Team Communication - Emergency Response Team

Team Communication - Emergency Response Team

In any team, communication plays a vital role for the team to survive and succeed. Without communication, the team will not accomplish anything as a whole. Communication is a critical element in the Emergency Response Team (ERT) system. Many organizations use an ERT system; to act in times of crisis, or for daily work related injury or personal illness issues. For an Emergency Response Team to work effectively, each member needs to be able to keep constant contact with each member of their segment as well as their commanding officers. ERT members need to be well trained and know their functions in the team, and make sure they follow through with their duties.

Emergency Response Teams come in many forms. It could be a professional team, trained to respond in major crisis as ones maintained by FEMA, all the way through to your neighborhood ERT, composed of homeowners volunteering to watch for crime and respond to minor emergencies in the neighborhood. We will be concentrating on ERTs setup in corporations. Usually an ERT member will be a volunteer. Their main duties are to respond to work related injuries, and support for evacuations. ERT members usually go through multiple training processes, including CPR, first aid and Hazard management before being admitted to the team. One of the important functions in the ERT is a comprehensive understanding of the team communication process.

One of the main aspects of a team is communication. To increase efficiency and productivity, the team has to be able to communicate with each other as well as other teams effectively. Communication refers to any transfer of knowledge. Without proper communication, the team can be misdirected and cause delay in projects. Teams in the realm of the Emergency Response Team depend heavily on communication. For an Emergency Response Team to function properly, few standards have to be followed in terms of communication. Members need to use proper terminology in any radio contact, for privacy regulations and code interpretation. Using standardized communication protocols will also allow members to be comfortable with communicating with commanding officers. “Generally, communication is easier among peers and teammates and more difficult between junior managers and bosses” (Grosse, C. 2002). To reduce miscommunication the ERT uses the Incident Command System, which creates a chain of command for communication. The ERT member refers any pertinent information related to his organization to their Officer whom in turn relays the message to the rest of the team under his control. If the information is of concern to other organizational units, the Officer will inform the Incident Commander who has the authority to talk to all members in the team.

The Incident Command System is a structure that was created in California (Anderson, A. I., Compton, D, Mason, T., 2004). Incident Command System (ICS) was designed to manage any incident, regardless of size. Problems are divided into components that belong to a command and control structure. This allows components to be added as the incident grows. Standardized terminology is used for the components so that responders from different jurisdictions know which command structure they belong to at any incident. This allows forces from multiple cities to combine their efforts and respond to any situation and have a predetermined line of command.

The Incident Command System can be visualized using the following diagram:

The ERT, which operates under the guidance of the Incident Commander, is responsible for handling emergency situations. When necessary, the Incident Commander will establish an Incident Command Post, which will be the central point of operations for all emergency situations. The Incident Command Post must be in a safe location and have sufficient capacity to accommodate the key personnel of the incident command structure for the given incident. Communication systems must be available at the Incident Command Post, with sufficient facilities and tools to effectively manage the incident. The ERT is trained in the Incident Command System and will fill the roles as needed and as appropriate to the situation. The Incident Commander will appoint ERT personnel as needed.