Phil Harper: an emergency is like a rock falling out of the sky

In the ‘Crisis Week’ Centre for Safety and Development is organising a number of short courses on incident management. It will be a series of practical hands on courses with exercises rather than theoretical ‘sit back and listen’ courses.

They are directed to the ones in positions of leadership or indeed are going to be part of a crisis management team and need to better understand their roles.

Crisis Week

The courses explicitly address the needs and priorities of the ones involved, both in the crisis management team and those in leadership.

It focusses on people rather than processes and policies. These courses will make them feel more  confident and in a position to respond when the ‘bad news call’ comes in. It will also provide tools to actually assist them with integrated emergency management model tools that will help to anticipate, assess and prevent a crisis.

These models are internationally recognized to fit in with existing leadership structures. Centre for Safety and Development has been an expert in this field for over 12 years  and brings a lot of experience to the parties.

Phil Harper: an emergency is like a rock falling out of the sky

Unfortunately, this is not an ‘if’ but a ‘when’ matter. The question is, have they protected themselves and their staff to deal with it? If a rock falls out of the sky into the water, a lot of people will try to get the rock back in the sky, but that is not where the effort is to be applied.

The rock has hit the water and it is now a matter of how to manage the consequences. The ripples are going across the pond, so the intervention is on how to direct those ripples to make their way safely to shore, is crucial. Where are they going to hit the shore, the consequences of our interventions, changes of direction and what will be the response to the impact be, requires an integrated multi-specialist approach.

‘In dealing with an emergency it is about fundamentals; what is our information, is there intelligence to confirm the information and if there is, what are the risks to the staff and to the delivery of our response. What can be the strategy, what is our over-arching aim in regard to the preservation of life, what are the objectives in priority order. Then, what are the options, is there capacity, is there capability. Because it might be a good thing to do, but is it a safe and also a justifiable thing to do? Is it in compliance with the law, in compliance with the policies of the organisation, etc.’.

‘The ‘crisis week’ will enable people to feel confident about reacting in the proper way in real time, maintaining momentum towards a good solution, although it sometimes might be about making the least worse decision. It is a course that is supportive to organisations, their staff and to family and friends who see their loved ones going to work in a hostile environment in order to do good. This course will provide that, ‘In any crisis the desire is to gain a golden hour grip’.

Phil Harper

Phil Harper QPM is an internationally renowned hostage negotiator and crisis management trainer as well as an all-round critical incident manager. He is a specialist in dealing with humanitarian and faith based non-government organisations and is a former senior law enforcement officer who dealt with hundreds of critical incidents, including a suicide bomber in Derby, UK.