Improving emergency response through cognitive task analysis
Borell, Jonas LU
and Eriksson, Kerstin
LU
(2007)
14th TIEMS Annual Conference, 2007
p.568-574
- Abstract
- Society has a responsibility to aid its citizens in case of emergency. This calls for planning
and preparations. However, societal emergency response activities are not always fully
effective. This might be due to suboptimal emergency planning and preparations, with some
planned response actions not working as intended. For example, it is possible that some
actions show to be ‘over-planned’ with too much content detail, while other actions show a
lack of adequate drill or information support. Each emergency has its own specific
characteristics, and good emergency response demands conscious thought processes for
guiding the interaction between the response and the dynamic course... (More) - Society has a responsibility to aid its citizens in case of emergency. This calls for planning
and preparations. However, societal emergency response activities are not always fully
effective. This might be due to suboptimal emergency planning and preparations, with some
planned response actions not working as intended. For example, it is possible that some
actions show to be ‘over-planned’ with too much content detail, while other actions show a
lack of adequate drill or information support. Each emergency has its own specific
characteristics, and good emergency response demands conscious thought processes for
guiding the interaction between the response and the dynamic course of events. Yet, some
response generated demands almost always arise during emergencies (Quarantelli, 1997), and
such demands should preferably be handled automatically. Thus there is a need for a mix of
conscious and automatic processes during emergency response. Conscious processing has the
ability to adapt to the present situation, but is relatively slow and confined to one thing at a
time. Automatic processes are relatively fast and can operate in parallel, but can not be
adapted to the situation. The question is which task belongs on which level. Rasmussen
(1983) described a model over different cognitive performance levels, linking control mode
(automatic vs. conscious) to situation (routine vs. novel problems). We believe that
Rasmussen’s ideas can be used throughout the emergency planning and response processes to
sort tasks in accordance with their probable optimal mental control modes. Based on a study
of emergency planning and response activities in the Swedish city of Malmö we propose and
discuss an algorithm for guiding the selection of appropriate competence types for different
tasks. (Less)
Please use this url to cite or link to this publication:
https://lup.lub.lu.se/record/600228
- author
- Borell, Jonas
LU
and Eriksson, Kerstin
LU
- organization
- publishing date
- 2007
- type
- Chapter in Book/Report/Conference proceeding
- publication status
- published
- subject
- keywords
- planning, conscious processes, emergency response, training, automatic processes, task analysis
- host publication
- 14th TIEMS Annual Conference 2007 Book of Proceedings
- editor
- Jones, Alan
- pages
- 568 - 574
- publisher
- The International Emergency Management Society
- conference name
- 14th TIEMS Annual Conference, 2007
- conference location
- Trogir, Croatia
- conference dates
- 2007-06-05 - 2007-06-08
- project
- FRIVA
- language
- English
- LU publication?
- yes
- id
- 4c73b34b-2604-45f9-989e-b9f410756ea1 (old id 600228)
- date added to LUP
- 2016-04-04 11:57:37
- date last changed
- 2025-04-04 15:22:58
@inproceedings{4c73b34b-2604-45f9-989e-b9f410756ea1,
abstract = {{Society has a responsibility to aid its citizens in case of emergency. This calls for planning<br/><br>
and preparations. However, societal emergency response activities are not always fully<br/><br>
effective. This might be due to suboptimal emergency planning and preparations, with some<br/><br>
planned response actions not working as intended. For example, it is possible that some<br/><br>
actions show to be ‘over-planned’ with too much content detail, while other actions show a<br/><br>
lack of adequate drill or information support. Each emergency has its own specific<br/><br>
characteristics, and good emergency response demands conscious thought processes for<br/><br>
guiding the interaction between the response and the dynamic course of events. Yet, some<br/><br>
response generated demands almost always arise during emergencies (Quarantelli, 1997), and<br/><br>
such demands should preferably be handled automatically. Thus there is a need for a mix of<br/><br>
conscious and automatic processes during emergency response. Conscious processing has the<br/><br>
ability to adapt to the present situation, but is relatively slow and confined to one thing at a<br/><br>
time. Automatic processes are relatively fast and can operate in parallel, but can not be<br/><br>
adapted to the situation. The question is which task belongs on which level. Rasmussen<br/><br>
(1983) described a model over different cognitive performance levels, linking control mode<br/><br>
(automatic vs. conscious) to situation (routine vs. novel problems). We believe that<br/><br>
Rasmussen’s ideas can be used throughout the emergency planning and response processes to<br/><br>
sort tasks in accordance with their probable optimal mental control modes. Based on a study<br/><br>
of emergency planning and response activities in the Swedish city of Malmö we propose and<br/><br>
discuss an algorithm for guiding the selection of appropriate competence types for different<br/><br>
tasks.}},
author = {{Borell, Jonas and Eriksson, Kerstin}},
booktitle = {{14th TIEMS Annual Conference 2007 Book of Proceedings}},
editor = {{Jones, Alan}},
keywords = {{planning; conscious processes; emergency response; training; automatic processes; task analysis}},
language = {{eng}},
pages = {{568--574}},
publisher = {{The International Emergency Management Society}},
title = {{Improving emergency response through cognitive task analysis}},
url = {{https://lup.lub.lu.se/search/files/5894885/600284.pdf}},
year = {{2007}},
}