Forum Proceedings

Are we learning?

 

Keynote speakers from sectors such as defence, health, airservices, transport, federal agencies and fire and emergency shared their learning, insights and perspectives on effective lessons management, culture, trends, recovery, learnings, research utilisation and innovative operational capability to name a few. The majore theme of the forum was ‘Are we learning?’ and many key themes around this were explored over the two days, including lessons, insights, frameworks, communications, capabilities and leadership.

One highlight of day two was a video presentation from David Oberhettinger from NASA who outlined the lessons practices that have proven effective at the NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory; followed by a live cross for a Q&A session. Another highlight was a video presentation from Travis Dotson from the Wildfire Lessons Learned Center in the US, who spoke about how they have gone about developing a process for effective sharing of lessons.

The AFAC Lessons Management Award 2019 was presented to the Emergency Management Unit of the Department of Natural Resources, Mines and Energy (DNRME) in Queensland. This award affirms the concept that size doesn’t matter, with a Unit made up of only three staff able to design, develop and implement an effective emergency management framework. The award celebrates the Unit’s achievements in implementing a culture of objective driven exercising that is lead from previous learnings and reported live during operations, and is spearheaded by Mark Ryan, Mark Prime and Sarndra Bell-Clews.

The Lessons Management forum was generously supported and sponsored by the NSW Office of Emergency Management. 

The Lessons Management Award was again made possible this year by the generous support of ISW, a recognised leader in lessons management software solutions.

From L to R: James Ewan, Software Engineer, ISW Development; Louise Mills, Service Delivery Manager, ISW Development; and the winners of the 2019 Lessons Management Award, Mark Prime and Mark Ryan from the Emergency Management Unit, Department of Natural Resources, Mines and Energy.

Presenters from across jurisdictions shared their own experience on lessons identified from incidents and operations and provided insights into successful approaches that have been made to lessons management.

Day 1 - Tuesday 30 July 2019

Theme: Lessons identified from incidents/operations

TOPIC PRESENTER Australia’s whole-of-government response to offshore contingencies: insights and lessons learning Amanda Coghlan, Strategic Policy Institute Lessons from Defence response to domestic emergencies Geoff Cooper, Centre for Army lessons Lessons from catastrophic events and multiple recovery operations Feargus O’Connor, Office of Emergency Management, NSW Lessons from biohazard events Mark Thomason, SA Country Fire Service Learning from our experiences – the DNRME journey Mark Ryan, Department of Natural Hazards, Mines and Energy, QLD A climate for lessons Karla Hartnett and Mike Shapland, Inspector-General for Emergency Management, QLD The perfect storm – learning from acute capacity surges Carla Bailey, Metro North Hospital and Health Service Learning from learning – the South West fires Mark Gunning, Country Fire Authority Building lessons management capability organisationally Jacqueline Roessgen, Australian Electorial Commission Trends and insights from Victoria Lisa Jackson, Emergency Management Victoria

Day 2 - Wednesday 31 July 2019

Theme: Successful approaches to lessons management

TOPIC PRESENTER Towards an effective lessons learned process: practices that have proven effective at NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory David Oberhettinger, NASA, United States Developing an effective lessons sharing process Travis Dotson, Wildfire Lessons Learned Center, United States The Australian Disaster Resilience Lessons Management Handbook Katelyn Samson, Australian Institute for Disaster Resilience Our changing landscape – adapting our learning journey Meg Lowe, Queensland Fire and Emergency Services How do you beat ‘The Silo Effect’ and share lessons across sectors? Des Hosie, Fire and Emergency New Zealand Our business-facing approach to lessons management Sarah Vierboom, Transport for NSW Lessons foundation for aviation firefighting Superintendent David Groer, Aviation Rescue and Fire Fighting Service How Army are using lessons Lieutenant Colonel Peter Read, Centre for Army Lessons Are we learning? Personal reflections and what would Yoda say? Iain MacKenzie, Former Inspector-General for Emergency Management, Queensland

Lessons Analysis Workshop

Following the Lessons Management Forum, the two-day National Lessons Analysis Workshop was held on 1 and 2 August 2019. Day One of the Lessons Management Forum focused on insights and lessons identified by jurisdictions and agencies. These insights/lessons from the Forum and from any other relevant data (Observations, Insights, Lessons) were analysed at the workshop to:

1. identify recurring insights and/or lessons across sectors and jurisdictions
2. identify potential/emerging insights and/or lessons

Lessons Management processes were used to theme and analyse observations to produce insights. The outcomes of this workshop will be available on this website when the document becomes available, and will drive Emergency Management Australia’s pre-season briefings which are conducted across the country.

Explore the presentations and resources in the attachments below:

David Oberhettinger, NASA, US
'Towards an effective lessons learned process: practices that have proven effective at the NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory (NASA-JPL)'

Travis Dotson, Wildfire Lessons Learned Center, US
‘A lesson is learned when we change our behaviour’