Indicators Of Preparedness Research Articles

Assessing Emergency Preparedness of Transit Agencies: Focus on Performance Indicators

In any emergency situation, a certain degree of confusion and chaos occurs. The more organized and orderly the response effort, the more likely that lives may be saved and property preserved. Emergency preparedness can enable transit agencies to react to an emergency on or off transit property. Evacuations and transport of emergency police, fire, and emergency medical technician personnel to and from the incident site may be facilitated by using transit vehicles. Because emergencies do not occur frequently, it is unadvisable to wait until they happen to evaluate a transit agency’s level of emergency preparedness. Instead, proposed is the development of performance indicators that measure the achievement of emergency preparedness goals and policies of a transit agency. An emergency preparedness assessment flowchart incorporating performance indicators was developed. Overall emergency preparedness indicators and sample performance indicators for each component are suggested along with standards and data sources for the indicators. In addition, the use of cost–benefit analysis is suggested to facilitate security-related investment decisions by agency management.

The CDC pacific emergency health initiative: a pilot study of emergency preparedness in Oceania.

Environmental emergencies and disasters are becoming more frequent in developing nations. Between 1992 and 1996, disasters affected an annual average of 4.5 million Oceania residents. Unfortunately, public health planners in the region and responders throughout the world have little evidence on which to base measures of emergency preparedness. Indicators of preparedness must be identified, implemented and evaluated before the effectiveness of emergency planning interventions can be measured accurately. The aim of this study was to perform an objective evaluation of emergency preparedness among five nations in Oceania. A standardized retrospective review of national-level public health and institutional-level hospital emergency operations plans from a convenience sample of five Pacific nations or territories was performed. In addition, in-country interviews, observation of operations and review of documentation were conducted. The rates of affirmative responses to 957 yes/no queries in the questionnaire were tabulated according to major emergency operational planning concepts and categories of emergency support functions. The study revealed remarkably low levels of emergency planning and preparedness among health and medical sectors of five Pacific islands. These data suggest a very low level of host national capacity for development of preparedness. Further investigation is necessary to define this need throughout this region of Oceania.

Family Abduction Outcomes

Using data from a national survey, we examine factors associated with two specific outcomes of family abduction events: duration of the episode and the likelihood of emotional trauma to children involved. Duration appears to be influenced by indicators of preparedness, planning and intent, and with difficulty in physically locating the child. Emotional harm is influenced by factors associated with child awareness, disruption in the child's routine, and levels of animosity between parents.

BODY REACTION TIMES TO EIGHT DIFFERENT DIRECTIONS IN THE EGO-CENTRIC SPACE

Disjunctive reaction times (RT's) to eight different directions in the ego-centric space were measured in adult subjects standing upright. Two major findings were: 1) RT's to the forward direction were longer than those to other directions. 2) RT's to the left side were better than those to frontal right side, but this difference was not shown in the back ward direction. From these findings, it is suggested there might be a phenomenon of "anisotropy of space" for our sensory-motor adjustment to environment. The mean scores of eight RT's of different directions were obtained and their validity was examined as an index of the individual preparedness to its environmental change. The mean RT of college male students was 0.813 seconds. It was found that these RT's were better in some athletic club members who usually need quick decision making of this type. From additional experiments, it was also found that RT improved with child developmental stage and retardation was observed after middle age, and that RT was related with W/H ratio in youth and adult subjects. From these results it is possible to state that RT is a useful indicator of the individual preparedness to directional change of body.