Climate change has begun to affect the frequency, intensity, and duration of weather related disaster events. This trend may foster a greater probability of encountering 2 or more disaster events simultaneously, increasing the potential to deplete emergency resources. Using Canadian forest fire management as a focal point, this research has determined the extent to which forest fire resource sharing (resources being equipment, fire fighter teams, planes, etc.) has been able to mitigate the impacts of simultaneous forest fire events induced by climate change. Provincial and territorial forest fire management agencies are responsible for forest fire suppression within their jurisdictions, but when fires exceed their suppression capabilities they may request resources from other agencies using resource sharing agreements including: Compact agreements with American States, other international agreements and agreements initiated through the Canadian Interagency Forest Fire Center (CIFFC). If the potential for simultaneous forest fires is neglected, excess fire activity may overwhelm the resource sharing structure. A historical analysis, 2 case studies, and a survey were employed to uncover information regarding simultaneous forest fires. Moreover, an examination of other resource sharing disciplines was used to uncover new ways of approaching resource sharing issues. The results of this study show that simultaneous fire events have overwhelmed the resource sharing system (during at least two years 1998 and 2003) and that modifications are needed to prepare for the potential increase in forest fire frequency.

Klimatförändringarna är numera ett fenomen vi inte kan bortse ifrån. De sker här och nu och det råder mer eller mindre gemensam vetenskaplig konsensus om att så är fallet. Med klimatförändringarna kommer risker vi i nuläget har väldigt svårt att förutse och förhålla oss till och därmed påverkas integrationen av dessa i den kommunala krisberedskapen. Syftet med studien är att undersöka vilka faktorer det är som påverkar integrationen av klimatrisker inom den kommunala krisberedskapen. Resultatet är baserat på ett antal intervjuer som har genomförts med personer inom kommun och kommunfullmäktige. Svaren har varit mer eller mindre entydiga om att de övergripande faktorerna som påverkar integrationen av klimatrisker inom den kommunala krisberedskapen är vetenskaplig osäkerhet och hur denna förmedlas av internationella organisationer, att det råder en gemensam kunskapsbrist om just de effekter som kan komma att uppstå av klimatförändringarna och det finns även en lägre medvetenhet om många av riskerna. Dessutom prioriteras olika effekter och risker olika högt inom olika kommuner vilket påverkar integreringen av alla risker överlag. Jag har även genomfört en dokumentanalys för att ge ytterligare substans till de resultat jag fått fram. / Climate change is now a phenomenon we cannot ignore. It is happening here and now and there is more or less common scientific consensus that so is the case. With climate change come risks that are difficult to predict and to relate to and this affects the integration of these risks in the municipal emergency preparedness. The purpose of the study is to examine the factors that are affecting the integration of climate risks in the municipal emergency preparedness. The result is based on a number of interviews conducted with people working with municipal activities and a Municipal Council. The responses have been more or less clear that the largest factors affecting the integration of climate risks in the municipal emergency preparedness is scientific uncertainty and how this is mediated by international organizations, the fact that there is a common lack of knowledge about the effects that may arise from climate change and that there is also a lower awareness of many of the risks in general. In addition, different effects are differently prioritized which affects the integration of all risks associated with climate change. I have also conducted a document analysis to give further substance to the results I found.

Previous findings have demonstrated that the preparedness and infrastructure of the public health system is inadequately developed for a biological and/or chemical terrorism attack.(1-4) Chen et al. reported that those primary care providers that would have to respond to such an attack do not feel prepared to diagnose and manage such an event.(5)This research was an observational study using e-mail/web based survey to assess the levels of preparedness (PL) and willingness to respond (WTR) to a bioterrorism attack, and identify factors that predict PL and WTR of Florida community healthcare providers. The conceptual framework and questionnaire was designed based on empirical studies and the use of an expert panel to assess the providers administrative and clinical competencies, WTR, and PL. The questionnaire was pilot tested in 30 subjects. Reliability was high (Cronbachs alpha =.82). The emailed invitaiton letters were sent to 22,800 healthcare providers in Florida. The questionniare was posted for 7 days on the website during December, 2004.There were 2,279 respondents of 9,124 who received the e-mails. Response rate was 28%, with 86% completed questionnaires. The subjects included physicians (n=604), nurses (n=1,152), and pharmacists (n=486). The results demonstrated that only 32% of the Florida providers were competent and willing to respond to a bioterrorism attack. 82.7% of providers were willing to respond in their local community and 53.6% within the State. The subjects were more competent in administrative skills than clinical knowledge (62.8% vs. 45%) The most competent areas were the initiation of the treatment and recognition of their clinical and administrative roles. The least competent areas were identifying the cases and communicate risk to the others.

Dödsfall, arbetsplatsolyckor, hot och våld. Alla är de exempel på kriser som inträffar på svenska företag varje år. Dessa händelser ställer krav på att företagen har en organisation och struktur för att klara av att hantera kriserna och för att minska verkningarna av dem. Krishantering är ett samlingsbegrepp för hur man systematiskt arbetar för att minska krisens omfattning, både före, under och efter att den har inträffat. Syftet med att använda krishantering är att företagen skall kunna förebygga att allvarliga händelser inträffar och att hantera dem på ett effektivt sätt.   Ungefär sju av tio svenska företag har idag etablerad krisberedskap som gör att de klarar av att hantera kriser och olyckor, men lagstiftningen ställer krav att alla företag skall planera och organisera krisstöd och krishantering oavsett verksamhetsområde och bransch. Syftet med denna studie är att undersöka hur chefer i privata företag beskriver krishantering inom sina verksamheter och hur man ser på prioritering av krishanteringen. Studien undersöker även huruvida det anses viktigt med utbildning för att skapa förutsättningar för att bedriva ett gott krishanteringsarbete. Totalt har fyra stycken kvalitativa intervjuer genomförts med chefer i privata företag och organisationer. Intervjuerna har sedan analyserats utifrån innehållsanalys med meningsbärande enheter, koder, kategorier samt underkategorier.  Resultatet i studien påvisar stora skillnader mellan större och mindre företag, där de större företagen har etablerade krisorganisationer med rutiner och arbetssätt som gör att de på ett effektivt sätt kan hantera allvarliga händelser. De mindre företagen saknar krisberedskap helt och hållet och saknar många gånger information och kunskap om hur de skall tolka och applicera lagtext på området.

This thesis provides a case study of the Government of Canada's former Office of Critical Infrastructure Protection and Emergency Preparedness (OCIPEP) through the lens of horizontal management (part of New Public Management theory). This study demonstrates that the effective use of horizontal management (horizontality) may reduce fragmentation occurring when the goal of critical infrastructure protection requires organizations to work cross-jurisdictionally and in partnerships. This need to collaborate is due to the ownership problem: over 85 per cent of Canada's critical infrastructure is owned by organizations other than the federal government. Research methods include a background survey of literature on critical infrastructure protection, horizontal management and horizontality, and new public management; and interviews using a snowball sample of eight subjects who held various positions within OCIPEP to better understand what the organizational structure appeared to be from within the organization. The research concludes that OCIPEP was not given the resources necessary to successfully fulfil its mandate. Results include the need for administrative and managerial support for horizontal endeavours, to encourage a "cultural context" of horizontality, as there are many organizational barriers to successfully using horizontality and collaborative methods. There were areas of success for OCIPEP, but more areas of weakness. Recommendations include additional study of the organization, a shift into a better-supported organization (which was accomplished with OCIPEP's inclusion into Public Safety and Emergency Preparedness Canada), and clear delineation of roles between the Government of Canada and the owners of the critical infrastructure.

The goal of this thesis was to reposition individual preparedness within a social environmental context. First, a theoretical model was developed to more accurately represent the social environmental considerations neglected in current preparedness research and policy. A series of three studies tested this model using a mixed-methods approach: First, subjective conceptualizations of preparedness were explored in a qualitative analysis (N = 12). Findings revealed that participants evaluated their readiness not in terms of prescribed activities, but perceptions about their current resourcefulness as well as past local hazards. Participants’ had positive social environments which also reinforced their perceived coping ability in future emergency events. Subsequent thesis studies investigated the role social environment further, using quantitative data. The second study explicitly tested whether perceptions of risk and coping could explain differences in preparedness based on demographic attributes linked to variations in social environment. Data from a survey examining Canadians perceptions regarding terrorism threats (N = 1503) revealed that greater anticipated response was significantly associated with increased age, as well as female gender, higher education levels, and higher income levels. Statistically significant differences in threat appraisals were also reported based on these demographic groupings. However, mediation analyses demonstrated that with the exception of gender, differences in anticipated response could not be explained via risk perceptions or perceived coping efficacy, suggesting that social environment’s role in preparedness is not related to the internal processes often targeted in current campaigns. The third study used a multilevel design to investigate the contextual role of neighbourhood social environment in anticipated emergency response. Results demonstrated that a more deprived social neighbourhood context was related to lowered anticipated emergency response. This relationship was maintained after controlling for significant individual-level factors such as previous experience and sociodemographics, highlighting the importance of neighbourhood social context in facilitating emergency preparedness. Taken together, these findings provide novel evidence that focusing preparedness strategies to primarily target internal processes is misguided, and that future research and policy must position preparedness efforts in the context of existing social environmental resources and barriers in order to build capacity for effective emergency response.

The purpose of this thesis is to investigate how the school as a whole is working with crisis management. The purpose includes examining the readiness of both school teachers and leisure educators when it comes to dealing with crises that children undergo and also to study how they best can provide support for those children. Accordingly, this thesis aims to provide an insight into what the school's work with crisis management might look like. The basis of this thesis consists of six qualitative interviews with a principal, a school counselor, two class teachers and two leisure educators.   The study shows that it is important to have a functioning crisis team and a well-made emergency preparedness plan, which the school in this study is considered to have. The crisis group is responsible throughout the crisis work, attends trainings and updates the emergency plan. It is also the crisis group's responsibility to ensure that the other staff knows about the emergency plan and its content and how they should proceed if a crisis were to occur. Some staff members participating in this study do not feel fully prepared to handle a crisis situation. However, it seems they have more knowledge of handling such situations than they think, since they know how to proceed if a crisis occurs. They also have good thoughts on how to support children who are in a crisis. / Syftet med detta examensarbete är att undersöka hur skolan som helhet arbetar med krishantering. I syftet ligger att studera vilken beredskap såväl skola, som lärare och fritidspedagoger har när det gäller att hantera barns krissituationer, samt hur de på bästa sätt kan vara ett stöd för barn som genomgår någon form av kris. Detta examensarbete syftar därmed till att ge en inblick i hur skolans krishanteringsarbete kan se ut. Undersökningen i detta arbete har bestått av sex kvalitativa intervjuer med en rektor, en skolkurator, två klasslärare samt två fritidspedagoger.   Resultatet av undersökningen har visat att det är viktigt med en fungerande krisgrupp och en välarbetad krisberedskapsplan, vilket skolan i undersökningen anses ha. Krisgruppen är den som ansvarar över hela krisarbetet, går på utbildningar och uppdaterar krisplanen så att den är aktuell. Det är även krisgruppens ansvar att se till så att övrig personal känner till krisplanen och dess innehåll, samt hur de ska gå tillväga om en krissituation skulle uppstå. Några på skolan som deltagit i denna undersökning känner sig inte helt förberedda inför att hantera en krissituation. Däremot verkar de ändå ha mer kunskap om det än vad de själva tror, då de vet hur de skulle gå tillväga om en krissituation uppstår, samt att de har goda tankar om hur man ska stödja barn som befinner sig i en kris.

Climate change has begun to affect the frequency, intensity, and duration of weather related disaster events. This trend may foster a greater probability of encountering 2 or more disaster events simultaneously, increasing the potential to deplete emergency resources. Using Canadian forest fire management as a focal point, this research has determined the extent to which forest fire resource sharing (resources being equipment, fire fighter teams, planes, etc.) has been able to mitigate the impacts of simultaneous forest fire events induced by climate change. Provincial and territorial forest fire management agencies are responsible for forest fire suppression within their jurisdictions, but when fires exceed their suppression capabilities they may request resources from other agencies using resource sharing agreements including: Compact agreements with American States, other international agreements and agreements initiated through the Canadian Interagency Forest Fire Center (CIFFC). If the potential for simultaneous forest fires is neglected, excess fire activity may overwhelm the resource sharing structure. A historical analysis, 2 case studies, and a survey were employed to uncover information regarding simultaneous forest fires. Moreover, an examination of other resource sharing disciplines was used to uncover new ways of approaching resource sharing issues. The results of this study show that simultaneous fire events have overwhelmed the resource sharing system (during at least two years 1998 and 2003) and that modifications are needed to prepare for the potential increase in forest fire frequency.

This thesis provides a case study of the Government of Canada's former Office of Critical Infrastructure Protection and Emergency Preparedness (OCIPEP) through the lens of horizontal management (part of New Public Management theory). This study demonstrates that the effective use of horizontal management (horizontality) may reduce fragmentation occurring when the goal of critical infrastructure protection requires organizations to work cross-jurisdictionally and in partnerships. This need to collaborate is due to the ownership problem: over 85 per cent of Canada's critical infrastructure is owned by organizations other than the federal government. Research methods include a background survey of literature on critical infrastructure protection, horizontal management and horizontality, and new public management; and interviews using a snowball sample of eight subjects who held various positions within OCIPEP to better understand what the organizational structure appeared to be from within the organization. The research concludes that OCIPEP was not given the resources necessary to successfully fulfil its mandate. Results include the need for administrative and managerial support for horizontal endeavours, to encourage a "cultural context" of horizontality, as there are many organizational barriers to successfully using horizontality and collaborative methods. There were areas of success for OCIPEP, but more areas of weakness. Recommendations include additional study of the organization, a shift into a better-supported organization (which was accomplished with OCIPEP's inclusion into Public Safety and Emergency Preparedness Canada), and clear delineation of roles between the Government of Canada and the owners of the critical infrastructure.

The goal of this thesis was to reposition individual preparedness within a social environmental context. First, a theoretical model was developed to more accurately represent the social environmental considerations neglected in current preparedness research and policy. A series of three studies tested this model using a mixed-methods approach: First, subjective conceptualizations of preparedness were explored in a qualitative analysis (N = 12). Findings revealed that participants evaluated their readiness not in terms of prescribed activities, but perceptions about their current resourcefulness as well as past local hazards. Participants’ had positive social environments which also reinforced their perceived coping ability in future emergency events. Subsequent thesis studies investigated the role social environment further, using quantitative data. The second study explicitly tested whether perceptions of risk and coping could explain differences in preparedness based on demographic attributes linked to variations in social environment. Data from a survey examining Canadians perceptions regarding terrorism threats (N = 1503) revealed that greater anticipated response was significantly associated with increased age, as well as female gender, higher education levels, and higher income levels. Statistically significant differences in threat appraisals were also reported based on these demographic groupings. However, mediation analyses demonstrated that with the exception of gender, differences in anticipated response could not be explained via risk perceptions or perceived coping efficacy, suggesting that social environment’s role in preparedness is not related to the internal processes often targeted in current campaigns. The third study used a multilevel design to investigate the contextual role of neighbourhood social environment in anticipated emergency response. Results demonstrated that a more deprived social neighbourhood context was related to lowered anticipated emergency response. This relationship was maintained after controlling for significant individual-level factors such as previous experience and sociodemographics, highlighting the importance of neighbourhood social context in facilitating emergency preparedness. Taken together, these findings provide novel evidence that focusing preparedness strategies to primarily target internal processes is misguided, and that future research and policy must position preparedness efforts in the context of existing social environmental resources and barriers in order to build capacity for effective emergency response.