Partnerships, Professionalism and Practice

- by Dr. Thomas D. Phelan

In early February there was a train crash in Syracuse, New York. A passenger train ran into the back of a freight train headed in the same direction on the same track. It was mid-morning on a weekday. Approximately 60 passengers were injured, none life threatening, but several were folks with disabilities or physical handicaps. Response was excellent, and from all accounts to date, the Onondaga County Multiple Casualties Incident plan (MCI) worked very well. In Central New York we take drills and exercises seriously. Emergency responders, mostly EMS ambulance crews and firefighters, were well schooled in handling such an event. The Incident Commander, Chief of the Lyncourt Fire Department, demonstrated a better than working knowledge of the Incident Command System, and resources from several responding companies were well coordinated. One, in particular, is worthy of note. About a mile, as the crow flies, from the scene is the Carrier Corporation industrial complex. At that complex there is an Advanced Life Support Unit with a trained crew. Amongst the resending rescue crews was a crew from Carrier. Yes, business and industry stepped up to the plate to assist. Sammy Suriani, an extremely community conscious Physician’s Assistant at Carrier has been an active participant in our county Disaster Preparedness Committee and a class member in the Public Safety Critical Incident Management Course at our Onondaga County Public Safety Training Center. He and others from Carrier and other industries have a genuine interest in partnering with the Emergency Management community. In all, the incident was handled masterfully. The plan worked, the training paid off and the partnership proved effective. Did you catch that? Industry responded. They’re playing in the game!

This is but one incident in which partnerships between the private sector and the public emergency management sector paid dividends. There were also many helpers at the scene from Syracuse China, located adjacent to the railroad track on which the incident occurred. Across the nation, similar partnerships are bearing fruit. PPBI encourages such partnerships through our training programs. Our flagship course, Fundamentals of Disaster Recovery Planning & Emergency Management Practices has been offered at several Disaster Recovery Journal seminars, both in San Diego and Orlando. It is now available in its entirety on VHS video. We encourage new professionals to take this course and learn the fundamentals and hear about successful partnerships. Next fall, in Orlando, we’ll offer a new course in Emergency Operations Center Management. We’ll continue our practice of recruiting instructors with actual EOC experiences to share. Sarah Knowles, Manager of Compensation, Federated Department Stores, in New Jersey, commented after taking our fundamentals course in Orlando last fall, “Nothing beats the live show that the two of you put on.” Deidrich Towne, PPBI Chairman, Gary Villeneuve, and I appreciate the comment and have tried to capture that live environment on the video version.

OUR READERS RESPOND TO TITLES IN THE PROFESSION
Gary Aydelott, Account Representative/Project Manager, Dialogic Communications Corporation, emailed us to ask for a copy of our list of 107 position titles. He commented, “These people are difficult to locate. If you call and ask for the person in charge of Business Continuity, Business Contingency, Disaster Recovery, Emergency Management, or any of the titles you listed, the receptionist will be stumped. They will transfer you to Security first, then to Risk Management, then to the HR department.”
Bert Linkonis, Senior Contingency Planner, LOGTEC, of Fairborn , Ohio, in his email, said, “Your article in the recent issue of DRJ sparked my interest. I would like to see a standardization of titles across the board. That would imply some kind of standardization or uniformity throughout the discipline…getting to the business of getting the business back in business once it has experienced a catastrophic event.” Bert suggested a structure for starting with core titles and then adding certain qualifiers. He would also like to see a salary survey. PPBI suggests readers contact Cheyene Haase at BC Management who has conducted some surveys in our field (chaase@bcmanagement.net). Bert also commented on a career path and a measure of skills, possibly those required to become certified as a Business Continuity Professional.
We appreciate the correspondence and your interest in partnerships. The dialogue is growing. The profession will benefit.

Dr. Phelan is a Board Member of PPBI and a PPBI Instructor; Treasurer, Business Network of Emergency Resources, Inc.; and an active member of the American Red Cross Disaster Services Human Resource Team and the National Disaster Mortuary Operational Resource Team (D-MORT Command).
PPBI is interested in your thoughts on what we’ve observed with respect to position titles and the development of our profession. Please send your thoughts to me via e-mail at phelant@niagaramohawk.com. I’ll send you the list of 107 titles.

©Copyright 2000 Systems Support Inc. All rights reserved. Reproduction in whole or in part in any form or medium without the express written permission of System Support Inc. is prohibited.

«BACK to the Articles Index