Question

1. Define the critical terms related to public health preparedness 2. Distinguish between the various types of crisis. Describe the state preparedness evaluation process. 3. 4. Describe the stages in crisis planning.

Answer 1

Ans) Public health preparedness refers to measures taken to prepare for and reduce the effects of disaster, etc. That is, to predict and, where possible, prevent disasters, mitigate their impact on vulnerable populations, and respond to and effectively cope with their consequences.

2) During the crisis management process, it is important to identify types of crises in that different crises necessitate the use of different crisis management strategies. Potential crises are enormous, but crises can be clustered.

Lerbinger categorizedeight types of crises

Natural disaster

Technological crisis

Confrontation

Malevolence

Organizational Misdeeds

Workplace Violence

Rumours

Terrorist attacks/man-made disasters

Natural disaster

Natural disaster related crises, typically natural disasters, are such environmental phenomena as earthquakes, volcanic eruptions, tornadoes and hurricanes, floods, landslides, tsunamis, storms, and droughts that threaten life, property, and the environment itself.

Example: 2004 Indian Ocean earthquake (Tsunami)

Technological crisis

Technological crises are caused by human application of science and technology. Technological accidents inevitably occur when technology becomes complex and coupled and something goes wrong in the system as a whole (Technological breakdowns). Some technological crises occur when human error causes disruptions (Human breakdowns[9]). People tend to assign blame for a technological disaster because technology is subject to human manipulation whereas they do not hold anyone responsible for natural disaster. When an accident creates significant environmental damage, the crisis is categorized as megadamage. Samples include software failures, industrial accidents, and oil spills.

Examples: Chernobyl disaster, Exxon Valdez oil spill, Heartbleed security bug

Confrontation crisis

Confrontation crisis occur when discontented individuals and/or groups fight businesses, government, and various interest groups to win acceptance of their demands and expectations. The common type of confrontation crisis is boycotts, and other types are picketing, sit-ins, ultimatums to those in authority, blockade or occupation of buildings, and resisting or disobeying police.

Example: Rainbow/PUSH’s (People United to Serve Humanity) boycott of Nike

Crisis of malevolence

An organization faces a crisis of malevolence when opponents or miscreant individuals use criminal means or other extreme tactics for the purpose of expressing hostility or anger toward, or seeking gain from, a company, country, or economic system, perhaps with the aim of destabilizing or destroying it. Sample crisis include product tampering, kidnapping, malicious rumors, terrorism, cybercrime and espionage.

Example: 1982 Chicago Tylenol murders

Crisis of organizational misdeeds

Crises occur when management takes actions it knows will harm or place stakeholders at risk for harm without adequate precautions.[9] Lerbinger specified three different types of crises of organizational misdeeds: crises of skewed management values, crises of deception, and crises of management misconduct.

Crises of skewed management values:

Crises of skewed management values are caused when managers favor short-term economic gain and neglect broader social values and stakeholders other than investors. This state of lopsided values is rooted in the classical business creed that focuses on the interests of stockholders and tends to disregard the interests of its other stakeholders such as customers, employees, and the community

Example:

It has 3 stages[clarification needed] -precrisis -acute -chronic and -conflict resolution

Crisis of deception:

Crisis of deception occur when management conceals or misrepresents information about itself and its products in its dealing with consumers and others.

Example: Dow Corning’s silicone-gel breast implant

Crisis of management misconduct:

Some crises are caused not only by skewed values and deception but deliberate amorality and illegality.

Workplace violence

3) Evaluation should be part of a continuous learning and continuous quality improvement program, not a one-time snapshot. This implies a continuing relationship between the communities and their evaluators that includes financial as well as technical and educational support.
“Preparedness” is a meaningless abstract concept, since threats vary among communities and change over time, perhaps even in response to a community's level of preparedness; readiness should be seen as a process rather than a state.
Preparedness requires not only numerous specific capabilities, typically the responsibilities of independent offices, agencies, and institutions, but also seamless coordination of those capabilities into a coherent response. The former may be envisioned as the teeth of a comb, the latter as the base or backbone of the comb.
Information and the ability to acquire, process, and appropriately distribute it to essential sites and personnel are central to the effective management of critical incidents including terrorism in its many forms.
Evaluation is an exercise designed to guide the distribution of local, state, and federal resources. Evaluations should be valued and understood as an opportunity for local communities to determine the areas in need of improvement and support rather than as a test of communities' self-reliance.
Evaluation by OEP should be a multilevel process that includes (1) periodic review of documents and records, (2) observation of community-initiated exercises and drills, and (3) on-site assessment. The committee views the on-site assessment as comprising both interviews of individuals about specific capabilities and a scenario-driven group interaction focused on cooperation and coordination.
A relatively small subset of the nearly 500 preparedness indicators identified in the Phase I report (Institute of Medicine, 2001) can be used to identify critical areas in need of improvement for a given community.

4) Steps to Create a Crisis Management Plan
- Assess your risk.
- Determine the business impact.
- Identify contingencies.

- Build the plan.
- Familiarize users.
- Revisit the plan frequently.