by Peter Hayes, Central Queensland University

24, January 2024

Rigorous training processes and requirements ensure that emergency management personnel stay safe in dangerous work environments.  Embedding non-technical skills into existing training frameworks can add a new dimension of awareness and safety to the everyday business of emergency management organisations.

Emergency management teams are good at what they do, but research and public inquiries have shown that they can have problems with non-technical skills, such as communication, coordination, decision making, and managing the adverse effects of stress and fatigue.

These non-technical skills – sometimes referred to as ‘soft skills’ – can play a crucial role in how effectively a team works together, especially when personnel are working in difficult and high-pressure situations. Complementing the technical skills for equipment and systems, non-technical skills help personnel to improve communication, make sound decisions, and manage stress and fatigue.  

AFAC has recently published Embedding Non-Technical Skills into Emergency Management Training, a guide that demonstrates how technical skills delivery can be supplemented with non-technical skills training so that these become a part of normal business.  

The guide is primarily shaped by the Emergency Management Non-Technical Skills (EMNoTS) framework.4  EMNoTS is based on a comprehensive literature review of best practice in both emergency management and other related domains, which identifies seven core non-technical skills required by emergency management teams:

1. communication
2. cooperation
3. coordination
4. leadership
5. situation awareness
6. decision making
7. stress and fatigue management

Assessing existing training to embed non-technical skills

To demonstrate how non-technical skills can be enhanced in ongoing operational training, Embedding Non-Technical Skills into Emergency Management Training provides three case studies of current PUA Public Safety Training Package (PSTP) delivered by agencies. The case studies recommend how non-technical skills content could be incorporated or enhanced in the delivery of each unit:

1. PUATE001 Work in a team. The first case study considers how Queensland Fire and Emergency Services can strengthen and better integrate the non-technical skills content of this unit. The additional non-technical skills content emphasises the central role that communication, cooperation and coordination play in effective teams, and how stress and fatigue can undermine members’ ability to effectively interact and perform.
2. PUAOPE020 Lead a crew and PUAOPE012 Control a Level 1 incident. The second case study focussed on NSW National Parks and Wildlife Service training that combined these two units to help prepare their crew leaders to perform both roles. The focus is on developing the core skills to effectively lead crews and control Level 1 incidents. The case study identified where additional non-technical skills content could be incorporated to emphasis situation awareness and decision making, and demonstrate how good communication and leadership skills play a part in the effectiveness of SMEACS briefings, situation reports and debriefings.
3. PUAFIR005 Observe fire from an aircraft and PUAFIR006 Observe a non-fire emergency from an aircraft. The final case study analysed the NSW National Parks and Wildlife Service (NPWS) and NSW Rural Fire Service (RFS) training for air observer roles, a five-day intensive workshop incorporating classroom, field, simulation, and aircraft-based activities. This training already incorporates some coverage of non-technical skills. Additional content could be incorporated to emphasise applying these concepts to existing elements such as interaction with the pilot and on-ground personnel, speaking up and communication assertiveness, maintaining situation awareness for flight route planning and management, and the various pressures that can lead to ‘plan continuation’, which is the tendency to continue with a course of action despite evidence suggesting that it may no longer be prudent.

Non-technical skills beyond the classroom

If organisations want to make non-technical skills a core part of their workforce, they need to ensure that personnel continue to receive encouragement and opportunities to use and develop them by embedding them more widely within organisations.  

There are plenty of potential opportunities to do this through the wider inclusion of non-technical skills in training, exercising, professional development, promotion criteria, and coaching and mentoring.

Access Embedding Non-Technical Skills into Emergency Management Training at the AFAC website: www.afac.com.au/insight/doctrine/article/current/embedding-non-technical-skills-into-emergency-management-training 

AFAC expresses its gratitude to the authors Dr Peter Hayes and Associate Professor Chris Bearman of the Appleton Institute, Central Queensland University for the development of the Embedding Non-Technical Skills into Emergency Management Training guide. 

AFAC would also like to acknowledge the contribution of Mark Doble and Matthew Harris from Queensland Fire and Emergency Services, and Wendy Blair, Terry Parmenter and Andrew Fay from NSW National Parks and Wildlife Services for providing their training materials to assist with the development of industry case studies. 

This guide was made possible by the research support of the Bushfire and Natural Hazards Cooperative Research Centre (BNHCRC).

1. Bearman C, Grunwald J, Brooks B and Owen C.2015.Breakdowns in coordinated decision making at and above the incident management team level: An analysis of three large scale Australian wildfires.Applied Ergonomics, 47, 16-25.https://doi.org/10.1016/j.apergo.2014.08.009
2. Pollock K.2013.Review of persistent lessons relating to interoperability from emergencies and major incidents since 1986 (Occasional Paper No.6).Emergency Planning College.
3. Teague B, McLeod R and Pascoe S.2010.2009 Victorian Bushfires Royal Commission: Final Report.Parliament of Victoria.http://www.royalcommission.vic.gov.au/ Commission-Reports/Final-Report.
4. https://www.bnhcrc.com.au/sites/default/files/managed/emnots/