I NSARAG OPERATIONS WORKING GROUP – MARCH 17TH –

2004_INSARAG_Steering_Committee_Meeting_Participants_List_English
ANNUAL MEETING OF INSARAG USAR TEAM LEADERS STRATFORD UNITED
APPENDIX A INSARAG STEERING COMMITTEE MEETING DOMINICAN REPUBLIC 25

I NSARAG OPERATIONS WORKING GROUP – MARCH 17TH –
I NTERNATIONAL SEARCH AND RESCUE ADVISORY GROUP INSARAG REGIONAL
INSARAG AFRICAEUROPE REGIONAL MEETING TUNIS TUNISIA 2021 SEPTEMBER 2006

I NSARAG

Operations Working Group – March 17^th – 19^th, 23^rd – 25^th 2012

OPERATIONS WORKING GROUP (WG)

Executive Summary and Meeting Notes

Surfers Paradise, Gold Coast, Australia

March 17^th-19^th, 23^rd – 25^th 2012

OWG Members:

Working Group Members attending:

David Norlin (Chair, Sweden)

Tsukasa Katsube (Asia Pacific, Japan)

Alan Toh (Asia Pacific, Singapore)

Sebastian Mocarquer (Americas, Chile)

Peter Crook (Europe/Africa/Middle East, UK)

Steve Smith (Asia Pacific, Australia)

Apologies from: Ulf Langemeier (Europe/Africa/Middle East, Germany)

The meeting in Gold Coast was generously hosted and coordinated by AusAID.

Agenda

Adoption of Agenda
Opening and Welcome
Presentation of Meeting Schedule and Objectives
Presentation of achievements since last meetings
Working Sessions; Various
Planning of coming activities; homework, regional meetings, working group meetings
Update of Task List and Timeline
Completion of Chairman’s Summary
Meeting Closure

Meeting Notes

Day 1 – Saturday 17^th March – OWG Meeting

09:00 Both Working Groups met in the QT hotels conference facilities and immediately began work. Nihan Erdogan (FCSS) spent time with both groups.

The meeting agenda was explained by the Chairman and adopted.

Details of the meeting schedule and objectives were discussed and agreed, the main issue initially is to ensure the OWG workshops during the TL meeting are successful and presented well. There was also a discussion about the Padang exercise and using this as a test of some of the new methodology.

The Steering Group meeting outcomes were explained briefly by NE and the Chairman and the possible implications of the INSARAG review were discussed. The Chairman also explained that the annual report and Technical Note submitted to the SG were well received but not formally endorsed. This was because the Team leaders meeting had not yet seen the details of the first work cycle, this will happen at the Brisbane TL meeting.

Overview of Progress

The main progress made since the last meeting was the work done to complete the Technical Note and the progress made on developing the information management tools. There has also been some progress on the potential use of the VO as an operational platform but this is subject to outside factors.

The work done on the information management tools (forms, templates, checklists, guidelines) was then reviewed in some detail. A mini floor plan exercise was done to test how the tools aligned with the coordination structure and information flow and the content and relevance of every tool was reviewed. Several changes and improvements were made and the group got a very clear picture of how the whole system worked.

UCC Structure and Staffing

There was a discussion on the structure and staffing of the UCC. It was agreed that the staffing was the critical factor in the success of the UCC concept. The core staff of a UCC need to be experienced and current USAR and coordination experts capable of managing a dynamic and challenging coordination task. They should be active senior USAR team managers attached to IEC classified teams. It was agreed that the UCC staff would need:-

A UCC Manager and possibly a deputy
Planning officer(s)
Operations officer(s)
ICT support

It was also agreed that the UCC team would need to bring its own equipment so it could operate unsupported if necessary although it is recognised that they would always be a part of the OSOCC.

There are various options for the numbers of people needed and how they are provided:-

Option 1: A specialist, trained UCC team from a single country/team, fully staffed with 6-8 people.
Option 2: A pair of smaller specialist UCC trained teams that join up and probably work in two shifts, again a total of 6-8 people.
Option 3: A group of individuals contributed by the first 6-8 arriving IEC teams who form up a UCC team at the time, again 6-8 people.
Option 4: A dedicated core team of UCC trained specialists, probably 4 people, who are supported by 2-4 people from the arriving IEC teams to provide additional capacity.

The advantages and disadvantages of each model were discussed which led to the conclusion that Option 1 is the most operationally effective and should be the preferred model. Options 2 and 4 have some disadvantages but could potentially be overcome. Option 3 is not recommended; the weaknesses of an ad hoc team have been proven before and was a key reason identifying the need for a strong coordination entity.

Sector Coordination Structure and Staffing

The view of the group was that this role, while it is important and needs specialist skills, should be done by classified teams. Many teams have sufficient personnel and team infrastructure that could carry out this role with relatively little additional training. Not all classified teams would have this capacity so a decision would need to be made on whether this becomes a mandatory requirement of classified teams or an ‘optional extra’ that some teams have. The staff needed would normally be:-

Sector Coordinator (probably the USAR Team Leader)

Sector Coordination Operations officer

Sector Coordination Planning officer

It is assumed that teams asked to carry out the SC role would not have any commitment to the RDC or interim OSOCC.

1830: Meeting closed

Day 2 – Sunday 18^th March – OWG Meeting

08:30: Meeting commenced.

Work continued on the items shown on day 1. The group spent the remainder of the day preparing three workshops for presentation at the Team Leaders meeting. The chairman also prepared an introduction presentation and the group planned the structure for the workshops. There were several discussions clarifying specific items and ensuring the three main presentations were fully coordinated.

Further work was done on refining the IM tools with some forms redesigned and merged, one new tool added and a medical handover form added.

At the end of the day the group reviewed all three draft presentations.

1715: Meeting closed

Day 3 – Monday 19^th March – OWG Meeting

08:30: Meeting commenced.

Work continued on the presentations for the workshops with them being finalised and shared with the group. The planning for the workshops was also finalised and room preparation, documentations and visual aids arranged.

Several interactions with the TWG and MWG were held throughout the week.

1715: Meeting Closed

Day 4 - Tuesday 20^th March - Team Leaders Meeting

OWG members participated in the TL meeting. The Chairman gave an overview to the TL meeting on the progress the OWG was making and explained the plan to present three workshops on the detailed work so far completed and pending.

The group made final plans for the presentations.

Day 5 - Wednesday 21^st March – Team Leaders Meeting

After an introduction to the overall methodology the group split into three teams and spent the morning presenting a series of three workshops to the Team Leaders meeting on: -

- Coordination Methodology

- Assessment Search and Rescue Levels

- Information Management Tools

A room with all the documentation, guides and forms was also set up with everything displayed which was available for the remaining one and a half days of the meeting. Participants were encouraged to make any comments on these documents.

The feedback was generally extremely positive, the main message from the TLs was to implement the system as soon as possible. The main modifications to be addressed were around how enhanced USAR coordination capacity is added to an OSOCC in the most effective way. This item is now a priority for the next work cycle.

Day 6 – Thursday 22^nd March – Team Leaders Meeting

Following the feedback from the workshops and participants comments the OWG members agreed some modifications to the system and also identified some details for future work. The feedback and these changes were presented to the main TL meeting and it was proposed that the details in the Technical Note, with the changes agreed by the TLs, should be approved by the Team Leaders meeting and that OWG would continue with development of the methodology and implementation of the items so far agreed. This was agreed by the meeting.

Day 7 – Friday 23^rd March – OWG Meeting

08:30: Meeting commenced.

All the feedback and changes as determined by the TLs meeting were reviewed and work started to incorporate the changes agreed by the meeting.

There were also discussions on future implementation, exercises and meetings.

OWG reviewed the full list of all work package items to determine the priorities and next steps. These were:-

Work Package Items	Status	Comments
Coordination Structure	Well developed with most aspects agreed. The UC concept, staffing and name needs further work and modification.	Ongoing
Coordination Guides	Well developed, will only need reviewing to ensure the tools and names are in line with the changes being made elsewhere.	Ongoing
Team ID Naming Convention	This is now fully developed with a convention for issuing Team IDs to non IEC teams agreed and added to the Technical Note.	Complete
Sectorisation	Well developed but with a need to consider the addition of some details about the possible use of divisions or sub sectors.	Ongoing
Sector ID	Fully developed and agreed	Complete
Worksite ID	Fully developed and agreed	Complete
Marking System	A new marking system has been developed and agreed by the OWG. It will need further consultation with stakeholders as the methodology is disseminated.	Ongoing
Roles and Responsibilities of USAR coordination roles	Many of these have been done as part of the Coordination Guides but more work is needed for the generic coordination roles that will be finalised as part of the overall coordination methodology.	Ongoing
Assessment, Search and Rescue Levels	Fully developed and agreed. There will just need to be a review of the technical not to ensure any changes of names and tools made elsewhere in the project are aligned.	Ongoing
Information Management Tools	Well developed but with ongoing review and modification to finalise them.	Ongoing
VO	Specific work done to identify the IM tools that will interact with the VO, what is needed, what is to be archived etc.	Ongoing
IM backroom tools	It is identified that there is a need for tools that will collect and process all the information to make it usable and available to all stakeholders.	Ongoing
Use of Social Media	This is being done in close cooperation with Gisli Olafson	Ongoing
Communication	The Team ID convention will dictate the callsigns to be used. Guidance on communication will be part of the implementation plan and the guidance for application.	Ongoing
Guidance for Application	This is a work package for later consideration. It will be a combination of most of the guidance being written for each areas and probably an overall guidance note.	Future work package
Implementation Plan	An outline implementation guide and timeline for the new methodology. The first plan is written but will be regularly reviewed.	Ongoing
Exercise Planning	Work is needed, as part of the implementation plan, to integrate into exercises to test the methodology. The Padang exercise is the first target for this but other opportunities are needed in future.	Ongoing
Integration with UNDAC	It is acknowledged that any new methodology needs to be integrated into UNDAC systems and future UNDAC training. To address this issue it was agreed by FCSS to add a new (UNDAC) member with to the OWG to address this. Ramiro Galvez from USA was appointed and welcomed to the group.	Future work package

17:45: Meeting Closed

Day 8 – Saturday 24^th March – OWG Meeting

0830: Meeting Commenced

The group continued working all day on the various work packages with group discussions, team working and individual working to make progress.

A meeting was held with members of the TWG to investigate the Padang regional EQ exercise and how OWG can test parts of the new methodology. There were concerns about the AP regional exercise in Padang not having the capacity or flexibility to accommodate a realistic test of the new methodology. FCSS will be consulted on the exact programme to establish this before the OWG commit to attending the exercise.

1630: Meeting Closed

Day 9 – Sunday 25^th March – OWG Meeting

0830: Meeting Commenced

The group quickly reviewed progress in all the areas and continued to progress their various work packages.

Detailed work on new marking system was undertaken by group discussion with a draft system agreed. Work was then continued on the details.

The implementation plan and two year timeline was discussed and agreed by the group.

The Information Management backroom tools concept was discussed and agreed in principle. There was also review of all the IM tools and forms that had been revised and rationalised so the overall IM system could be seen as a whole. This was agreed by the group.

A meeting and discussion was held with the TWG to go through the latest developments and to get their feedback.

Plans for future OWG meetings and events were discussed and agreed as follows:-

Next OWG Meeting is planned for the Asia Pacific regional exercise in May/June, to be confirmed subject to capacity to test the new methodology
The possibility of using the Americas Regional EQ exercise was also explored, TBD
The third meeting of this cycle will probably be in November/December, location is yet to be decided
There is also a need for a table top exercise to test the whole system late in the timeline

The Chairman’s summary was reviewed by the group and finalised

17:00: Meeting Closed

Acknowledgements

The group would like to express it’s thanks to Queensland Fire and Rescue Service and AusAID for the outstanding support throughout the event.

David Norlin

OWG Chairman

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