18th World Conference on Disaster Management

As a regular attendee of the World Conference on Disaster Management (WCDM) for several years now, Omar was pleased to see the most important annual event in emergency management continue this year.

In previous years Omar had presented at the WCDM on subjects that included the SE Asian tsunami, and ethics in disasters. As part of his private consultancy, he continued training in these areas for private security agencies and governmental organizations.

Pandemic Simulation

This year he participated in a pandemic workshop sponsored by Hoffmann-La Roche Limited:

Experiencing a Pandemic: Managing a Metropolitan Crisis

Effective crisis decision-making will be essential during a pandemic event. An ineffective response will threaten the very survivability of our communities, key industries and critical infrastructure. In this computer-based simulation of a pandemic flu event in Toronto, you will participate in making interdependent crisis-decisions and experience firsthand the cascading intended and unintended consequences of your decisions in near real time.

The exercise was run by Crisis Simulations International (CSI), who describe their programs as,

…designed to build critical leadership and decision-making skills among the senior leaders who direct community resources and in whose hands lie responsibility for the safety and survival of their communities. Those skills apply to virtually any crisis those senior leaders may be called upon to face.

Omar played the role of a hospital CEO of a major health system, with facilities in Toronto and London, Ontario, where he currently resides.

Ontario Association of Emergency Managers

Omar also greeted members of the emergency management community at the Ontario Association for Emergency Managers (OAEM) booth.

The OAEM is the largest organization for interdisciplinary emergency managers in the province.

Emergency Management and the Law

One of the highlights of the conference was a session by Norm Keith, a partner with a Canadian law firm Gowling, Lafleur, Henderson.

Keith is the leader of the Occupational Health and Safety, Workers’ Compensation, and Emergency Management (“OHS”) practice group at Gowlings. He is also the author of a text, Canadian Emergency Management and Response Manual: A Guide to the Law and Practice.

Keith spoke on the importance of emergency management preparedness, and its applicability to Canadian law. He stated that a successful emergency management will
prevent and mitigate:

• Injury/illness to people
• Unwanted environmental release and human/animal exposure
• Property damage / Insurance claims
• Damage to business reputation
• Regulatory Enforcement, and
• Costs associated with the above

An effective Emergency Plan should include:
1. Purpose & Policy Statement
2. Scope
3. Definitions
4. Responsibilities
5. Equipment Maintenance & Testing Procedures
6. Employee Training
7. Procedures
8. Crisis Management
9. Testing
10. Debriefing
11. Business Continuity / Recovery
12. Records Management
13. Revision History
14. Appendices of Checklists / Forms, Audit of Building Resources

The importance in addressing all of these areas is the potential civil liability and monetary exposure to those suffering injury or property damage as a result of a disaster or emergency.

A special thanks to Michael Allison of Young Blood PR for assistance with the photos at the conference.