Hi, I’m Roger, and I’m with the State Emergency Service.
The great thing about working in emergency management is giving back to the community and working as part of a great team.
But as a Team Leader I’ve certainly had my fair share of challenging moments.
Back in December we had a serious weather event. The area experienced strong winds, severe thunderstorms and flooding.
It caused flash flooding, storm damage, power outages, and resulted in over 2,500 requests for assistance.
My team was well trained and well prepared for such an event and we responded promptly and effectively.
But when we were given the task of evacuating residents from a flooded street we discovered we didn’t have the information we needed on where the evacuation centre was or what transport was available to get people there.
I was able to share my observations after the event, as part of an after action review conducted to determine what worked well and what could be improved.
We always strive to provide the best service we can to the community within the training we’ve been provided, but it’s actually really helpful to chat openly about our experiences, what we did well and what we need to improve. At the after action review I learned so much from hearing what the other teams had learned and I’ll be able to use all that learning to ensure my team and I are better prepared for the next event.
The after action review allowed us to share our observations and experiences so we can identify and share the lessons, and then apply the knowledge gained from experience. That’s what we call lessons management.
Those lessons can make all the difference when the next event comes round.