Incident Commander: Toward Effective First Decisions

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Author(s): Amy Wenxuan Ding (University of Illinois, USA)
Copyright: 2009
Pages: 12
Source title: Social Computing in Homeland Security: Disaster Promulgation and Response
Source Author(s)/Editor(s): Amy Wenxuan Ding (University of Illinois, USA)
DOI: 10.4018/978-1-60566-228-2.ch007

Keywords: Information Science Reference / IT Security and Ethics / Media & Communications / Social Networking

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Abstract

In natural or human-induced emergencies, decisions made during the very first minutes and hours are critical to successful damage control, the prevention of casualties and structural losses, and ultimately the overall resolution of the disaster (Asaeda, 2002; Aylwin et al., 2006). In the Three Mile Island nuclear accident, for example, the response efforts in the early stages included a serious mistake; as many investigations have noted, without this mistake, Three Mile Island would have been limited to a relatively insignificant incident (The President’s Commission Report, 1980). However, the initial information in emergency situations often is unclear and limited, which can lead to different interpretations of the problem. During the first few minutes of the Three Mile Island nuclear accident, more than 100 alarms went off, and there was no system for suppressing the unimportant signals so that operators could concentrate on the significant ones. That is, the information was not presented in a clear or sufficiently understandable manner. Although warnings displayed the pressure and temperature within the eactor coolant system, there was no direct indication that the combination of pressure and temperature would mean that the cooling water was turning into steam. Rather than adding cooling water then, the operators (or those who supervised them) turned off the pumps—a seriously poor decision. Obviously, understanding differences makes a difference. Different response methods may result in different resolutions, and a deficient response may increase losses.

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