Over the last week, the appeals by the Whakaari/White Island owners against their criminal convictions relating to WHS obligations have been heard in NZ. This is the latest part of the legal process that followed the volcano eruption in 2019 and the tragic loss of 22 people with many others suffering injuries. A decision is expected before the end of the year.
The news coverage reminded me of the LessoNZ ‘just culture’ report that was released under the Official Information Act specifically focused on the response to the eruption. This report provides a useful way for all in the incident management sector to understand some of the critical factors that impacted on the response in this particular disaster as part of reflecting and learning from the tragedy. Probably not surprising to many who work in this space, a lot of similar themes from other incident reviews were identified in the findings and recommendations arising from the work conducted by the authors. Key themes that emerged included:
- The need for clear understanding of roles and responsibilities of IMT functions between agencies and coordination centres
- The importance of information flow and processes as well as timeliness particularly around information sharing in real time
- Priorities around resourcing and capability as part of ensuring there are sufficient numbers of well trained and capable staff to respond to a range of hazards by agencies entrusted with these responsibilities on behalf of the community.
- The need to provide psychological support and welfare for those involved
- Integrated media management – particularly in relation to international media inquiries
There were also some successes and positive observations in relation to relation to individual acts of bravery, leadership and professionalism, skills and expertise of individuals and groups contributing to the whole and systems and facilities that supported leadership and enabled collegial support.
Successes noted by agencies included:
- Co located operational agencies within the EOC
- Early engagement with the Maori community and valuing of their community arrangements
- Early and proactive establishment of Transport recovery teams and interagency groups to facilitate co-ordination of those involved.
- Welfare management
- Deployment of strategic communications group to work at the operational end
- Continuation of the Liaison Officer role to support interagency collaboration and co-operation.
To read the whole report (31 pages) please go to: https://fyi.org.nz/request/14756/response/57758/attach/html/5/4364858%20DPMCOIA2020%2021%200400%20Release%20document.PDF.pdf.html
