Share these talks and lectures with your colleagues
Invite colleaguesCase study
A whole city approach to mass casualty planning
Journal of Business Continuity & Emergency Planning,
14
(2),
122-135
(2020)
Abstract
Traditionally, the response to mass casualty incidents has focused on the front line. However, effective management of these incidents relies on the seamless coordination of emergency, municipal and community services activities. The coordinated, complex planning required for response and recovery requires a holistic planning perspective, extensive engagement and collaborative problem-solving approach. This case study looks at the challenges, opportunities and solutions encountered by the Calgary Emergency Management and Calgary Police Service in its collective planning process for mass casualty incidents. The intent of Calgary’s mass casualty incident plan is to provide an overarching framework to outline how all of the individual organisational plans come into effect to provide comprehensive response and recovery efforts. It does not provide an in-depth look at the frontline emergency services response, but rather looks at how these critical efforts can work in conjunction with a range of additional municipal, private and non-governmental agencies to provide for the full spectrum of needs victims, families and the community will have during and following a mass casualty incident.
Keywords: mass casualty; collaboration; emergency and disaster management; response planning
The full article is available to subscribers to the journal.
Author's Biography
Tabitha Beaton is a planner with the Calgary Emergency Management Agency. She is responsible for planning associated with mass casualty incidents and emerging emergency management issues. She has led issues and crisis management, strategic planning and multi-agency projects with emergency services across Alberta for the past 20 years.
Katherine Severson leads the Emergency Management Unit within the Major Events Section of the Calgary Police Service. She serves as Police Tactical Operations Center Manager for major policing incidents and has been the police agency representative in the City of Calgary Emergency Operations Center for most major incidents since 2010. She is a member of the Incident Management Team in Canada Taskforce 2’s Disaster Response Team and has served in incident management roles for various events and incidents. Katherine teaches incident management, interoperability in incident command and rescue taskforce response for the four emergency service agencies. Katherine co-hosted the 2016 Calgary Symposium on Mass Casualty Incidents, and has presented at numerous conferences. She is trained in disaster risk reduction and qualified as a Business Continuity professional. She has received the Chief’s Lifesaving Award and the Canadian Police Exemplary Service Medal.
Citation
Beaton, Tabitha and Severson, Katherine (2020, December 1). A whole city approach to mass casualty planning. In the Journal of Business Continuity & Emergency Planning, Volume 14, Issue 2. https://doi.org/10.69554/FNER8617.
© Henry Stewart
Publications LLP
Publications LLP