There Are No Emergencies, Only Unpreparedness
For Events
NOTE: This post is from one of our frequent contributors to this blog, "Birdseye59604.
Emergencies
are events with a major surprise, or an event which we don’t believe to have
control over. Emergencies are categorized on a scale at the low end of minor
emergencies to the high end of extreme emergencies. Everything else in-between
are just emergencies. What once was classified as an emergency could be prepared
for and no longer become an emergency, or an overwhelming uncontrollable event.
Emergencies are manageable to the degree of preparedness and resources allocated.
It
is impossible to prepare for all future events, but events which are prepared
for will eliminate the surprise of unpreparedness. Even if one cannot prepare
for all, one can prepare for selective events.
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| Emergencies, or non-scheduled events, are as unique as each shade of grey. |
A
rule of thumb is the 80-20 rule that states that 80% of outcomes can be
attributed to 20% of the causes for a given event. Generally, the 80-20 rule is
used to help identify problems and determine which operating factors are most
important and should receive the most attention based on an efficient use of resources.
Resources should be allocated to addressing the input factors have the most
effect on a company's final results. It was an event of the vital few which later
demanded that everyone on a passenger ship must have access to lifeboats.
The
80-20 rule is to manage and allocate resources to either the “vital few” or to
the “trivial many”. The trivial many are easy and simple tasks, which
contribute very little or none to the cause. The vital few are difficult and complex tasks
with substantial contribution to the cause, and could make the difference
between continuous operations or losing it all.
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Preparedness
is an opportunity to capture a non-scheduled event.
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Major
emergency disasters are unmanageable when resources are allocated based on a
low probability score. However, if allocating
resources, training and preparedness to the vital few severe emergencies, these
non-scheduled events are no longer unmanageable emergencies, but become management
of non-scheduled events.
BirdsEye59604
I must totally agree with birdie's comments. There is actually a post that talks about true emergencies and how they are very rare, i.e. post: "The Theory of the Black Swan" Posted Jan 18, 2013. A good management team will prepare for contingencies for all types of events. Another post talks about tools for planning for such events, i.e. Post: "The Bowtie for Risk Assessment." Good discussion birdseye!!
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