An international conference on the topic of Critical Incident Management will include an address by Captain Harry Werner of the New York City Fire Department on his experience of incident command at Ground Zero, September 11th 2001.
The two-day conference, Critical Incident Management, to be held at King's College Conference Centre on June 10 and 11, 2002, is being organised by the Industrial Psychology Group of the University of Aberdeen. It will focus on the latest research and practice on the training and development of incident commanders and emergency managers, across a range of organisations and agencies.
Several international speakers are taking part, including Dr Gary Klein from the USA, a world expert on decision making under pressure and Professor Patrick Lagadec of Ecole Polytechnique, Paris (author of Preventing Chaos in a Crisis) who will discuss common problems in crisis management teams. Other speakers on incident command include senior commanders from the police, the fire service and the prison service, as well as psychologists, and speakers on the training and welfare aspects of emergency management.
The conference will be introduced by Professor Rhona Flin, one of the country's leading industrial psychologists who is leader of the University of Aberdeen's Industrial Psychology Group. She said: "Incident commanders are key to the success of any emergency management organisation and this conference will present the latest thinking on techniques to enhance their skills."
Professor Flin is co-author of Incident Command: Tales from the Hot Seat, which has just been published (May 2002) by Ashgate, and was co-edited with the Deputy Chief of West Yorkshire Fire Brigade, Kevin Arbuthnot (who will be speaking at the conference).
The book has chapters by psychologists on the training of commanders, as well as detailed personal accounts from senior commanders. These include military commanders describing warfare and peacekeeping; a prison governor who managed a hostage taking; a police commander in charge of the Notting Hill riot; and a captain of a jumbo jet discussing in-flight emergencies.
Professor Flin said: "Incident Command: Tales from the Hot Seat presents the first collection of detailed case studies from emergency commanders across a range of professions. Given the critical nature of their role in an emergency it is astonishing how little has been written on the art of incident command."
Worldwide interest has already been shown in the conference, with delegates arriving from as far away as Russia, Australia and India. Remaining places are very limited.