and we can just pick them up and
use them. And