AFAC 2015* Improving interoperability in UK emergency response (#53)
The ability of emergency services to come together at the scene of operations and to rapidly act to save life is paramount in emergency response. At major incidents involving significant numbers of lives at risk this becomes more difficult due to factors such as the scale of the incident site, the physical situation and the multiple sources of information and sites of activity.
As a result of historical events spanning a number of decades, some common themes identified in the United Kingdom were apparent in management of major incidents. These common factors focus on situational awareness and joint decision-making, and these components formed the basis of an improvement program commissioned by the UK Government in 2012.
Commissioned as the ‘Joint Emergency Services Interoperability Program’ (JESIP) it ran for two years from 2012. The presentation will examine the JESIP program, identifying key drivers from UK experiences of major incidents, outline key deliverables of the program, and shared thinking derived at how emergency services can integrate in the optimum way at all levels of command and control.
Additionally, the presentation will detail how the fire and rescue capability components form part of the UK National Resilience Program, bringing together multi-agency capability to protect the critical national infrastructure at the strategic level.
The presenter was a member of the JESIP board, Assistant Commissioner of the London Fire Brigade until 2014 and is now responsible for assuring the UK National Resilience capabilities. He has command experience in responses to major emergencies in London, including arrangements made for additional risks when hosting the 2012 Olympic Games.
