SOP formats
In this section we will be considering four SOP formats:
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You will have realised from your reading that we have provided a possible format for displaying the answers to our six questions in the form of a procedural matrix. It is this format that we recommend you use in your assignment, as it is the one most suited to the purpose for which we will be preparing our SOP.
However, as we discussed earlier, there are a number of ways of formatting SOP and it is these that we should now consider.
The emergency operations centre SOP format
As mentioned in the first section of this topic and in our introduction to this section, SOP can be produced for facilities such as emergency operations centres. Let us look at these now. The EOC plays a fundamental role in the successful management of disaster response and inevitably some form of operation centre will be established for any significant disaster - if any at a local level.
Activity 2.9
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Read One of the underlying principles of emergency response was the efficient use of ‘resources’. To reinforce this point re-read Carter, Disaster management, a disaster manager’s handbook, Chapter 13, paragraphs 5-7, 13 and 16, ‘The need for optimum utilisation of resources’. Answer the following questions:
In order to gain a better understanding of the nature of EOC and the procedures necessary to establish and run them, read the following two extracts. Read Reading 8: Establishment and maintenance of operations centres. An example EOC SOP format produced by the New South Wales Police Academy is provided in the next reading as a guide to the production of EOC SOP. Read Reading 9: District emergency operations centre: Standard operating procedures.
You should now have a clearer understanding of the requirement for an EOC and the way in which we can format SOP to ensure the efficient operation of the centre. Check the example SOP contained in Reading 5 and the local
SOP you obtained earlier. Are they operations centre SOP? If
so, compare their formats and see how they relate to what we
have just covered. Record your thoughts on a sheet of paper. |
Procedural matrix
We have already covered ‘procedural matrices’ earlier and have studied two examples of the use of this matrix in relation to two events - namely a major traffic accident and an evacuation of a building as a result of a fire. As discussed earlier, it is this format we recommend you use to produce your SOP in the assignment work.
We know, of course, that this is not the only format that can be used, so, let us now look at two others that we introduced earlier; namely job cards and aide-mémoire.
Job cards
Job cards are very much the same as job or position descriptions that we have all probably seen as part of our normal employment. They usually cover such things as position title, responsibility line, function and tasks.
See if you can obtain a job description from within your own organisation and compare it to the example job card provided in the following reading. They should be fairly similar.
Activity 2.10
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Read Reading 10: Job card: Administrative manager: State disease control headquarters.
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Aide-mémoire/action checklist
Aide-mémoire or action checklists are produced for individual appointments within an organisation. They should be written in simple language, be sequential, and might contain space to indicate when the necessary actions have been completed.
Let us have a look at the three examples contained in our final three Readings. Compare them to the example job card and see if the aide-mémoire contain the answers to our six questions.
Activity 2.11
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Read Reading 11: Aide-mémoire: Manager, administration: State disease control headquarters. Reading 12: Aide-mémoire: Emergency procedure guide - transport. Reading 13: Isle of Wight emergency plan.
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