Ian Greatbatch, Robert J. Koester and Andrea L. Kleinsmith
It is a well held belief that the full moon period and the date Friday 13th has an impact on the number of emergency call outs for emergency services. The purpose of this paper is…
Abstract
Purpose
It is a well held belief that the full moon period and the date Friday 13th has an impact on the number of emergency call outs for emergency services. The purpose of this paper is to critically explore that belief. It also examines the versatility and richness of response records, and demonstrates the effectiveness of combining data sets.
Design/methodology/approach
The work takes four varied data sets, from four rescue agencies along with the International Search and Rescue Database and compared the average number of calls on a full moon night, non-full moon and full moon period (the full moon night, the day before and day after). The average number of incidents on Friday 13th was also investigated. It uses a statistical approach to test the difference between “normal” dates and those dates traditionally believed to be busier.
Findings
Although there were differences between Friday 13th, full moon nights, full moon periods and “normal” days, the differences were in general extremely small, not significantly significant and in most cases actually dropped during the supposedly unlucky period. The exception to this is a very small increase in the average number of responses during full moons for most data sets, although this was not statistically significant. This paper concludes that there is no evidence in the data for any impact of the full moon upon rescue teams’ activities.
Research limitations/implications
This research deals with a small set of responses, from the UK only, and addresses an issue that is clearly not the most pressing. However, it does demonstrate evidenced-based management in practice, in that resources have incorrectly been assigned in the past to these dates.
Practical implications
This work shows that preconceptions exist within the emergency services and that, without evidence-led management, resources can be allocated on hearsay. This shows that widely available software and techniques can be applied to organisational data and used to make management decisions more appropriate.
Social implications
Rescue organisations are almost exclusively charity or public sector organisations, meaning that their budgets are sourced from donations or the tax-payer. Putting to bed misconceptions over resources for certain dates will ultimately benefit society in those terms.
Originality/value
There has been very little work on this phenomenon, although some works on A&E department admissions have taken place. This is the only work to date to combine data in this way for this purpose.
Details
Keywords
Katherine Lamb, Malcolm Farrow, Costa Olymbios, David Launder and Ian Greatbatch
The study aims to determine if the application of a systematic command training system (Effective Command) could influence the organisational competency profile, through the…
Abstract
Purpose
The study aims to determine if the application of a systematic command training system (Effective Command) could influence the organisational competency profile, through the identification, training and assessment of key behavioural markers.
Design/methodology/approach
The Effective Command framework is aligned to UK National Fire Service role-maps and is routinely used in both development and assessment of Fire Officers worldwide. Data from 1,261 formal assessments were analysed and descriptive statistics performed.
Findings
Structured analysis of incident command assessment data should inform subsequent training cycles of individuals, organisations and procedures. Key behavioural markers were identified in Level 1 (L1) and Level 2 (L2) commanders which influence assessment outcomes. Reduced competence scores between L1 and L2 officers were recorded, providing a strong argument for a supported development process for L2 officers.
Practical implications
Six key behavioural markers were identified in L1 commanders, all were associated with information comprehension and evaluation, which ultimately impacted the outcomes of formal assessments. This study provides empirical evidence that frequent incident or scenario exposure, coupled with metacognitive understanding of the decision rationale could reverse these weaknesses and turn them into individual strengths. This in-depth analysis of data generated in individuals who pass or fail these assessments should strengthen organisational learning.
Originality/value
The use of a structured command training framework contributes significantly to operational assurance by providing a robust assessment and training methodology, which ensures that organisations can appoint, train and assess their incident commanders.
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Geoff Newiss and Ian Greatbatch
The purpose of this paper is to quantify the risk of fatality for men who are reported missing following a night out. Additionally, the paper aimed to develop search heuristics to…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to quantify the risk of fatality for men who are reported missing following a night out. Additionally, the paper aimed to develop search heuristics to inform the development of search strategies, through an examination of the key geographical points involved in these cases.
Design/methodology/approach
Cases were identified, and data collected, from online media sources supplemented with a request to UK police forces and a search of the UK Missing Persons Unit database. In total, 96 cases which occurred over a five-and-a-half-year period in the UK were included. The study compares the profile of fatalities that result from disappearances occurring in different types of geographical area. Location data were georeferenced allowing Euclidean distances between geographical locations to be generated.
Findings
In total, 60 per cent of disappearances lasting longer than 48 h resulted in fatality, rising to almost all cases after three days missing. In 89 per cent of cases bodies are recovered from water; 11 per cent on land after the individual died from a fall, hypothermia or a drugs overdose.
Practical implications
Search strategies can be informed by a consideration of the type of area the person was socialising (high night-time economy through to rural areas) and the geography of subsequent sightings.
Originality/value
In focusing on the specific circumstances of a disappearance rather than an individual’s personal characteristics, the paper offers an innovative approach to understanding risk (i.e. what is the likelihood of a particular outcome occurring) and the development of heuristics for search strategies in missing person cases.
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Presents 31 abstracts, edited by Johanthan Morris and Mike Reed, from the 2003 Employment Research Unit Annual Conference, held at Cardiff Business School in September 2003. The…
Abstract
Presents 31 abstracts, edited by Johanthan Morris and Mike Reed, from the 2003 Employment Research Unit Annual Conference, held at Cardiff Business School in September 2003. The conference theme was “The end of management? managerial pasts, presents and futures”. Contributions covered, for example, the changing HR role, managing Kaizen, contradiction in organizational life, organizational archetypes, changing managerial work and gendering first‐time management roles. Case examples come from areas such as Mexico, South Africa, Australia, the USA, Canada and Turkey.