PM40787580
DISASTER Volume 2 • Issue 2 • Summer 2008
COMMUNITIES SPEARHEAD PREPAREDNESS EFFORTS
canada IN CONVERSATION WITH CCEP’S ADRIAN GORDON RECOVERY IN THE AFTERMATH
BUSINESS RESILIENCY Putting the right plan in place Canadian Centre for Emergency Preparedness
THE OFFICIAL PUBLICATION OF THE CANADIAN CENTRE FOR EMERGENCY PREPAREDNESS WWW.CCEP.CA
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w w w. d r i . c a
CONTENTS
contents 8 14
22 NEWS & UPDATES
FEATURES
4
8
President’s Message
6
OAEM workshops a success
6
IAEM holds 3rd AGM
7
Events
May 2008
It takes a village
19
Many communities are stepping up to the plate with innovative preparedness efforts By Natalia A. Feduschak
By Adrian Gordon
14
When response is not enough Businesses need to embrace a resilient approach long before disaster strikes By Neil Ellis & Kathryn Berry
CCEP leads the way Adrian Gordon comments on the Centre’s work and the evolution of disaster management in Canada By Roma Ihnatowycz
22 Putting people first Focusing on a company’s workforce should take on more importance in business continuity processes By Michael Tarrant
26
Index to Advertisers
DISASTER management canada
3
PRESIDENT’S MESSAGE DISASTER canada 860 Harrington Court, Suite 211 Burlington, ON Canada L7N 3N4 Tel: 905.331.2552 Toll Free: 866.559.2237 Fax: 905.331.1641 www.ccep.ca
Canadian Centre for Emergency Preparedness
EDITORIAL ADVISORY BOARD John Ash David Etkin Doug Harrison Randy Hull John Lindsay Heather Lyle John Newton Ph.D., P.Eng. David Parsons Dr. Tom Phelan, Ed.D. Marg Verbeek
Publisher
Robert Thompson
Managing Editor
Cydney Keith
Associate Editor
Roma Ihnatowycz
Sales Supervisor
Sharon Komoski
Sales Executives
Gary Fustey Nolan Ackman Steve Beauchamp Nancy Kantor Carol Simpson
Production Team Leader Zig Thiessen Graphic Design Specialist
Jorge Gérardin
Published by:
5255 Yonge Street, Suite 1000 Toronto, Ontario M2N 6P4 Toll Free: (866) 216-0860 ext. 229 robertt@mediaedge.ca 1 Wesley Avenue, Suite 301 Winnipeg, MB Canada R3C 4C6 Toll Free: (866) 201-3096 Fax: (204) 480-4420 www.mediaedgepublishing.com President
Kevin Brown
Senior Vice President
Robert Thompson
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All rights reserved. The contents of this publication may not be reproduced by any means, in whole or in part, without the prior written consent of the association. Published May 2008.
Publication Mail Agreement #40787580 Return undeliverable copies to: Canadian Centre for Emergency Preparedness 860 Harrington Court, Suite 211 Burlington, ON Canada L7N 3N4 Tel: 905.331.2552 Toll Free: 866.559.2237 Fax: 905.331.1641 www.ccep.ca
4
DISASTER management canada
T
hese past few months have been a busy time at the Canadian Centre for Emergency Preparedness (CCEP). We have been hard at work finalizing our plans for the 18th annual World Conference on Disaster Management (WCDM), taking place June 15-18 in Toronto. The event this year promises to look at a number of crucial trends impacting the emergency preparedness industry. First and foremost among them is resiliency.
ADRIAN GORDON PRESIDENT & CEO, CCEP
Resiliency appears to have struck a hot button among many disaster management professionals. As you know, resiliency is the capacity for individuals, communities and business to adapt and continuously evolve to the challenges of our rapidly changing society. This year’s WCDM sessions will explore individual, community and business resiliency, as well as examine how the three exist as one. Our speakers will take the “complexity” out of understanding how resiliency plays an integral part of their operations. As many of you may also know, the CCEP recently sold the WCDM to Diversified Business Communications (DBC), while continuing to be retained as the lead presenter and program organizer. This year marks the first time the CCEP is able to focus exclusively on preparing the conference program. This has included
Resiliency is the capacity for individuals, communities and business to adapt and continuously evolve to the challenges of our rapidly changing society
searching out the best topics and speakers from around the globe with the aim of educating and informing delegates attending the event. We are delighted at this opportunity to dedicate more of our time to the WCDM presentations and sessions. We are also very pleased at how well our relationship with DBC has developed in such a short time. We are sure you too will be pleased with the conference that will result from this fruitful partnership. This new partnership also gives the CCEP more time to dedicate to other efforts aimed at helping and supporting disaster management professionals in Canada. This includes our recent initiative to set up an annual preparedness index, which would mark a first for the industry. To read more about this and other developments at the CCEP, please read my interview that appears on page 19. Meanwhile, CCEP is already starting to plan for 2009. It is a safe bet to say that global warming will be high on the agenda as it becomes a greater threat and challenge for disaster management professionals. In line with this, we need to be aware that the unusually cold winter has given new impetus to climate change deniers. At times like these, it would do us well to remember the words of Dr. James Hansen of the NASA Goddard Institute for Space Studies: “There is a huge gap between what is understood about global warming by the scientific community and what is known about global warming by those who need to know: the public and policymakers.” To this list, we can add disaster management professionals. Volume 2 • Issue 2
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ASSOCIATION NEWS OAEM WORKSHOPS A SUCCESS
T
he Ontario Association of Emergency Managers’ (OAEM) most recent workshops met with resounding success. The association’s February PD Workshop #16, “Building Your Emergency Management Program,” was hosted by the York Regional Police Association in Newmarket, Ontario. Highlights included Emergency Management Ontario (EMO) Update — Program Delivery; Critical Location Emergency Action Response — Project CLEAR; Challenges and Issues in Recovery / BCP Planning. In April, OAEM and EMO, along with the Ontario Critical Infrastructure Assurance Program (OCIAP), teamed up to provide
Workshop #17, “Critical Infrastructure Assurance (CIA) Awareness,” hosted by Waterloo Region Emergency Services Training & Research Complex. Highlights at this event included Region of Waterloo Emergency Management Office; Special Recognition of Contribution of OAEM Member; and Introduction to Provincial CI by EMO Deputy Chief Operations and Analysis. Plans are well under way for more great events, including the association’s first Golf Tournament on May 29, followed by its Annual General Meeting on May 30. On September 19, the organization will hold its PD Workshop #18, “Search & Rescue” and then on November 7 its PD Workshop #19, “Public Education & Info.”
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OAEM plays a key role in emergency management at the local, provincial, national and international level. Its board and members are involved in a wide variety of initiatives, including Canadian Standards Association National Standard on EM & BC, Provincial (and National) Incident Management System (lMS) and Public Health Agency of Canada Roundtable on psychosocial impact
of emergencies and building resiliency. It provides many professional development and networking opportunities for its members, along with partnerships, discounts, and other services. Visit www.oaem.ca to learn more about these and other exciting opportunities, discounts, initiatives, resources and events.
IAEM HOLDS 3RD AGM
I
AEM-Canada will hold its 3rd Annual General Meeting during the 18th World Conference on Disaster Management (WCDM) in Toronto. Election results for the vice president west and treasurer will be announced during the meeting. IAEMCanada is fully supporting and participating in the WDMC. To learn more about IAEMCanada activities please visit us at the IAEM-Canada booth in the Exhibition Hall. The first Canadian version of the Certified Emergency Manager (CEM) exam was held in Alberta this past April. A number of Alberta emergency managers wrote this “Canadianized” CEM exam. It represents part of the process required to achieve the CEM designation through the International Association of Emergency Managers. The Canadian version included country-specific questions with Canadian context.
Joël Chéruet, the first IAEMCanada member to receive the lifetime CEM designation in Canada, is considered a pioneer in the field of emergency measures. He has provided training to great numbers of people including police, firefighting, emergency telecommunications and ambulance service institutions across Canada and abroad with the United Nations. In other news, IAEM-Canada has created an email discussion forum for information sharing of current emergency management topics in Canada. It is open to all individuals interested in the emergency management profession, education, research and practice in Canada. To join, please visit www.iaemcanada.ca/html/list.html. For more information about IAEM-Canada events and activities please visit our website at www.iaem-canada.ca.
Volume 2 • Issue 2
EVENTS
JUNE June 4 – 5 International Joint Operations Command Conference (IJOCC) London, UK
August 25 – 29 IDRC International Disaster & Risk Conference Davos, Switzerland
SEPTEMBER
November 5 – 9
OCTOBER October 10 – 11 CSA - Emergency Preparedness and Response Montreal, QC
November 15 – 20 October 15 – 16
June 5
September 2 – 5
CSA - Emergency Electrical Power Supply for Buildings Winnipeg, MB
19th Annual Continuing Challenge HAZMAT Workshop Sacramento, CA
June 15 –18 18th World Conference on Disaster Management Toronto, ON
September 22 CSA - Emergency Electrical Power Supply for Buildings Vancouver, BC
3rd Annual Canadian Industrial Emergency Conference & Expo Edmonton, AB
August 17 – 23 2008 World Water Week Stockholm, Sweden
IAEM 56th Annual Conference & EMEX 2008 Kansas City, KS
November 16 – 19 October 20 CSA - Emergency Electrical Power Supply for Buildings Edmonton, AB
NOVEMBER AUGUST
5th Canadian Risk and Hazards Network (CRHNet) Symposium St. John’s, NL
Rebuilding Sustainable Communities for Children and their Families after Disasters Boston, MA
DECEMBER
September 23 – 24 CSA - Emergency Preparedness and Response Vancouver, BC
November 3
December 15 – 16
CSA - Emergency Preparedness and Response Halifax, NS
CSA - Emergency Preparedness and Response Mississauga, ON
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May 2008
DISASTER management canada
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PREPAREDNESS PREPAREDNESS
It takes a VILLAGE Communities need to be sold on resiliency, and more and more step up to the plate with innovative preparedness efforts BY NATALIA A. FEDUSCHAK
T
he public doesn’t usually think about disasters, whether natural or man-made. While this mindset may bring a certain peace to their sense of well-being, it has long been a fly in the ointment of emergency preparedness professionals the world over. “People are wired to perceive they are safe,” says Dennis Mileti, California’s seismic safety commissioner. “It’s very difficult to break through that hardwiring to have them think that high-consequence, low-probability events like a natural disaster or a technological mishap will ever happen to them.” The majority of the time, these naysayers are right. So they do little, if anything, to prepare for disaster. Meanwhile emergency coordinators are presented with a major challenge: how do they get the public to care about resiliency? According to Mileti, the solution is simple. “What it boils down to is this: you have sell resiliency to the public.... The way they sell Coca-Cola.”
decade, Brandon has implemented a public education campaign that is now being used as a blueprint for other locales in Canada. Located in the prairie heartland of Canada, this city of 40,000 residents sits near a railroad and is surrounded by chemical and fertilizer manufacturers. Several years ago, a group of companies approached city authorities about implementing a program to tell people what to do in case of an industrial accident. The result was an initiative called Shelter-in-Place. “We were mutually interested in the Shelter-in-Place program,” says Brian Kayes, Brandon’s emergency coordinator. “If there’s a hazardous materials release, people would go inside, close their windows and doors, turn off the ventilation system and turn to local media to know if they were going to be evacuated or stay.” That original initiative evolved into a program with a larger scope. “It occurred to me very early on that if we were going to be putting
Where communities have been successful in getting the Choosing resiliency message across, appropriate the “Coke factor” has been at assembly points work, says Mileti. “The natural for businesses tendency of what I’m talking about can be overcome if one should be a person develops an unrecooperative effort lenting commitment to the topic of resilience,” explains Mileti, who earlier headed the University of Colorado’s renowned Natural Hazards Center. Brandon, Manitoba is a case in point. It is one of several communities internationally to have undertaken successful educational campaigns and forged public-private partnerships that have put resiliency on the community’s front burner. Over the last
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DISASTER management canada
all of these resources into advertising and making people aware of what hazards are, we should do an all-hazards approach,” says Kayes.
The B.E.S.T. approach Brandon now has what is known as B.E.S.T. — the Brandon Emergency Support Team. This is a partnership between business, industry and the city. As part of its educational efforts, the group publishes an annual emergency preparedness handbook, taking the form of a calendar or booklet. Kayes typically writes the material himself, and the city has also produced DVDs. Businesses in Brandon are committed to ensuring the public get the educational materials, Kayes says. Consequently, he has no trouble raising the $40,000 he needs annually to publish the documents. Brandon is also teaching schoolchildren basic principles of emergency preparedness. One student from Brandon University designed a 16-page coloring book starring Hazmat the Dragon, providing useful information on hazardous materials. Mileti’s former community of Boulder, Colorado provides another positive example of a municipality undertaking a significant Volume 2 • Issue 2
“People are wired to perceive they are safe. It’s very difďŹ cult to break through that hardwiring to have them think that high-consequence, low-probability events like a natural disaster will ever happen to themâ€? Dennis Mileti, California’s seismic safety commissioner
Dark storm resiliency effort. Over the clouds loom Grassroots effort past 35 years, Boulder’s Good planning and getting over the city University of Colorado organizations to work of Seattle has been the national together has paid off for other clearinghouse in the communities as well. One of country for all social and the most successful grassbehavioral sciences research related to roots efforts in promoting resiliency in the disasters and natural hazards. The city has U.S. was Project Impact, funded by the posted steps residents need to take in an Federal Emergency Management Agency emergency on its website. (FEMA) under the Clinton Administration.
FEMA provided US$1 million each in seed money to seven pilot communities. In the case of Seattle, chosen as a pilot in 1998, the funds went toward retrofitting homes and schools to make them more resilient to earthquakes, and to creating maps showing areas susceptible to landslides and seismic vulnerability. “You want the partnership of the entire community to
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PREPAREDNESS PREPAREDNESS
One of the most successful grassroots efforts in promoting resiliency in the U.S. was Project Impact, funded by the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) under the Clinton Administration
come together and identify the risk the community shares,” says George Haddow, a senior official in FEMA at the time. And that is exactly what Seattle did. The community identified and prioritized its mitigation measures, and for each dollar that the federal government provided, Seattle matched it with three dollars from other sources. What started as a one-city undertaking quickly evolved into a movement that encompassed several hundred communities in the Pacific Northwest. Part of Project Impact’s success was allowing communities to tailor their emergency response and educational materials to suit their needs, including developing action plans. “That is very important in resiliency and in the aftermath of a disaster,” says Jane A. Bullock, who along with Haddow is a founding partner of Bullock and Haddow LLC, a Washington-based risk-management firm. Although communities can do much to mobilize their resources, including bringing together organizations with disparate goals,
government often needs to be the key driver. “Government can provide an impetus for a community getting together,” says Bullock, adding that it can give communities seed money that will pay off in the long run. “It’s in the best interest of the federal government because it ultimately reduces disaster and social costs.”
Public education In New Zealand, a different approach has been taken with a public education campaign. Because of its geography, New Zealand is prone to natural disasters. For instance, the country’s largest city, Auckland, sits on a volcano, while
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Volume 2 • Issue 2
May 2008
DISASTER management canada
NOW, more than ever, IAEM brings together emergency managers and disaster response
is for you…
professionals from all levels of government, as well as the military, the private sector, and volunteer organizations around the world.
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picturesque Wellington is located on a fault line, with high earthquake risk. “New Zealanders are aware that we live in quite a hazardous environment,” says Erica Seville of the Resilient Organisations Research Programme at the University of Canterbury. To that end, the resiliency message has been drilled New Zealand’s into the New Zealander largest city, psyche, even though the country hasn’t suffered a Auckland, sits on a major disaster since 1935. volcano. New To ensure residents don’t get Zealanders are well complacent, the government launched a media campaign aware that they live telling them it will be up to in a hazardous they too have learned them to take care of their environment from educational and family for three days or more training campaigns. if a disaster strikes. The “Get Peter Brouggy, Banking Ready Get Thru” campaign & Finance IAAG project manager in Sydney, provides New Zealanders with a checklist Australia, says that exercises carried out of items they will need to cope. “There will with municipal authorities revealed that be no cavalry arriving over the horizon to many organizations used the same assave you because in New Zealand… one sembly areas for building evacuations. community could easily be isolated,” says “That does not work too well when you are Seville. “Help will come but it won’t evacuating an entire city block and they come immediately.” are all congregating at the one small park,” explains Brouggy. “This is an example of Although financial institutions have tended how we have had to adjust our thinking to show more concern about resiliency,
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to a new range of threats. Consequently, we have been conducting these exercises to facilitate a better understanding of response and recovery processes across the sector rather than at an individual organization level. While the approach may vary, a collaborative effort in ensuring community resilience is important. As emergency experts know, it may one day pay off in spades for those communities that have had the foresight to take the necessary steps. The time to start thinking about it is now. DMC
CRA has assembled an elite team of professionals who are recognized authorities in crisis and emergency management, and business continuity and resumption. This dedicated group provides you with the tools needed to proceed through the maze of: s Hazard and Risk Assessments s Emergency Planning & Procedures s Regulatory Compliance s Corporate Team Structuring s Integrated Contingency Planning s Emergency Drill & Exercise Programs s Emergency Management Program Maintenance Reviews
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13
PREPAREDNESS RESPONSE
When response B is not ENOUGH
usinesses in the 21st century are facing an increasing number of fast-changing conditions and disruptive challenges. From technology to terrorism, social responsibility to social unrest, new competitors or natural disasters, the modern operating environment is constantly testing an organization’s fitness for survival.
In the new risk environment in which we live, businesses need to embrace a resilient approach long before disaster strikes BY NEIL ELLIS & KATHRYN BERRY
It’s clear that the ability to respond effectively is vital, but considering the effectiveness of response in isolation is not enough: response is just one part of an ongoing and interdependent cycle that includes The resilient anticipation, prevention, prepaapproach ration and recovery.
acknowledges that every business decision or activity is imbued with risk
Moreover, the dynamics of this operating environment ask new and difficult questions of conventional approaches to response and provide an opportunity for businesses that embrace a resilient approach. In this new risk environment, resilience is the ability to respond positively to disruptive challenges, both withstanding shock and maximizing opportunities. These resilient organizations are able not only to survive, but also to prosper. The modern operating environment is hugely complicated, creating interdependencies and vulnerabilities in new and demanding ways. The pace of globalized business — driven by the revolution in information technology, communications media and travel — means that incidents reach further and more quickly across previously isolated functional and geographical boundaries. For example, the 2000 millennium bug activity demonstrated for the first time the enormity of the potential problems that result from the unquestioned reliance on IT. The continuing spam battle and social networking craze are just some of the new IT dynamics that businesses must confront. This speed and accessibility, coupled with global interdependencies, means that events ripple throughout the world creating unintended and unforeseen consequences. Climate change, too, provides an example of both our interdependency and the potential of unintended consequences — specifically the way in which our reliance
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DISASTER management canada
Volume 2 • Issue 2
May 2008
PREPAREDNESS RESPONSE
It is about much more than just absorbing shocks and recovering. It is about establishing confidence — creating the mode of operation — that allows Response risks to be mechanisms are more efficient effectively when adequate managed preparation was implemented in and taken. advance upon fossil fuels, which has driven economic It is a resilient growth, now poses problems of a huge magnitude. approach Little wonder that climate change is now regarded as an increasingly important threat to future business growth. A recent survey at the UK’s 2008 Business Continuity
Expo found that 87 per cent of businesses saw climate change as the single biggest threat to future growth. The complexity of this environment creates vulnerability and uncertainty but also opportunity. While traditional responses seek to address the first and acknowledge the second, they are ill-equipped to reap the benefits of the third.
One part of the puzzle
Sheridan College Institute of Technology and Advanced Learning introduces their new Emergency Management Graduate Certificate Program designed to teach participants the most effective means to deal with actual or potential emergencies and disasters.
Ask about their convenient alternative delivery model! For more information about this program please contact: Peter Larsen, Program Coordinator Email: peter.larsen@sheridanc.on.ca Phone: 905-459-7533, ext 5030
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PREVENTION MITIGATION PREPAREDNESS RESPONSE RECOVERY
An organization’s response capability is just one component of an ongoing cycle: from anticipation to prevention, to preparation, to response, to recovery, and to review and so on. Such an approach places response in an appropriate context, ensuring it is realistic, attuned to the operating environment and commensurate with the resources of a business. The response mechanisms fall within the field of traditional business emergency and preparedness functions, such as business continuity planning, crisis management and disaster recovery. And they continue to play an important role in maintaining a functioning business; research by the UK Cabinet Office in conjunction with the Chartered Management Institute in 2007 indicated that 94 per cent of managers believed BC to be important to their orgaVolume 2 • Issue 2
The resilient approach acknowledges that every business decision or activity is imbued with risk. It’s through an enterprise’s risk profile, coupled with its existing preparedness and response functions, that a business’s resilience can be assessed and developed.
Multi-faceted solution There is not a one-size-fits-all solution, and the resulting changes can range from diversification of corporate strategy, entering new markets and developing new products to the protection of people, brand and reputation. In essence, a resilient approach ensures a business is agile and responsive enough to deal with uncertainty and to take advantage of it.
Neil Ellis and Kathryn Berry are consultants with PA Consulting Group, a global management consultancy company, with experience of risk, resilience and security across the public, private and academic sectors. Ellis is also a speaker at this year’s World Conference on Disaster Management. DMC
The requirement for organizations to be resilient remains constant: an organization unable to respond will not survive or prosper
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But the demands of modern business in the new and complex operating environment reflect the need to take this a step further. There is the requirement not only to reduce disruption in planned events, but to be adaptable in all circumstances in order to seize opportunities, improve market tolerance and protect core earning potential. It is about much more than just absorbing shocks and recovering. It is about establishing confidence — creating the mode of operation — that allows risks to be effectively managed and taken. It is a resilient approach.
pursue opportunities in competitive and risky environments. True resiliency allows a company to pick itself up and dust itself off in the face of adversity and get ahead of the competition even when the punches are raining in.
EXPLOSIONS - FLOODS - HAIL - FIRE - WIND - WATER - MOULD - EXPLOSIONS
nization with 94 per cent who had invoked the plans acknowledging that it had reduced disruption.
FLOODS - HAIL - FIRE - WIND - WATER - MOULD - EXPLOSIONS - FLOODS - HAIL - FIRE - WIND - WATER
This approach needs to be embedded culturally and structurally throughout a business, identifying residual capability that needs enhancing, supporting or discontinuing. An organization that demonstrates such resilience enjoys greater market tolerance, advantages over competitors, increased stakeholder value, enhancement of reputation and brand and the rewards associated with realizing possibilities at risky times. It’s clear we face an uncertain future full of challenge and opportunity. The requirement for organizations to be resilient remains constant: an organization unable to respond will not survive or prosper. Whilst conventional response in the face of emergency remains vital, successfully operating in the new risk environment requires more. A resilient business can withstand shocks, manage change and confidently May 2008
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PREPAREDNESS ASSOCIATION Q&A
Canadian Centre for Emergency Preparedness
CCEP leads THE WAY As Adrian Gordon celebrates his eighth anniversary at the helm of the CCEP, he comments on the Centre’s work and the evolution of disaster management in Canada BY ROMA IHNATOWYCZ Disaster Management Canada: To start, tell us a bit about the Canadian Centre for Emergency Preparedness and its role within the industry. GORDON: We are a nonprofit organization that is independent and exists for the benefit of the practitioners in the various fields related to disaster management. We provide them with guidance in terms of best practices, lessons learned and opportunities for networking with their peers across the country and internationally. In particular, we do this through the annual World Conference on Disaster Management and to a certain extent through this magazine.
DMC: I understand you also bring some international scope to your work?
or the public sector. CCEP sees itself as a collaborative network of those associations, be it through our conference, magazine or newsletter. When called upon by the government to give our expert advice, we want to represent some common threads and commonalities of those organizations. There is no other organization I can think of that examines all the broader aspects of all practices and the profession as a whole.
DMC: A major recent development at CCEP was the sale of your annual conference, the WCDM. What prompted this decision? GORDON: It was certainly a big change for us, because from the time that I’ve been involved with CCEP we made a strategic decision that we needed to focus our efforts on the conference to provide
GORDON: Yes, since I’ve come on board we’ve not only strengthened our position and our brand inside Canada, but at the same time expanded that network to reach places like South Africa, Australia, the United States, and the U.K. We’ve really expanded our global reach in the disaster management community. With our experts and this great network of contacts we’ve developed internationally, we are quite unique. There are few organizations that have the sort of geographical spread that we do.
DMC: You appear to cover many different aspects of an industry that is quite extensive and diverse. GORDON: Many associations and groups have their focus either on emergency management or business continuity, on the private sector May 2008
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PREPAREDNESS ASSOCIATION Q&A
â&#x20AC;?Many associations and groups have their focus either on emergency management or business continuity, on the private sector or the public sector. CCEP sees itself as a collaborative network of those associationsâ&#x20AC;? Adrian Gordon, CCEP
revenue to cover our operating costs. And we succeeded in doing that. However, in the process, we didnâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t have enough resources or time to do much else. But, itâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s important to note that while weâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;ve sold the conference, we are still responsible for its program. We are now retained under contract to design the theme of the program, find and retain speakers and so on. But we are not organizing the event, which has opened up a lot of time for us. Previously we spent probably 85 per cent of our time on the conference. Now weâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;re spending 25 per cent of our time on it. The other 75 per cent we are spending on other initiatives which weâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;re in the process of developing.
DMC: Can you elaborate on some of these initiatives? GORDON: One of the things we are looking at is a program of awareness and education aimed particularly at small business because we feel that this is one area where nobody is really doing anything at the moment. We would like to look at programs that can supplement what the government is doing, which is sort of passive education.
Applied Disaster and Emergency Studies
One of the biggest weaknesses in the chain of resilience is small business. Weâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;ve talked about this for years, but weâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;ve never really been in a position to do anything about it. Now that weâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;ve sold the conference, we can. We asked ourselves: what do we really want to do, and secondly where can we make the most impact? We come back again and again to the issues of individuals and small businesses
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Volume 2 â&#x20AC;˘ Issue 2
They have a very sophisticated website and program that provides individuals with all the information they need to be prepared. But there is no data that says it is being effective. So we have determined that it is very important to introduce indices that measure preparedness levels amongst individuals and small businesses across Canada. We have just commissioned Compas, one of the leaders in market research, to do a survey of national personal preparedness. It is being completed now. Once we get the results, we want to take that information to Ottawa.
DMC: What other issues are on CCEP’s radar for the coming year?
not being prepared, despite the fact that there is an awful lot of money and effort being spent.
DMC: How so? GORDON: The federal government is spending money on advising individuals how to be prepared for emergencies, but it doesn’t seem to be making a difference. Typically, plans are based on individuals being prepared for 48 or 72 hours. But as professionals we are generally in agreement that this isn’t the case. Individuals are not prepared and that’s not particular to Canada, it exists in many countries. This brings us to the subject of community resilience, which we view as very important, because that is really where disaster management starts. When events happen, it is the community that is ultimately responsible for responding to that event. That community consists of everything from individuals to government to the private sector, and everything is interrelated. When something really big happens, like the 1998 ice storm, different levels of government can come in to support the communities. But essentially it’s still the community that has to deal with it. So the challenge for us is to focus on elements of community resilience.
DMC: What are some of the first steps CCEP is taking in this area? GORDON: Well, we talk about personal preparedness and small business preparedness, but there’s no data out there. The federal government is spending a lot of money on what they call the ‘Get Prepared’ campaign. May 2008
GORDON: Global warming, definitely. We see this as becoming a bigger and bigger threat which impacts all of us as individuals, organizations, communities and businesses. We have set for ourselves a goal to play a leadership role in helping disaster management professionals and practitioners understand the issues of climate change and how we have to deal with it in our day-to-day lives. One of the challenges faced by the practitioners in disaster management — particularly at the community level and
the organizational level who are dealing with community emergency management programs, business continuity plans and so on — is how to maintain plans to deal with those risks with limited resources, funding and in many cases limited support from the senior executive level. And now they’re being faced with this growing monster of global warming. How to deal with this? How should they be incorporating this into their plan?
DMC: In conclusion, how would you characterize the disaster management profession in Canada today? GORDON: Three years ago I saw the beginning of a process whereby the profession was starting to evolve. I’m not sure if that is actually the case. One of the problems we face is that there is no clear definition of terms, and therefore when you talk about disaster management, it means different things to different people. Disaster management is becoming infinitely more complex. However, there is also a greater awareness of how the different professions within disaster management are all having to come together when disasters occur. There is certainly a much greater understanding of that process than there was before 9/11, or even Y2K. DMC
THERE’S AN UPSIDE TO SEEING AVIAN FLU IN THE NEWS EVERYDAY. WITH INCREASING URGENCY, A VARIETY OF GOVERNMENTS, NONGOVERNMENTAL ORGANIZATIONS, INDUSTRY GROUPS, AND MEDIA OUTLETS HAVE TRUMPETED THE POTENTIAL DANGERS OF AVIAN FLU. The upside? Increased corporate awareness of pandemic risk fosters advance planning. In the event of an outbreak, a Pandemic Preparedness Program enables organizations to protect their employees while maintaining critical operations with disciplined and effective management. Ask your Marsh risk professional how you can benefit from increased pandemic preparation.
Marsh Canada Limited Ralph Dunham | 416 868 2017 | ralph.dunham@marsh.com www.marsh.ca | www.marsh.com
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PREPAREDNESS AFTERMATH around 15 per cent, who display symptoms serious enough to require clinical treatment. Their needs are now recognized and addressed by organizations. However, most people suffer what could best be described as a degraded sense of well being. Typically this involves things such as poor sleep, relationship problems, lack of concentration and weak focus. These effects all contribute to reduced productivity and increased staff turnover, and the level of disturbance can vary greatly within an organization. Some people experience no effects, while for others it can be quite significant. The nature and scale of the event also has a bearing on the intensity and distribution of effects.
PUTTING people first Focusing on a company’s most precious resource — its workforce — should take on more importance in business continuity processes BY MICHAEL TARRANT
T
here is growing recognition that traditional approaches to managing the risks to an organization’s objectives are no longer sufficient in today’s conditions. The highly turbulent, complex and uncertain environment means that successful organizations will require highly adaptive and creative capacity. The management of non-routine situations, whether generated by natural hazards, terrorism or system failures, is a major challenge for leaders. To achieve an organization’s objectives in this environment requires systems that move beyond compliance and instrumental approaches. There is a need to consider less tangible aspects of how disasters affect our
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communities and organizations. This is not to devalue planning and emergency response — they are critical activities — but they are not sufficient for today. The often quoted theme of “people are our most precious resource” is rarely reflected in an organization’s business continuity and recovery processes. Most effort goes into replacing physical resources and equipment and not into the recovery processes for the organization’s workforce. But this is becoming an increasingly important issue because of changes in the makeup of the workforce. Depending on the type of disaster, there will always be a small number of people,
Research by Dr. Rob Gordon over the past 25 years provides insight into these effects, as well as possible strategies for enhancing people’s recovery after a disaster. The good news is that sound process, appropriate activities and leadership in the recovery phase can make a significant difference to restoring people’s wellbeing.
Radical change Why is this sense of degraded well-being so important? The workplace has changed radically in the last 50 years. In a 2006 Financial Times article, James Manyika wrote that historically economic activity has been mostly divided into: transformations — broadly understood to be the growing or making of things; and transactions — exchange of information, products and services such as transport, trade and most knowledge work. However, in developed economies, transactions have grown to dominate economic activity — nearly 85 per cent in the U.S. — due to increased specialization of work, technology and globalization. Yet when we analyze transactional work there is a subset called “tacit interactions,” which are those interactions that depend on complex mixtures of judgment, problem-solving and information exchanges. It is estimated that these higher order transactional workers now make some 41 per cent of the labour force of the U.S. and the percentage is growing. In the past, companies resembled pyramids, with a handful of tacit workers (managers) at the top coordinating armies of workers engaged in transformations and transactions. Organizations are evolving their Volume 2 • Issue 2
approaches to leadership, management and strategy to cope with the ever increasing demands placed on them by stakeholders and the realities of this type of workforce. These pressures are amplified by an ever increasing number of potential risks. The losses to the organization if people suffer a degraded sense of well-being can be significant. One of the fundamental strategies of business continuity and recovery is to ensure that appropriate resources are allocated to the psycho-social recovery of staff and their families. This function is not just something for HR to sort out, but rather it is a critical role for the leadership team. In the aftermath of a disaster, implementing effective recovery processes is an important first step in ensuring an organization can survive. If we want to further enhance an organization’s capacity to cope with the risks they face, then individual resilience might be a useful line of enquiry. In a psychological context, resilience is defined as the capacity of individuals, families and communities to cope successfully with everyday challenges, including life transitions, times of cumulative stress and significant adversity or risk (Rutter 1990).
new area of practice but it seems to be a very promising one.
Further Reading ROB GORDON. “Acute responses to emergencies: findings and observations of 20 years in the field.” The Australian Journal of Emergency Management. Vol. 21 No. 1, February 2006.
Michael Tarrant is adjunct at James Cook University Centre for Public Health and Tropical Medicine. He is also a speaker at this year’s World Conference on Disaster Management (WCDM). DMC
ROB GORDON. “The social system as site of disaster impact and resource for recovery.” The Australian Journal of Emergency Management. Vol. 19 No. 4, November 2004.
Both these articles are free online at www.ema.gov.au.
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With a few minor changes to the wording, this would describe the traits and capacities that employees should display in both routine and non-routine environments. This is important because investment in enhancing individual resilience may well deliver an immediate benefit stream for the organization as well as an increased capacity to cope with the unexpected. The application of the concept of individual resilience to organizations is still a very May 2008
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After twenty years in the association publishing ďŹ eld, Kevin Brown and I decided six years ago to establish MediaEdge Publishing. We wanted to use our skills, knowledge and love of publishing to build a business with a focus on providing exemplary customer service and leading edge association communication solutions. Today, MediaEdge is the leader in quality custom publishing for associations. We treat every client like our only client, and their agenda is our agenda. These have remained our guiding principles since we ďŹ rst opened our doors. Customer service is our number one priority.
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June 21 - 24, 2009 Toronto Canada Working Together Business Continuity and Emergency Management
PREPAREDNESS ADVERTISERS
Index to Advertisers CCEP Summer 2008 Glentel Inc. ............................................................................... 7 www.glentel.com
Securesearch Inc. ............................................................ 6 www.securesearchinc.com
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Innovative Trailer Design Industries ........ 15 www.itdtrailers.com
Centennial College .......................................................... 9 www.centennialcollege.ca
International Association of Emergency Managers ...................................... 12 www.iaem.com
Sheridan College Institute of Technology and Advanced Learning .................................................... 16 www1.sheridaninstitute.ca
BCP/EM Services www.yorku.ca
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Canadian Disaster Restoration Group www.cdrg.ca
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Competitive Insights Inc. ........................................................................ 26 www.competitiveinsightsinc.com Conestoga Rovers & Assoc. ............................. 13 www.craworld.com Continuity Shield Consultants Inc. ............................................................. 20 www.continuityshield.com Deb Canada ......................................................................... 18 www.debcanada.com DRI Canada www.dri.ca
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Inside Front Cover
Lakeland College .......................................................... 10 www.lakelandcollege.ca M/A-COM Private Radio Systems ................ Outside Back Cover www.macom.com Marsh Canada www.marsh.ca
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Specs Ltd. .............................................................................. 17 www.specs.ca TSL Response Technologies ............................ 23 www.tslaerospace.com U. of Brandon-App. Dis. & Emerg. ..................................................................... 20 www.brandonu.ca
21 Vanguard EMC Inc. ..................................................... 26 www.vanguardemergency.com
Northern Alberta Institute of Technology .................................................................... 13 www.nait.ca
Wallace Wireless .............. Inside Back Cover www.wallacewireless.com
Safer Systems Canada ........................................... 17 www.safersystem.com
Western Natural Gas Products www.wngp.com
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Making organizations security smart Expert delivery of professional services in Security Management tailored to individual business needs in: • Threat and risk assessments • Security program review and development • Training, education, certifications and credentialing • Crisis, emergency and business continuity management Competitive Insights Inc., in partnership with CAE, George Brown College, Emergency Preparedness Consultants and Magellan Engineering, is now a designated Vendor of Record for Ontario’s Ministry of Government and Consumer Services. Ottawa Office Bert Cowan 613-230-4077
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DISASTER management canada
Volume 2 • Issue 2
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