Skip to main content

Advertisement

Log in

An advanced decision support system for European disaster management: the feature of the skills taxonomy

  • Original Paper
  • Published:
Central European Journal of Operations Research Aims and scope Submit manuscript

Abstract

Mankind has faced a huge increase in severe natural and man-made disasters worldwide in the last few years. Emergency responders on a strategic, tactical, and operational level can be assisted by decision support systems (DSS) to enhance disaster preparedness, response, and recovery. Policy makers are in need of an advanced, resilient and integrated incident command and control systems for emergency responders that incorporates health care-related features. To address this need, a DSS was developed in the European Union (EU) project named Securing Health.Emergency.Learning.Planning (S-HELP). Improving the health care delivery process through health care-related DSS features, the identification of key emergency responders and their associated tasks performed in preparedness, response, and recovery-related interventions is absolutely necessary. Thus, we establish a skills taxonomy for the S-HELP DSS Toolset “Decision Making Module” to interlink key emergency interventions/tasks with main national emergency responders supported by international emergency responders with a special focus on the EU. Furthermore, we provide an overview of which key emergency interventions/tasks can be covered by EU Civil Protection Modules by incorporating availability, start of operation, self-sufficiency, and operation time. This skills taxonomy for the S-HELP DSS Toolset “Decision Making Module” improves the interoperability of emergency responders when they cope with major disasters such as mass flooding, chemical spills, and biological-hazards policy scenarios that impact on health care. In the future, operation research models related to fields such as humanitarian logistics or disease control could be incorporated into or benefit from the S-HELP DSS.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this article

Price excludes VAT (USA)
Tax calculation will be finalised during checkout.

Instant access to the full article PDF.

Institutional subscriptions

Fig. 1

Adapted from Neville (2017, pp. 8–9)

Fig. 2
Fig. 3
Fig. 4
Fig. 5
Fig. 6
Fig. 7
Fig. 8
Fig. 9
Fig. 10
Fig. 11
Fig. 12
Fig. 13
Fig. 14

Adapted from (Neville 2017, p. 24)

Similar content being viewed by others

Notes

  1. http://www.omg.org/mda/.

  2. http://www.rever.eu/en/db-main.

References

  • African Union (2002) Protocol relating to the establishment of the peace and Security Council of the African Union. http://www.au.int/en/sites/default/files/treaties/7781-file-protocol_peace_and_security.pdf

  • Alexander D (2003) Towards the development of standards in emergency management training and education. Disaster Prev Manag 12(2):113–123

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Alexander D (2012) Principles of emergency planning and management, 6th edn. Oxford University Press, Oxford

    Google Scholar 

  • Allen DK, Karanasios S, Norman A (2014) Information sharing and interoperability: the case of major incident management. Eur J Inf Syst 23(4):418–432

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Altay N, Green WG (2006) OR/MS research in disaster operations management. Eur J Oper Res 175(1):475–493

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Anderson RM, May RM, Anderson B (1992) Infectious diseases of humans: dynamics and control, vol 28. Oxford University Press, Oxford

    Google Scholar 

  • Aringhieri R (2009) Composing medical crews with equity and efficiency. CEJOR 17(3):343–357

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Asplund J (1970) Om Undran Inför Samhället. Argos, Milton Keynes

    Google Scholar 

  • Austrian Federal Ministry of the Interior (2014) Staatliches Krisen- und Katastrophenschutzmanagement und grenzüberschreitende Kooperation. http://www.miles.ac.at/medien/SkFueKdo/WS14/Krisenmanagement%20BMI.pdf

  • Austrian National Crisis and Disaster Protection Management (2007) Richtlinie für das Führen im Katastropheneinsatz. Austria, Vienna

    Google Scholar 

  • Bharosa N, Lee J, Janssen M (2010) Challenges and obstacles in sharing and coordinating information during multi-agency disaster response: propositions from field exercises. Inf Syst Front 12(1):49–65

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Boin A, McConnell A (2007) Preparing for critical infrastructure breakdowns: the limits of crisis management and the need for resilience. J Contingencies Crisis Manag 15(1):50–59

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Bundesamt für Bevölkerungsschutz und Katastrophenhilfe (1999) Feuerwehr-Dienstvorschrift 100: Führung und Leitung im Einsatz. Bundesamt für Bevölkerungsschutz und Katastrophenhilfe, Berlin

    Google Scholar 

  • Burkart C, Nolz PC, Gutjahr WJ (2017) Modelling beneficiaries’ choice in disaster relief logistics. Ann Oper Res 256:41–61

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Burkle FM, Greenough PG (2008) Impact of public health emergencies on modern disaster taxonomy, planning, and response. Disaster Med Public Health Prep 2(3):192–199

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Carver L, Turoff M (2007) Human-computer interaction: the human and computer as a team in emergency management information systems. Commun ACM 50(3):33–38

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Caunhye AM, Nie X, Pokharel S (2012) Optimization models in emergency logistics: a literature review. Socioecon Plann Sci 46(1):4–13

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Chen JQ, Lee SM (2003) An exploratory cognitive DSS for strategic decision making. Decis Support Syst 36(2):147–160

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Cioca M, Cioca LI (2010) Decision support systems used in disaster management. INTECH Open Access Publisher, Rijeka

    Book  Google Scholar 

  • Comfort LK (2007) Crisis management in hindsight: cognition, communication, coordination, and control. Public Adm Rev 67:189–197

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Comfort LK, Wukich C (2013) Developing decision making skills for uncertain conditions: the challenge of educating effective emergency managers. J Public Aff Educ 19:53–71

    Google Scholar 

  • Coppola DP (2011) Introduction to international disaster management, 2nd edn. Butterworth-Heinemann, Burlingthon

    Google Scholar 

  • Cutter SL (2003) GI science, disasters, and emergency management. Trans GIS 7(4):439–446

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Dean MD, Nair SK (2014) Mass-casualty triage: distribution of victims to multiple hospitals using the SAVE model. Eur J Oper Res 238(1):363–373

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Digital Humanitarian Network, DHN (2014) Humanitarian decision makers taxonomy. http://digitalhumanitarians.com/content/decision-makers-needs

  • Egli DS (2013) Beyond the storms: strengthening preparedness, response, & resilience in the 21st century. J Strat Secur 6(2):32

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Elmasri R, Navathe S (2011) Fundamentals of database systems, 6th edn. Addison-Wesley, Boston

    Google Scholar 

  • European Commission, EC (2010a) Decision 2010/481/EU Annex II, Euraton. Off J Eur Union 7(9):2010

    Google Scholar 

  • European Commission, EC (2010b) Revised manual on EU emergency and crisis coordination. European Commission, Brussels

    Google Scholar 

  • European Commission, EC (2014a) Commission implementing decision of 16.10.2014 laying down rules for the implementation of Decision No 1313/2013/EU—Annex II-C (2014) 7489 final. European Commission, Brussels

    Google Scholar 

  • European Commission, EC (2014b) Emergency Response Coordination Centre (ERCC). http://ec.europa.eu

  • European Parliament and the Council (2013) Decision No 1313/2013/EU. Off J Eur Union. 20.12.2013, L 347/924

  • EU Skills Panorama (2015) Glossary. http://euskillspanorama.cedefop.europa.eu/Glossary

  • Fan Y, French ML, Stading GL, Bethke S (2015) Disaster response: an examination of resource management in the early hours. J Appl Bus Econ 17(2):22

    Google Scholar 

  • Faulkner B (2001) Towards a framework for tourism disaster management. Tour Manag 22(2):135–147

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Federal Emergency Management Agency, FEMA (2015) Emergency and risk management case studies textbook, Chapter 9. https://training.fema.gov/HiEdu/docs/Chapter%209%20-%20International%20Dis.doc

  • Finkelstein C (2015) Enterprise architecture for integration: rapid delivery methods and technologies, 3rd edn. Information Engineering Services Pty Ltd, Australia

    Google Scholar 

  • FLOODsite (2007) Review report of operational flood management methods and models

  • Galindo G, Batta R (2013) Review of recent developments in OR/MS research in disaster operations management. Eur J Oper Res 230(2):201–211

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Ginter PM, Duncan WJ, Swayne LE (2013) Strategic management of health care organizations, 7th edn. Wiley, Chichester

    Google Scholar 

  • Global Corps (2015) List of relief organizations. http://www.globalcorps.com/jobs/ngolist.pdf

  • Guédria W, Naudet Y, Chen D (2015) Maturity model for enterprise interoperability. Enterp Inf Syst 9(1):1–28

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Gupta S, Starr M, Zanjirani Farahani R, Matinrad N (2016) Disaster management from a POM perspective: mapping a new domain. Prod Oper Manag 25(10):1611–1637

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Gutjahr WJ, Dzubur N (2016) Bi-objective bilevel optimization of distribution center locations considering user equilibria. Transp Res Part E Logist Transp Rev 85:1–22

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Gutjahr WJ, Nolz PC (2016) Multicriteria optimization in humanitarian aid. Eur J Oper Res 252(2):351–366

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Heidenberger K, Roth M (1998) Taxonomies in the strategic management of health technology: the case of multiperiod compartmental HIV/AIDS policy models. Int J Technol Manage 15(3/4/5):336–358

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Hoyos MC, Morales RS, Akhavan-Tabatabaei R (2015) OR models with stochastic components in disaster operations management: a literature survey. Comput Ind Eng 82:183–197

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • International Organization for Standardization, ISO (2011) ISO 22320 societal security—emergency management—requirements for incident response. http://www.iso.org/iso/home.htm

  • International Organization for Standardization, ISO (2015a) ISO 22351 societal security—emergency management—message structure for exchange of information. http://www.iso.org/iso/home.htm

  • International Organization for Standardization, ISO (2015b) Reaping the benefits of ISO 9001. http://www.iso.org/iso/home.htm

  • Interoperable Delivery of European eGovernment Services to public Administrations, Businesses, and Citizens, IDABC (2004) European interoperability framework for pan-European eGovernment Services. Office for Official Publications of the European Communities, Luxembourg

    Google Scholar 

  • Irish National Steering Group (2006) A framework for major emergency management. http://mem.ie/framework-documents/

  • Jensen J, Thompson S (2016) The incident command system: a literature review. Disasters 40(1):158–182

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Johnson R (2000) GIS technology for disasters and emergency management. An ESRI white paper

  • Kondaveti R, Ganz A (2009) Decision support system for resource allocation in disaster management. In: Engineering in medicine and biology society, 2009, EMBC 2009, annual international conference of the IEEE. IEEE, pp 3425–3428

  • Kowalski-Trakofler KM, Vaught C, Scharf T (2003) Judgment and decision making under stress: an overview for emergency managers. Int J Emergency Manage 1(3):278–289

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Kunz N, Reiner G (2012) A meta-analysis of humanitarian logistics research. J Humanit Logist Supply Chain Manag 2(2):116–147

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Lawson B (2006) How designers think: the design process demystified. Routledge, Abingdon-on-Thames

    Google Scholar 

  • Lee J, Bharosa N, Yang J, Janssen M, Rao HR (2011) Group value and intention to use—study of multi agency disaster management information systems for public safety. Decis Support Syst 50(2):404–414

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Leiras A, de Brito Jr I, Queiroz Peres E, Rejane Bertazzo T, Tsugunobu Yoshida Yoshizaki H (2014) Literature review of humanitarian logistics research: trends and challenges. J Humanit Logist Supply Chain Manag 4(1):95–130

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Lettieri E, Masella C, Radaelli G (2009) Disaster management: findings from a systematic review. Disaster Prev Manag 18(2):117–136

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Manoj BS, Baker AH (2007) Communication challenges in emergency response. Commun ACM 50(3):51–53

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Manopiniwes W, Irohara T (2014) A review of relief supply chain optimization. Ind Eng Manag Syst 13(1):1–14

    Google Scholar 

  • Mendonça D, Jefferson T, Harrald J (2007) Collaborative adhocracies and mix-and-match technologies in emergency management. Commun ACM 50(3):44–49

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Mills AF (2016) A simple yet effective decision support policy for mass-casualty triage. Eur J Oper Res 253(3):734–745

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Moeini M, Jemai Z, Sahin E (2015) Location and relocation problems in the context of the emergency medical service systems: a case study. CEJOR 23(3):641–658

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Neville K (2017) S-HELP DSS—modules, functions and benefits, booklet

  • Neville KM, Doyle C, Mueller J, Sugrue A (2013) Supporting cross border emergency management decision-making. In: Proceedings of the 21st European conference on information systems, 33

  • Niessner H, Rauner MS, Gutjahr WJ (2017) A dynamic simulation-optimization approach for managing mass casualty incidents. Oper Res Health Care. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.orhc.2017.07.001

    Google Scholar 

  • Noran O (2014) Collaborative disaster management: an interdisciplinary approach. Comput Ind 65(6):1032–1040

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Rake EL (2003) Emergency management and decision making on accident scenes: taxonomy, models and future research. Int J Emergency Manage 1(4):397–409

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Rath S, Gendreau M, Gutjahr WJ (2016) Bi-objective stochastic programming models for determining depot locations in disaster relief operations. Int Trans Oper Res 23(6):997–1023

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Rauner M, Niessner H, Sasse L, Tomic K, Neville K, Pope A, O’Riordan S (2016) Decision support for strategic disaster management: First release of a wiki. In: Dawid H, Doerner KF, Feichtinger G, Kort PM, Seidl A (eds) Dynamic perspectives on managerial decision making. Springer, Berlin, pp 413–439

    Chapter  Google Scholar 

  • Reznek M, Smith-Coggins R, Howard S, Kiran K, Harter P, Sowb Y, Gaba D, Krummel T (2003) Emergency medicine crisis resource management (EMCRM): pilot study of a simulation-based crisis management course for emergency medicine. Acad Emerg Med 10(4):386–389

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Rimstad R, Braut GS (2015) Literature review on medical incident command. Prehosp Disaster Med 30(02):205–215

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Salmon P, Stanton N, Jenkins D, Walker G (2011) Coordination during multi-agency emergency response: issues and solutions. Disaster Prev Manag 20(2):140–158

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Schneeberger K, Doerner KF, Kurz A, Schilde M (2016) Ambulance location and relocation models in a crisis. CEJOR 24(1):1–27

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Schön DA (1983) The reflective practitioner: how professionals think in action. Basic Books, New York

    Google Scholar 

  • Scruton R (1979) The aesthetics of architecture. Princeton University Press, Princeton

    Google Scholar 

  • S-HELP (Securing Health.Emergency.Learning.Planning) (2013) Securing Health.Emergency.Learning.Planning, Project Proposal, FP7-SEC-2013-1, SEC-2013.4.1-4, University of Cork, Ireland

  • Steen O, Pope A, Rauner M, Holmberg N, Woodworth S, O’Riordan S, Niessner N, Neville K (2016) A comprehensive decision support system for enhanced emergency decision management and training. In: International conference on information technology in disaster risk reduction. Springer, Chambridge, pp 183–197

  • Steiner C, Nussbaumer A, Albert D (2015) A psychological framework modelling decision making in emergencies. In: European conference on information management and evaluation. Academic Conferences International Limited, p 206

  • Sung I, Lee T (2016) Optimal allocation of emergency medical resources in a mass casualty incident: patient prioritization by column generation. Eur J Oper Res 252(2):623–634

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Sutton J, Palen L, Shklovski I (2008) Backchannels on the front lines: emergent uses of social media in the 2007 southern California wildfires. In: Proceedings of the 5th international ISCRAM conference, Washington, DC, pp 624–632

  • Tatham P, Spens K (2011) Towards a humanitarian logistics knowledge management system. Disaster Prev Manag 20(1):6–26

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Technical University of Graz, TUGraz (2014) Securing health emergency learning planning, S-H.E.L.P., collaborative project FP7-SEC-2013-1, Project no. 607865, Deliverable No. 2.3. Draft paper prototype user interfaces for effective cognitive processing during an emergency

  • Thomas A, Fritz L (2006) Disaster relief, inc. Harvard Bus Rev 84(11):114

    Google Scholar 

  • Tufekci S (1995) An integrated emergency management decision support system for hurricane emergencies. Saf Sci 20(1):39–48

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Turoff M, White C, Plotnick L, Hiltz SR (2008) Dynamic emergency response management for large scale decision making in extreme events. In: Proceedings of the 5th international ISCRAM conference. ISCRAM, Washington, DC, USA, pp 462–470

  • University of Lund (2016) Securing health emergency learning planning, S-H.E.L.P., Collaborative Project FP7-SEC-2013-1, Project no. 607865, Deliverable No. 4.4, Knowledge Management System

  • University of Vienna (2014) Securing health emergency learning planning, S-H.E.L.P., Collaborative Project FP7-SEC-2013-1, Project no. 607865, Deliverable No. 2.1, Glossary of terms and definitions & common grounds and standards for interoperability

  • University of Vienna (2015a) Securing health emergency learning planning, S-H.E.L.P., Collaborative Project FP7-SEC-2013-1, Project no. 607865, Deliverable No. 2.4, Draft Skills Taxonomy Template

  • University of Vienna (2015b) Securing health emergency learning planning, S-H.E.L.P., collaborative project FP7-SEC-2013-1, Project no. 607865, Deliverable No. 2.7, Draft Rescources Taxonomy Template

  • University of Vienna (2015c) Securing health emergency learning planning, S-H.E.L.P., Collaborative Project FP7-SEC-2013-1, Project no. 607865, Deliverable No. 2.8, Draft of the S-HELP Interoperability Model

  • University of Vienna (2016) Securing health emergency learning planning, S-H.E.L.P., Collaborative Project FP7-SEC-2013-1, Project no. 607865, Deliverable No. 2.11, S-HELP Interoperability Standard

  • Van Wassenhove LN (2006) Humanitarian aid logistics: supply chain management in high gear. J Oper Res Soc 57(5):475–489

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Veil SR, Buehner T, Palenchar MJ (2011) A work-in-process literature review: incorporating social media in risk and crisis communication. J Contingencies Crisis Manag 19(2):110–122

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Vernadat FB (2003) Enterprise modelling and integration. Springer, Berlin, pp 25–33

    Google Scholar 

  • Vynnycky E, White R (2010) An introduction to infectious disease modelling. Oxford University Press, Oxford

    Google Scholar 

  • Waugh WL, Streib G (2006) Collaboration and leadership for effective emergency management. Public Adm Rev 66(s1):131–140

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Whybark DC (2015) Co-creation of improved quality in disaster response and recovery. Int J Q Innov 1(1):1–10

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Zachman JA (1999) A framework for information systems architecture. IBM Syst J 38(2–3):454–470

    Article  Google Scholar 

Download references

Acknowledgements

The skills taxonomy was developed for the Securing Health.Emergency.Learning.Planning (S-HELP) DSS in the EU-fp7-project (#607865). The S-HELP project was coordinated by the University College Cork, Ireland. The website can be found under: http://www.fp7-shelp.eu/. Leader of skills taxonomy was University of Vienna, Austria, while Lund University was responsible for the data transformation, modelling, and implementation under the supervision of University College Cork, Ireland. We are grateful to the reviewers for most valuable comments.

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

Authors

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Marion S. Rauner.

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Check for updates. Verify currency and authenticity via CrossMark

Cite this article

Rauner, M.S., Niessner, H., Odd, S. et al. An advanced decision support system for European disaster management: the feature of the skills taxonomy. Cent Eur J Oper Res 26, 485–530 (2018). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10100-018-0528-9

Download citation

  • Published:

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10100-018-0528-9

Keywords

Navigation