inFIRE Conference 2012Wellington

The place of libraries in the development of decision support systems

Mats BornströmSwedish Civil Contingencies Agency

Swedish Civil Contingencies Agency (MSB)

• RIB Decision Support System is a source of information for everyone (who knows Swedish) working in the field of Civil Contingencies, ie, all the firefighters, police, transport, medical personnel and coast guard officials for the municipality. RIB linking databases together provide comprehensive information about how an accident can be managed, how prevention can be planned, risks involved when the accident occurs and where resources are.

• WIS is a web-based information system developed to facilitate information sharing between actors in the Swedish emergency management system. The system has primarily been designed to be used in the event of an emergency, but can also be used as a knowledge bank for preventative work and as a support in practice and training.

• The government library at the Swedish Civil Contingencies Agency can assist with literature that is searchable via the library catalog. We also have access to magazines, videos and other media, primarily in emergencies and crises. In this presentation we will find out what a government library, a decision support system and a web-based information system have in common.

Swedish Civil Contingencies Agency (MSB)

• Swedish Emergency Management Agency • Swedish Rescue Services Agency• Swedish National Board of Psychological Defence

Mandate

• Emergencies of all types, emergency management, and civil defence.

• Before, during, and after the occurrence of emergencies, crises and disasters.

• The entire spectrum of threats and risks, from everyday accidents up to major disasters.

Direction

• Advance and support societal preparedness for emergencies.

• Reducing consequences. • Coordinating across and between various

sector boundaries and areas of responsibility.

• The MSB will not take over the responsibility of other parties.

Facts about the MSB

• We have about 850 employees• We are located in Karlstad, Kristinehamn, Ljung, Revinge,•Rosersberg, Sandö and Stockholm• We run training courses in Revinge, Rosersberg and Sandö• We are a government authority under the Ministry of Defence

MSB colleges

Administration Department

Risk & Vulnerability Reduction Department

Training, Exercises & Emergency Preparedness Department

Coordination & Operations Department

Evaluation & Monitoring Department

ManagementDirector generalDeputy director general

Management Support and Strategic Management ControllerEU coordinationOther support

Internal Audit

Training, Exercises & Emergency Preparedness Department• Development of Rescue Services and Emergency

Management Section • Command & Control Systems and Decision Support

Section• Training Section• Exercises Section• Rakel Business Development Section • Rakel Infrastructure Section • Rakel Customer Support Section • MSB College Revinge• MSB College Sandö

Enheten för ledningssystem och beslutsstöd

• The unit's main task is to • ... with the demand, developing and managing

technical support in the field of Civil Contingencies (such as WIS, RIB, VMA and SGSI)

• …. respond to advice and grants to rescue centers and command posts as well as for shelter issues.

RIB-decision support system

RIB- decision support system

WIS is a secure Web-based Information System

Background

WIS aims

• To provide actors in the Swedish emergency management system with the option to share information with each other so that they can coordinate their activities and provide fast, accurate and coordinated information to the public and the media

• That all can participate on equal terms:WIS is a non-hierarchical system.

WIS aims

Common Situation Perception

CoordinatedDecision Making Coordinated

information

WIS objectives

• to be a useful tool that makes it easier for actors to share information, decisions and status reports before, during and after an emergency.

• to function for a wide range of users: government authorities, municipalities, county councils, organisations and also some parts of the private sector (e.g. power & telephone companies).

WIS history: from the KBM to the present day

Feb 2004

Government Commission

The MSB took over responsibility for WIS on 1 Jan 2009

...

Nov 2008WIS 1.7

Sep 2005WIS 1.0

How many are connected to WIS?

August 2010:– A total of 387 actors; 5,54 users– A total of 17,500 published diary notes

Examples of when WIS has been used

• Avian influenza (Bird flu) • Samö 2007 exercise• Per – the storm• Mudslide on E6 motorway at Munkedal• Storms in February 2008• Forest fires in June 2008• Sydvind exercise - October 2008• Pandemic flu 2009

WIS – just one piece of the jigsaw

Government authorityweb sites

Swedish Board of AgricultureSMHI,

SSM, MSB…

Command & Control systems

LUPP, Daedalos

WISwww.swis.se

Mediaradio, TV, newspapers ...

National portal for emergency information www.krisinformation.se

MSB colleges

Administration Department

Risk & Vulnerability Reduction Department

Training, Exercises & Emergency Preparedness Department

Coordination & Operations Department

Evaluation & Monitoring Department

ManagementDirector generalDeputy director general

Management Support and Strategic Management ControllerEU coordinationOther support

Internal Audit

Working document or executed document?

Working documentChanges aren’t logged.

Executed documentCan be edited, but all earlier versions can also be read.

Suitable to consult on with the issuing actors

during a secrecy assessment.

Sensitive/Classified information

Administrative provisions for the use of WIS(Dnr 2009-1905)

The starting point is that the WIS system should not contain any information subject to secrecy as defined by the Official Secrets Act.

To share information in WIS isan active choice in both ends!First: The owner of the information must assign it to the other actors.

AssignedDiary TabStorm

Second: Every intersested actor must make an active choice to be able to read the diary tabs.

Connected diary tabs

Assigned forest fire (Aneby)

Assigned forest fire (Jönköping)

Assigned forest fire (Vetlanda)

Connected forest fires

External diaries Our diary

Assigned forest fires

Remember...

• All text always begins in a notebook.

• Most things done by the editor affects all users at an actor.

• To share information between actors it is required that– The diary tab is assigned– And that the actor has chosen to either show it or

connect it.

Conclusion

The key features of WIS is:

• To assign your own diary tabs to other actors.

• To show assigned diary tabs from other actors.

• To connect assigned diary tabs from other actors to one of your own diary tabs.

Integrated Decision Supportfor Civil Protection

A support tool and source of information for professionals working in the field of civil protection.

Integrated Decision Supportfor Civil Protection

• Governmental• Non-profitable• Computorized

Examples of areas of application• Preventive work• Operations planning for the fire & rescue service• As an operational tool during emergency response operations• Supervision and inspection of transportation of dangerous goods• Training and exercises

The system• Is used on-line internally in the SRSA organisation; the main office and the four fire & rescue colleges.• Has been developed for use on moderately equipped standard PC’s.• Is delivered to the external end-user on CD-rom, thus making it useable in fire-engines and command vehicles as well as at the fire departments, the municipality health and enviromental offices, police cars, the coastguards rescue coordination centers and at sea.• Consists of integrated data-bases and modules, but it is also possible for the end-user to select only the modules or parts that is of special interest for a certain application and/or task.• Uses the Internet for various tasks, with expansion in that area currently under development.

Our usersOver 1200 users

• Fire & rescue services• Swedish police• Swedish coast guard• The country administrative boards• Industries• Transportation companies• Swedish Civil Aviation Authority• and many others….

Main components of RIB• Hazardous substances database.• Library with manuals reports and regulations.• Resource database with experts and equipment.• Guidelines, tactics and methods for hazardous material accidents.• Tools for emergency planning.• Training programs. • Statistics from fire & rescue services in Sweden and from the police regulation of dangerous goods transports.• Guidelines and methods for accident prevention.

Unique connection betweendatabases• Hazardous Substances

• Library• Resources

Main components of RIBHazardous

substances

databaseLibrary

Experts,equipme

nt,resource

sTools for emergency planning

Transport

regulationsStatistics

Training literatur

e

Training programs

Operational RIB

HazMat database Searchable database:Approx 5,500 substances• Substance name• UN number• CAS number• Classification• Kemler code

AnhydrousAmmonia

1005Synonym

s,EnglishFrenchGerman

HazMat database • Properties• Fire-rescue info• First aid• Toxicity data• Classification• ADR/RID labelling• Marking• Name

Library • More than 12,500 entries• Total of 50,000 pages of text• SRSA link library with Internet links• Symbols & Clipart relevant to fire & rescue services• Integration with Hazmat database

Resources database • Equipment• Vehicles• Experts

Can be search for nationwide, by county or municipality.

Tools• Calculation programs

• Dispersion programs

• Oil combating

• Risk management

• Command & Control support system

• Guidelines for chemicals

•Radioactive decontamination

• Chemicals assessment tool

Risk-Era A user-friendly tool for Community risk management

• Analyse and evaluate accident risk• Register local data• Present data geographically• Import data from various sources • Classify risks and objects of concern• Promote a standard way of working with risks

LUPP • Logbook• Operations sheet• Communication sheet• Task sheet• Resource sheet• Status report sheet• Incident & resource maps

Command & Control Support System

Transport/supervision • ADR legislation• RID legislation• IMDG legislation

For transport of dangerous goods by road, rail and sea.

Statistics

Training literature • Full text books and reports in PDF-format.• Special section aimed specially at authorities and the emergency services (for exampel guidebook, emergency response for CBRN threats)

Training programs • Oil emissions, an Interactive reference book• Radio training program• Hazmat training• Six simplified fire scenarios• Interactive program for various chemical detection instruments• Radiological emergency