Forum Proceedings

Lessons management practitioners and researchers from across Australia converged recently in Melbourne for the 2-day 2016 National Lessons Management Forum (see attachments at the end of this post).

More than 100 participants, including leaders, researchers and practitioners, in fields as diverse as lessons management, organisational learning and performance improvement, explored the barriers and opportunities for effective lessons learning in emergency management. The potential for using lessons management as a whole-of-emergency management learning approach, encompassing all preparedness, prevention, response and recovery, was also discussed.

Emergency Management Victoria's Claire Cooper and Lisa Jackson presented on the EM-Learn Framework.

Day 1 - Wednesday 16 November 2016

Topic Presenter Learning from the Past and Present to Build a Better Future Lisa Jackson and Claire Cooper, Emergency Management Victoria Evolution of Evaluation: an Agricultural Perspective Tony Callan, Department of Agriculture and Water Resources Real-time Evaluation and Red Cross: a Global Perspective Jessica Letch, Australian Red Cross Bringing Other Stakeholders on the Lessons Journey Mark Thomasan, SA Country Fire Service Barriers to Adopting a Lessons Learned Approach Leanne Adams, SA State Emergency Service What Does the Research Tell Us about Learning Lessons? Christine Owen, University of Tasmania Building Research Links Across Victoria’s Emergency Management Sector Geoff Kaandorp, Metropolitan Fire and Emergency Services Board Embedding Science into Practice Rick McRae, ACT Emergency Services Agency Evaluation Framework and Tools Michael Bourne, Country Fire Authority, Victoria Monitoring and Assurance Framework for Emergency Management Shayen Despot, Inspector-General for Emergency Management, Victoria Lessons Identified but not Learned about Learning Lessons Mark Cuthbert, Attorney-General’s Department

Presenters from across jurisdictions shared case studies on how they learned lessons from recent major hazards and provided insights on some of the people and process capabilities developed by their organisations to help address gaps or maximise opportunities identified in the lessons.

Day 2 - Thursday 17 November 2016

Topic Presenter Australian Disaster Resilience Knowledge Hub John Bates, Australian Institute for Disaster Resilience Lessons from the Tasmanian bushfire season 2015-2016 Phil Smith, Tasmania Fire Service Lessons from South Australian Fires Mark Thomason, SA Country Fire Service Lessons from an East Coast Low April 2015 Heather Stuart, NSW State Emergency Service Lessons from the 2015-2016 Reviews Julie Hoy, Inspector-General for Emergency Management, Victoria G20 2014 Brisbane: Successes and Lessons Mark Plath, Queensland Police Service Insights into Search Methods and Resourcing Sue Pritchard, NSW State Emergency Service Building a Tactical Lessons Capability Mark Ryan, Brisbane City Council Emergency Management: More than Management of Emergencies Iain MacKenzie, Inspector-General for Emergency Management, Queensland Lessons from Emergency Services Michael Eburn, The Australian National University Lessons Identified but not Learned about Learning Lessons Mark Cuthbert, Attorney-General’s Department PANEL: Lessons from Projects Heather Stuart, NSW State Emergency Service PANEL: Bushfires Program Evaluation Michael Bourne, Country Fire Authority, Victoria PANEL: Culture and Corporate Lessons Sharing Lisa Jackson Emergency Management Victoria and Orun Ekinci, VPS Academy

Bushfire and Natural Hazards CRC researcher Dr Christine Owen outlined what the research revealed about the role and scope of lessons management while fellow CRC researcher Dr Michael Eburn challenged participants to reimagine the role and scope of formal post-event inquiries in lessons learning.