Tuesday, June 1, 2010

CIAC Issues Updated Disciplined Approach Charts

The emergency response committee of the Chemical Industry Association of Canada recently upgraded the Disciplined Approach to Emergency Response charts used by their member companies. A PowerPoint presentation which provides an overview of the disciplined approach process was also updated. The updated charts and PowerPoint presentation can be downloaded from the Training section of the DA2ER web site.

On line training is being developed on the disciplined approach process and it is expected to be available in Q3 / 2010.

Thursday, May 13, 2010

CRITICAL INFRASTRUCTURE RESPONSE TOOL

The critical infrastructure response tool is now available for downloading from the DA2ER.info web site The tool is an adaptation of the disciplined approach to emergency response specifically designed to help protect critical infrastructure during response to an emergency. Training on use of this tool has been developed and will be available soon from the Canadian Standards Association as part of their Municipal Infrastructure Solutions Program.

Wednesday, May 12, 2010

CRITICAL INFRASTRUCTURE RESPONSE TOOL

A new variation of the Disciplined Approach to Emergency Response chart which we have named the "Critical Infrastructure Response Tool" has been developed for the Canadian Standards Association as part of their Municipal Infrastructure Solutions Program. The process was used for the first time yesterday during a pilot training course on Critical Infrastructure Protection for Municipalities and we received very positive feedback from course attendees. The response tool helps responders focus on the protection of critical infrastructure during response to an incident. We will be requesting CSA's permission to post the Critical Infrastructure Response Tool on the DA2ER.info web site.

Tuesday, April 20, 2010

DA2ER TRAINING DEVELOPMENT UPDATE

Work is progressing well on developing an updated training course for A Disciplined Approach to Emergency Response. The training will incorporate latest updates to the process from CIAC and it is being developed such that it can be delivered both as classroom and on line training. The on line training will be delivered using Citrix OnLine's GoToTraining. Public training sessions will be offered but custom sessions, tailored to specific products, modes of transport organizations can be provided. This training is being developed as a cooperative venture between EW Compliance and Response and MacKay Emergency Management Consulting Inc. Ernie Wong and Bill MacKay who are developing the training have extensive experience in training and using the DA2ER process both with hazmat response trams and corporate crisis management teams.

Sunday, March 7, 2010

DA2ER for Municipal Infrastructure Protection

Although the current versions of A Disciplined Approach to Emergency Response (DA2ER) focus on response to hazardous materials incidents, the principles involved in the process can be applied to many types of incidents to help simplify the response process. The basics of the process are; (1) conduct a situation analysis (gather the facts and develop prioritized response objectives) (2) select response strategies and tactics appropriate for the response objectives (3) implement the selected strategies and tactics (4) monitor the situation / collect feedback on the effectiveness of the response by conducting another situation analysis - and the process goes on until the response objectives have been met. I just completed a draft of a DA2ER chart, the purpose of which is to help protect critical municipal infrastructure during an emergency incident. It still has some rough edges but it looks like the process will work quite effectively. If you have any thoughts on the subject I would appreciate your sharing them. I'll share the chart after a little more fine tuning.

Monday, February 22, 2010

DA2ER Sponsorship Opportunities

The Disciplined Approach to Emergency Response (DA2ER) web site, blog and discussion group have been set up for responders who use or are interested in using DA2ER for hazmat response. The work involved in putting DA2ER on the web has been contributed by MacKay Emergency Management Consulting Inc. as a community service. I am pleased with the interest which has been expressed in the web site, blog and discussion group to date and to those who have started following DA2ER on Twitter and the Linked In DA2ER discussion group. To help offset the cost / effort involved in developing, maintaining and promoting the DA2ER web presence there is an opportunity for a limited number of emergency management related individuals or organizations to sponsor or co-sponsor the web site. To discuss this opportunity please contact bill.mackay@memci.ca

Thursday, February 18, 2010

DA2ER Google Wave - Made Public

The Disciplined Approach to Emergency Response Google Wave was enhanced today so that anyone with access to Google Wave may view it, copy it and enhance it. The current version of the DA2ER wave provides the Disciplined Approach to Emergency Response headings to facilitate information sharing and collaboration during a response. On site responders, offsite support personnel and senior management may all view and contribute to the response (as appropriate) in real time. The wave directs readers to the DA2ER.info web site for additional information on the DA2ER process. Although the wave supports communication and collaboration in its current state it is being shared with the hope that other responder / programmers who are part of the Google Wave beta test will add enhancements to significantly increase its functionality.