Unit 8 Post Incident Analysis, Debriefing, and Techniques

Objectives Describe the motivations for a post incident analysis Describe the assumptions behind a post incident analysis List the types of incidents that warrant a post incident analysis Describe the techniques for conducting a formal post incident analysis Describe the debriefing process and the steps that should be taken following an incident 2

Post Incident Analysis Allows members who were involved to speak up in a nonthreatening environment and bring out issues Post-Incident Analysis (PIA) Determines how organization embraces learning and quality improvement Reviews performance of individuals and teams Focuses on learning lessons that can be applied to future events 3

Debriefings and Critiques Emergency personnel spend hundreds of hours every year training –Replenish the knowledge that we forget every year –Replace the skills that we somehow lose even though we continue to perform adequately incident after incident –To take the place of missed opportunities that we don’t use after every incident Training should teach new skills, debriefs should be used as refresher 4

Motivations Opportunity to critique and improve performance in a positive environment Many PIA’s occur only after large incidents Small events allow for attention to details Ultimately, improving communications, performance, behavior, and correcting inefficiencies for future responses Using the CRM loop, leaders can point out where communications have helped or changing strategies would have affected the outcome 5

Types of Incidents That Warrant a PIA More valuable to review smaller incidents Mistakes are not typical or tolerated in day to day incidents –Multi alarm responses –Any incident involving unusual events –Any incident involving a fatality –Incidents involving injury to personnel or “near misses” –Hazmat or special operations incidents –Mass gatherings –Incidents requiring conflict resolution between agencies 6

Techniques for Conducting PIA’s All members should recognize the importance of PIA’s Employ a learning perspective 1.Gather data and facts during the hot wash 2.Select the correct moderator/facilitator 3.Choose the time and place for the PIA 4.Involve the relevant participants 5.Reconstruct the events 6.Deal with deficiencies 7

Debriefing Template Just the facts What did you do What went wrong What went right What are you going to do about it 8

Tools for PIA’s PIA Standard Operating Guidelines Incident fact sheet –Introduction –Layout of scene –Fire code history –Communications –Pre emergency planning –On scene operations –Staging and support functions –Safety group –Accountability‘ –Investigations –Lessons learned Case Study 3 9

Facilitation Do –Set expectations and blue line –Facilitate the debriefing to achieve objectives –Use level and method the group requires –Draw out reluctant firefighters –Complete all steps of the debriefing process –Expand on instructional points –Make positives known 10

Critical Incident Stress Debriefings Confidential peer group discussion For traumatic calls or painful incidents Vary with individuals and teams Held within hours of incident Employee assistance programs or professional counseling 11

Facilitation Don’t –Lecture –Present an analysis of the situation –Give the impression that you have all of the answers –Interrupt a speaker or discussion –Abbreviate a session because all went well 12

Summary PIA’s can be used as a learning tool PIA’s can be time consuming and laborious but can also be spontaneous and relaxed Every incident should get a hot wash \operator have unrealistic expectations for perfect incident response and performance PIA’s and debriefings are crucial as they allow the organization to learn from everyday incidents 13