Professional Organizations

Posted on November 8, 2009 by Lucien Canton | Posted in WeblogsLeave a Comment on Professional Organizations

My apologies  for not posting for the past few weeks. I was preparing several presentations for the International Association of Emergency Managers conference in Orlando FL last week. I piloted a new workshop I've been developing on the fundamentals of emergency management programs and presented a breakout session on the use of the administrative plan (those of you who are IAEM members can see my article in the October issue of the IAEM Bulletin). I was also asked to deliver one of the plenary sessions, speaking on the 1927 Mississippi flood and its social, political, and economic impacts.

I always look forward to the IAEM conference. It's a time to recharge my batteries, so to speak, by connecting with friends and colleagues who remind me why I'm in this profession. It's also a great opportunity to learn new skills, hear new ideas and to network with potential partners.

Like many of you, I belong to a number of associations and professional societies. I believe that such membership is important for continued professional development. But I believe a professional association should provide value to its membership, so I'm pretty picky about the ones I choose to join. Unfortunately, I occasionally meet colleagues who belong to no professional organizations. If you're not in touch with the recent developments in your profession and do not have a network of proffessional contacts to back you up, how can you be effective in your profession?

If you're not in a professional organization like IAEM or a local group like the California Emergency Services Association, give some thought to what you're missing. You don't have to be the Lone Ranger!

New Standards Proposed by DHS

Posted on October 15, 2009 by Lucien Canton | Posted in WeblogsLeave a Comment on New Standards Proposed by DHS

DHS today issued its long anticipated proposal for standards for the Voluntary Private Preparedness Accreditation and Certification Program (PS-Prep) established under Title IX of Public Law 110-53. As expected, DHS is proposing the following three standards: 

• ASIS SPC.1-2009Organizational Resilience: Security Preparedness, and Continuity Management Systems – the American Society for Industrial Security is making ASIS SPC 1-2009 available for inspection, downloading, and printing at no cost.
• British Standard 25999-2:2007Business Continuity Management – the British Standards Institution is making BS25999 available for inspection, downloading, and printing for a nominal charge.
• National Fire Protection Association1600:2007 Standard on Disaster/Emergency Management and Business Continuity Programs – the National Fire Protection Association is making NFPA 1600 available for inspection, downloading, and printing at no cost.

So what't this mean to the average company? Well, the first thing to remember is that this is the proposal phase of the adoption process, so you have 30 days to make public comments. Secondly,  PS-Prep is voluntary and it's going to take a while to work out any sort of accreditation. So this is just a step in a long process.

Still, standards-based programs are the way of the future and you might want to start thinking about using one of these standards to improve your program. There are a lot of variables that go into that decision and I'll try to write about them in either a blog or newsletter. Meanwhile, you might want to check out my August 5 blog, "Who Needs Standards?"

My personal preference? Well, that's a bit irrelevant because you need to pick the standard that's right for you. I've worked with NFPA 1600 for years, although I have not reviewed the 2010 version yet, and I've just received some training on the ASIS standard. Both are good and both have their pros and cons. I haven't reviewed the British standard because it was cost prohibitive. I note that they're charging $40 for the privilege of downloading an electronic review version – that's actually a bargain compared to what they normally charge - but with two good standards available for free why bother?

The Zombies Strike Back!

Posted on October 5, 2009 by Lucien Canton | Posted in WeblogsLeave a Comment on The Zombies Strike Back!

This seems to be the season for zombies. After writing my article in August, I've noticed them cropping up just about everywhere. Woody Harrelson's Zombieland is in theaters and doing well. Scott Phelps will be offering a session on zombie attacks at the upcoming   International Association of Emergency Managers conference in November. Zombies may well become the new trend in exercises. However, a little caution is always in order when you try something a bit different.

A colleague at the University of Florida, Doug Johnson, developed a pretty good disaster preparedness exercise  based on a zombie attack. The exercise was designed to spark discussion among planners while being a bit light-hearted. Unfortunately, the local and national  news media got wind of it (months after it was posted in June) and initially thought that the UF was really preparing for a zombie attack. The story even merited a blurb in US News and World Report. You can imagine the concern that generated with UF officials!The good news is that media reports eventually got it right and Doug even got a good interview out of it. Still, the UF administration has pulled the disaster scenarios from its e-Learning Support Services website.

The caveat here is that when you do something a bit on the wild side, think about how it will look to outsiders. Make sure you do a little preparation ahead of time, such as briefing your superiors and having some media announcements ready to go. This is not the time to maintain the "zombie silence" advocated in Scott Kenemore's The Zen of Zombie!  

Mind Your Bizness Interview

Posted on September 28, 2009 by Lucien Canton | Posted in WeblogsLeave a Comment on Mind Your Bizness Interview

Mind Your Bizness is an online radio & TV show focusing on "EduTaining" content for entrepreneurs and microbusinesses. Today and tomorrow, September 28-29, you can hear an interview where I discuss some ideas of about developing effective business continuity programs and the importance of understanding corporate culture and adding value through your program You can find the interview at Mind Your Bizness

The Power of Ideas

Posted on September 24, 2009 by Lucien Canton | Posted in WeblogsLeave a Comment on The Power of Ideas

Ever been at a meeting where some poor soul was put in their place with the comment, "that's a really dumb idea"? Now, I've heard some real winners in my time, it's true, but you might want to be a bit more charitable next time.

Last Thursday was the 150th anniversary of the ascession of Norton I, Emperor of the United States and Protector of Mexico. A well-respected businessman, Joshua Norton tried to corner the market on imported rice in Gold Rush San Francisco. He went bankrupt when a large shipment arrived unexpectedly and the price of rice plummeted. A few years later in 1859, he walked into the San Francisco Bulletin and gave the editor a notice for publication declaring himself Norton I, Emperor of the United States. It being a slow news day, the editor decided on a whim to print the notice.

The people of San Francisco loved it. For the next 21 years, Norton dined at the finest restaurants without charge, had a box at the opera, and was treated with appropriate respect by the citizens of the City. To support himself, he levied taxes and printed his own currency which was accepted everywhere in the City. When he died, his funeral cortege was 2 miles long. You can read more at the San Francisco Chronicle.

Saturday, September 19th, was another zany anniversary, International Talk Like a Pirate ay. The day started as an inside joke between two friends in 1995 but began to gain traction after the two sent a letter to a humor columnist who – you guessed it – publicized it on a whim. It's now international in scope and making the two guys some cash on books, videos,T-shirts and other memorabilia. It helps that they've got a catchy catchy theme song! 

So what's all this got to do with emergency management? Well, it's actual more about ideas. Norton and our two friends admittedly got some free publicity but the more important thing is that their crazy ideas resonated with people. In a speech to the Intenational Association of Emergency Managers conference, Dr. Dennis Mileti discussed why our preparedness messages are not successful and the concept of milling – the tendency of people to reinforce their beliefs through contact with others who hold similar ideas. Maybe it's time to start asking why our messages don't resonate with the public and ask what we can do differently.

And be nice to the next person who brings you a crazy idea!  

What do zombies and pandemic flu have in common?

Posted on August 28, 2009 by Lucien Canton | Posted in Weblogs1 Comment on What do zombies and pandemic flu have in common?

No, I'm not having a meltdown here. And while the question is a bit tongue-in-cheek, it is serious…well, sort of, anyway.

Are you getting just a bit burned out on H1N1 planning and finding that people just aren't feeling the old fire in your exercises? Here's a new approach you might try – using zombies as a metaphor for pandemic.

Scot Phelps, Associate Professor of Emergency Management at Southern Connecticut State University, did just that in a presentation titled "Zombie Attack: Applying Business Continuity Professional Practices to Attacks by the Undead" at the 2009 Continuity Insights Management Conference. Phelps based his exercise on a novel, World War Z , and considered the global impact of a virus that turned infected people into zombies. You can find an article about his session,Zombie Attack by Buffy Rojas, in the May/June issue of Continuity Insights .

Shortly after I read the article, my friend Art Taber sent me a link to research done at the University of Ottowa: When Zombies Attack!: Mathematical Modelling of an Outbreak of Zombie Infection. I'm not sure what the genesis of the paper was but it is a serious scientific paper (meaning I could understand only about a third of it!) that demonstrates the use of mathematical modelling in the biological sciences.

So what's the point of all this? It's simple – sometimes our familiarity with a problem constrains our creativity in solving it. It's one of the reasons we use varied scenarios in our exercises. Using something unusual like zombies or alien spaceships (I used to threaten my San Francisco team with this scenario) can force you to take a fresh look at how you deal with crisis and reinforce the importance of functional planning versus scenario-based planning.

If nothing else, think of the fun you'll have!

Why is it so hard to accept help?

Posted on August 18, 2009 by Lucien Canton | Posted in WeblogsLeave a Comment on Why is it so hard to accept help?

There was an interesting article in the San Francisco Chronicle on Saturday about the Taiwanese government finally agreeing to accept international aid for Typhoon Morakot. Sadly, we've seen this sort of thing before in numerous instances such as Cyclone Nargis in Burma last year or during the Indian Ocean tsunami in 2004. There seems to be a reluctance on the part of some countries to accept international assistance during a crisis.

Before we starting discounting this reluctance as a cultural phenomenon tied to the Asian concept of face, we need to take a look a bit closer to home. My own city of San Francisco refuses to take mutual aid seriously. One high ranking official even scoffed to the press, "we give mutual aid; we don't take it." I once saw a member of a public safety department hammered by his department head in the EOC because he had placed some outside mutual aid resources on alert in error. I've also seen departments within the same jurisdiction reluctant to ask another for help.

So it makes you wonder whether this reluctance to accept help in emergencies is a common trait we all share. We all want to believe we're the best, that we can handle whatever comes our way. We want to be like the guys in the commercial who get hammered, dust themselves off, and say, "I'm good." But when we let our pride and arrogance get in the way of providing needed resources to those we serve, it's time to readjust our attitude.

So are you ready to accept outside help? 

Who Needs Standards?

Posted on August 5, 2009 by Lucien Canton | Posted in WeblogsLeave a Comment on Who Needs Standards?

I just spent two and a half days getting up to speed on the new ASIS SPC.1-2009 Organizational Resilience standard. Aside from getting up close and personal with the standard, an interesting part of the course was an insight into how standards are developed and the rivalry between standards setting bodies.

We often forget that as important as standards are, they are also business products. Organizations frequently charge for you to get a peek at their standards and offer you high-priced training packages. Consultants charge for helping you implement standards. Auditors charge for certifying that you are in conformance with standards. Given all this money floating around, it should come as no surprise that standards may not always be written with your best interests in mind.

I'm not saying that it's wrong to offset the costs of developing standards by charging for them or to make money from helping to implement or certify standards. That would be a bit sanctimonious coming from a consultant who encourages the use of standards. However, there are a few caveats I'd like to suggest if you're considering using a standard:

• Don't make a standard an end in itself. Standards are tools to help improve your emergency program. Your goal in implementing a standard should not be to achieve certification under that standard but to improve your program.

• Decide which standard you're going to adopt by considering the needs of your organization and your long range goals rather basing your decision on external factors. If you work internationally, adopting an ISO (International Organization for Standardizaiton) standard might work better for you than one of the American National Standards. If you eventually want third party certification, an auditable standard may be more useful than one that does not have auditable criteria.

• Don't implement standards one by one in a vacuum. Implementing standards can consume resources, so you'll want to take a strategic approach that maximizes benefits while minimizing resource commitment.

• Provid input to standards making bodies. Standards are developed through public input to the committees that write them. If you're not happy with part of a standard, provide feedback! 

If you've read Emergency Management: Concepts and Strategies for Effective Programs,  you know that I'm a big supporter of standards. But never forget that standards are tools and, like all tools, can be misused if you don't concentrate on what you're doing!

What Do You Really Know About Disasters?

Posted on July 28, 2009 by Lucien Canton | Posted in WeblogsLeave a Comment on What Do You Really Know About Disasters?

Last week I was asked to participate in a conference by a government agency seeking to improve its emergency plans. One of the main areas of interest for the agency was identifying research topics that could help improve their plans. I'm not sure why I was invited but fortunately there were a number of well-regarded academics in the audience.

When agency representatives gave the results of their "literature review" we were stunned to learn that they had essentially ignored over fifty years of research into emergency preparedness and response in the social sciences. They just didn't realize it existed.

That got me thinking that the same is really true for a lot of my colleagues in the public and private sector as well. It certainly was for me until a few years ago. We began our professional training at a time when you pretty much learned "on the job" and transferred skills you had acquired in other professions. Consequently, a lot of what we think we know about disasters and how people deal with them is at odds with what research suggests really happens.

Emergency management is still very much an emerging profession. It's only recently that we have seen the emergence of degree programs and academic journals dedicated to our profession. Much of the research that forms the knowledge base for our profession is scattered through academic journals in many disciplines, such as sociology, law, public administration, history and scientific disciplines. This makes it even more important for us as emergency management professionals to have at least a general understanding of this specialized body of knowledge. For our clients and the people we serve, we are their only gateway to this information.

So what can you do about it? I suggest starting with Facing the Unexpected: Disaster Preparedness and Response in the United States by my friend Kathleen Tierney and her colleagues Michael Lindell and Ronald Perry. They summarize sociological research up to about 2000 in way that is easily accessible to non-academics. I can almost guarantee you'll be surprised at what you don't know. I'd also consider a subscription to the Journal of Emergency Management or the on-line Journal of Homeland Security and Emergency Management. These can be a bit intimidating, as they are peer reviewed academic journals, but I think you'll find worth your time.

A Lesson in Reputation Management or A Bard’s Revenge

Posted on July 16, 2009 by Lucien Canton | Posted in WeblogsLeave a Comment on A Lesson in Reputation Management or A Bard’s Revenge

As a consultant, I read a lot of newsletters and blogs related to my areas of interest or expertise to try and stay current. One of my favorite commentators is Jonathan Bernstein, of Berstein Crisis Management, Inc. I highly recommend his newsletter and blog.

 

His latest post shows what can happen to your reputation if you truly anger a person who writes songs for a living.

http://bernsteincrisismanagement.blogspot.com/2009/07/united-breaks-guitars-wrong-way-crisis.html

Enjoy!

 

Lu