Why describe roles and responsibilities?
There are some people and organisations involved in emergency management who might question the need to describe the roles of all relevant organisations. The common statement is something like 'but we already know what we are supposed to do, and we don't need to know what others do'—but nothing could be further from the truth.
It has been found time and again in situations where roles and responsibilities have not been adequately described and disseminated that some organisations are not in fact aware of the full set of tasks that they must perform. Furthermore, if you are unaware of the full role of the other organisations with whom you are working, then you may have unrealistic expectations of these organisations, and may in turn discover yourself being asked to perform tasks that are outside your capability.
Roles and responsibilities must be defined and described to ensure that each organisation knows precisely what is expected of it, and to ensure that all people are aware of the general roles of all relevant organisations. The definition of roles and responsibilities may also assist in defusing the perennial 'turf wars' between organisations who are competing for the same task or group of tasks, and will ensure that all tasks are allocated.
The questions relevant to the definition and description of roles and responsibilities are thus:
- Have we described who performs each task that is required?
- Have we described the roles and responsibilities of each organisation?
- Do members of each organisation know the specific tasks that must be performed by their own organisation?
- Do members of each organisation know the general role of other organisations?
- Where do we get the information to adequately define and describe roles and responsibilities?
- Who is the primary (or lead) agency for a given hazard or emergency, and who are the secondary (or support) agencies?