Table Of Content

Emergency response operations are complex. The work in connection T Stefan Svensson (editor), Erik Cedergårdh, a c Ola Mårtensson, Thomas Winnberg with emergency response operations must be based on the need for t i c s assistance. There are resources available which must be managed , c o Tactics, and applied expediently. Decisions must be based on solid evidence m m and take into account resources, damage, injury, the object and the a assistance need in general. Making them demands knowledge and n d , command, experience. The purpose is to meet the needs for assistance resulting l e a from incidents or accidents, or the impending danger of such. d e Tactics, command, leadership presents, discusses and exemplifies r s leadership h the experiences of municipal rescue services and the results of scien- ip tific research from many different perspectives. This book is princi- pally aimed at management staff in municipal structures for providing rescue services. It is primarily oriented towards education activities within rescue service agencies but is also applicable to active rescue service personnel and other interested parties. Swedish Civil Contingencies Agency (MSB) SE-651 81 Karlstad, Sweden Phone +46 (0)771-240 240 www.msbmyndigheten.se Publ.nr MSB 0068-09 ISBN 978-91-7383-031-7 MSB Stefan Svensson (editor) Erik Cedergårdh Ola Mårtensson Thomas Winnberg Tactics, command, leadership Swedish Civil Contingencies Agency Reproduction of the contents of this book, in whole or in part, without the expressed written permission of the Swedish Civil Contingencies Agency is prohibited by the Swedish Act on Copyrights in Literary and Artistic Works (1960:792). The prohibition applies to all reproduction by printing, copying, recording, etc. Tactics, command, leadership Original title: Taktik, ledning, ledarskap (published 2005) Authors: Stefan Svensson (editor), Erik Cedergårdh, Ola Mårtensson, Thomas Winnberg Linguistics: Anna-Lena Göransson Translation editor: James Butler Translation: Interverbum Graphic design: Karin Rehman Art editor: Kristina Malmstedt-Svensson Illustrations: Per Hardestam Cover photo: Peter Lundgren, Swedish Civil Contingencies Agency Other photos, see page 251 Printer: AB Danagårds grafiska Year of publication: 2009 Order number: MSB 0068-09 ISBN: 978-91-7383-031-7 © 2005, Stefan Svensson, Erik Cedergårdh, Ola Mårtensson, Thomas Winnberg and the Swedish Civil Contingencies Agency Table of Contents Preface 7 1. Introduction 10 Tactical approach 11 Flexible configuration 13 Utilising resources 17 Perceiving situations 18 Making decisions 19 Individuals and group members 21 Satisfying needs for assistance 22 2. The problem 25 3. Emergency response operations with the focus on the need of assistance 34 Definition of emergency response operations 34 Example 1 36, Example 2 39, Example 3 40 Objects and damage/injury 42 Example 4 43 Fire chief and incident commanders 44 4. Leading and being led 48 Labour legislation and labour management legislation 48 Working environment responsibility 52 Delegation, decisions and exercise of authority 54 5. Organisations, groups, leaders 60 Organisations 61 Groups 64 Group norms 67, Group size 69 Leaders 70 Example 5 74, Leadership qualties 75 6. Decisions and decision making 81 Dynamic decision making 83 Experts and novices 84 Working with decisions in groups 86 Example 6 87 Distributed decision-making 90 Stress 92 Ethics, morals and values 96 Reality’s need for decisions 99 7. Time and space 103 Time 103 Space 104 Example 7 106 Dynamics 108 Time and space perception 110 Delays 113 Example 8 115, Example 9 116 Restrictions in time and space 117 Resource growth and completion of operations 1 23 The location of the command post 1 24 Example 10 127 Situation perception 1 26 Example 11 129, Example 12 132 8. Meeting the need for assistance 134 The damage and the object 136 Example 13 137, Example 14 139, Example 15 140 Measures 139 The time constants of measures 143 Example 16 146 Measures in a problem solving system 1 47 Units 1 50 Tasks 155 The effective use of resources 156 Example 17 157 Complex systems 160 Standard operating procedures 1 62 Example 18 164 Principles for the effective use of resources 1 65 Example 19 169, Example 20 172, Example 21 175 9. Organising and managing emergency response operations 177 Command activities 177 Operations and turn-out services 178 The command system 182 Command system levels 182 Decision domains 183 System command 186, Operational command 189, Example 22 190, Example 23 192, Example 24 193, Example 25 194, Task command 194, Example 26 195 Role logic 196 Time scales 198 Example 27 200 Organisation 201 Command capacity 202 Example 28 205 A flexible approach to meeting the need for assistance 207 Example 29 208 Example 30 212 Example 31 213 Example 32 217 Example 33 220 10. Gaining and maintaining control 222 Control 222 Conditions for control 225 Goal condition 225, Observation condition 226, Change condition 228, Example 34 229, Model condition 230 Degree of control 231 Control and decisions 233 Control and decision domains 234 Control, anticipation and concluding 235 Example 35 238 In conclusion … 241 Bibliography 243 Subject index 249 Photo sources 251 About the authors Erik Cedergårdh is a fire safety engineer and has worked with development of command and command systems for a number of years. He actively participates in fire and rescue operations as an acting fire chief with metropolitan Göteborg’s fire brigade. He also works with development of cooperation between different organisations. Since 1996 he has participated in the national development of muni cipal structures for providing rescue services in several different pro jects for the Swedish Rescue Services Agency, including coa uthoring Grunder för ledning on the foundations of management. Ola Mårtensson has a bachelor degree in social sciences and is a part time firefighter. He has worked as a leadership and management instructor at the Swedish Rescue Services Agency. Currently he works at an consulting firm specialising in leadership and organisational development. He is a well known and highly respected lecturer on leadership and management in the Swedish fire service. Stefan Svensson started his career as a fire fighter in the Swedish Air Force in 1986 and became a fire safety engineer in 1989. In 2002 he earned his Ph.D. at Lund University in Sweden. During the last fifteen years he has been involved in experimental and theoretical investigations on fire fighting tactics, including fire ventilation, fire suppression and command and control during fires and rescue operations. He is also involved at the local fire brigade, as a fire fighter/crew commander. Thomas Winnberg currently works as the fire chief in Kiruna. He has been working at the Södertörn Fire and Rescue Association for a number of years, as an incident commander and staff officer. His dut ies include preparedness and turnout activities. Since 1996 he has participated in the national development of municipal struc tures for providing rescue services in several different projects for the Swedish Rescue Services Agency. He is also involved in the training of personnel for international emergency response operations. Preface To the uninitiated, an emergency response operation can be per- ceived as a confusion of vehicles, equipment, personnel, smoke and injured people. There are cries for help, rescue personnel rush about with no apparent plan and vehicles are positioned more or less at haphazardly. But behind this apparent chaos, there is a plan, a thought or concept for how rescue personnel, along with their equipment, will be able to accomplish certain objectives at the incident site in a manner that is as effective as possible. The personnel are highly trained and motivation is often high. Conducting emergency response operations is based to a large extent on proven experience, and the training of rescue personnel has a substantial element of practical training. In recent years, how ever, there has been increased interest in addressing basic safety engineering problems, including those encountered in emergency response operations, in a more scientific manner based on both technical and humanistic aspects. Research, development, experience and the general flow of knowledge within the fields of tactics, management and leadership have come sufficiently far that a comprehensive approach can be appropriate. Most work in these fields is normally conducted based on the respective fields’ points of view – leadership is viewed from a leadership perspective, management from a management perspective and tactics from some sort of tactical perspective. However, there can be reason for establishing the pre- requisites for being able to crossfertilise and thereby renewing the approach to conducting emergency response operations. It is important for management staff in rescue organisations to have good knowledge and understanding of both tactics, and management and leadership. Moreover, one must have insight into how these different fields influence one another – all to be able to con- duct emergency response operations as effectively as possible. Tactics, command, leadership is primarily oriented to management staff in municipal organisations for fire and rescue services. The leadership role is often challenging, especially in conjunction with municipal structures for providing rescue services. Manage- ment staff must have considerable knowledge, and there is much 7 to keep in mind and take consideration to. Tasks in conjunction with emergency response operations are conducted against the clock and in environments with major risks. But apart from the time aspect, this leadership role does not differ in principle from leadership roles in other types of organisations. It basically con- cerns making conscious decisions and accepting the consequences of the decisions made. We have strived to address the knowledge that we consider to be fundamental for all leaders in municipal organisations for fire and rescue services. The focus is on conducting emergency response operations and the preparations that in various ways are required for this. We have written about matters that can be considered as rather obvious – emergency response operations, actions, units, duties, tactical principles, standard routines, management, management systems and leadership. But we have also strived to take up a number of less obvious but nonetheless equally important aspects. These include, for example, issues concerning time and space, situational percep- tions and situational descriptions, control problems, ethics, decisions and decision making, and labour law. It is our wish that our readers will find this both of interest and enriching, and that they will also perceive these areas’ relevance to municipal organisations for fire and rescue services. We also hope that the readers will take the opportunity to re- flect upon the book’s contents, engage themselves and help push development forward. Many people have contributed in various ways to this book. We would therefore like to thank life, Olle, Per, Pär, Jan, Lars, PA, Patrik, Britt, Ulrika, Staffan, Maria, Kristina, Ann, Gerry, Mamma, Samuel, Christian, Pia, HansGösta, Mikael, Annika, Sören, Karin, Johan, Christer, Åsa, Berndt, Thomas, Åke, Kjell, Mats, Leif, Monica, Tommy, Pappa, Helena, Dennis, AnnaLena, and not the least, all of our children and pets. Stefan Svensson Erik Cedergårdh Ola Mårtensson Thomas Winnberg 8 Preface to the English edition Although there are differences between countries and cultures, we strongly believe there are more similarities than differences within the international fire and rescue service community. We do more or less the same things, we have similar technology, we use water for fire suppression, accidents are based on the same physics and chemistry, we have the same kind of protective equipment and we are all humans with similar behaviour and mental/ physical capacity. And we are all in the need of knowledge and understanding, through training supported by experience and sci- ence in sweet harmony. We are all on the same side, no matter what side of the globe we live. This book is of course based on Swedish conditions, cultures and regulations. It was first published in Sweden in 2005 and it has been used in the training of Swedish fire officers ever since, from crew commanders to incident commanders and fire chiefs. We don’t believe it should be read from the first page to the last page. Pick out any chapter you’ll find interesting, read a couple of sen- tences or a page at the time, give it some thought, put it in the context of some incident you have responded to and then read some more. We hope the reader will find the book useful, as a source of inspi- ration for further development. Share your knowledge and experience with others and continue to develop the international fire and rescue community. Keep up the good work! The Authors 9