Emergency reorganisation and improvisation in crisis management – RESCUE

Thus, the RESCUE project offers, thanks to the implementation of a systemic risk analysis method, a dynamic modeling of the context, which integrates risk factors, exposures and effects, at different scales of time and space, in the form of a territorial characterization. In addition, taking into account the characteristics of the context when the accident occurs (time of the day, weather, etc.) and the risk of cyber-attack in defining the response to the crisis allows operational agility and to deduce the possibilities of adaptation and interoperability. With regard to the effectiveness of improvisation, the actors' appropriation of the planning framework is analyzed and practices related to collective improvisation as well as the maintenance of inter-organizational coordination are examined. An important accomplishment of the RESCUE project is the development of a virtual reality module for training and practice in crisis management of emergency and operational personnel. Realistic and increasingly complex case studies, from an organizational and technical management point of view, will be defined on the proposal of the end users who are part of the project.

The first step was to gather topological, processual, organizational and societal data from archives (protocols, feedback, etc.), interviews and observations. The organizations involved, their missions, tasks and coordination links were identified. The plans mobilized and the response to situations were listed. Risks (topological, health, economic) and hazards (climatic, political) and challenges (organizational, operational) were identified. Observation of initial crisis management exercises highlighted a number of inter-organizational improvisation and coordination practices. Organizational hazards were documented following initial observations and interviews. The analysis focuses on the inter-organizational level, identifying actual and potential domino effects, both internal and external. . Barriers are being listed and characterized by their activation condition, response time, probability of failure, effect on the scenario in the event of operation, resources mobilized... The kinetics of the phenomena involved, all available prevention, protection and intervention barriers, and the context of events (day/night, meteorology, ...) are notably taken into account and included in the time sequence(s) of the most probable scenarios.
A state of the art has been carried out on the modeling of domino and cascade effects in the literature. This work enables us to list the data required for this modeling. The dependencies between the various barriers that could limit their ability to operate simultaneously (shared human or material resources, shared water or energy supplies, etc.) are currently being established. Feedback from observations of crisis exercises is necessary. This interdependence of tasks was emphasized by the consortium during the project design phase. The project's agile planning has enabled us to advance the observation of exercises and highlight the levers for adapting plans.

A web-documentary will be produced to explain the benefits of RESCUE to the general public: the population is still ill-prepared for crisis-generating events. This specific action has been set up to promote a culture of risk and popularize crisis management.
The webdocumentary is currently being acquired. As soon as the team has sufficient empirical elements, it will launch a first version of the webdocumentary. One possibility is to present this popularization effort at upcoming ANR events.

Participation in the WISG days in Marseille on March 21 and 22, 2023

In France, industrial sites with high technological risks have the obligation to carry out a crisis management planning which describes the means, equipment and methods of intervention. However, during an industrial disaster, this planning may prove to be unsuitable and operational personnel must urgently provide an adequate response. The feedback from recent industrial accidents has identified three locks: (1) the 1st lock is systemic and based on the undeniable need to take into account the multidimensional characteristic of the situation; (2) the 2nd lock is organizational. It concerns the need to identify and analyze collective practices that constitute the inter-organizational improvisation and preserve the progress and consistency of the response to the crisis; (3) the 3rd lock is experiential. It is based on the need to form and train operational persons to improvise a response in order to increase the resilience of the territories.

The lifting of these obstacles is the objective of the RESCUE project. For this, the project aims to develop a methodology and operational tools in response to the crisis in order to increase the resilience of companies and territories. The goal is to provide dynamic crisis management, foster operational agility, promote effective improvisation and improve the training and practice of emergency and operational personnel. Thus, the RESCUE project offers, thanks to the implementation of a systemic risk analysis method, a dynamic modeling of the context, which integrates risk factors, exposures and effects, at different scales of time and space, in the form of a territorial characterization. In addition, taking into account the characteristics of the context when the accident occurs (time of the day, weather, etc.) and the risk of cyber-attack in defining the response to the crisis allows operational agility and to deduce the possibilities of adaptation and interoperability. With regard to the effectiveness of improvisation, the actors' appropriation of the planning framework is analyzed and practices related to collective improvisation as well as the maintenance of inter-organizational coordination are examined. An important accomplishment of the RESCUE project is the development of a virtual reality module for training and practice in crisis management of emergency and operational personnel. Realistic and increasingly complex case studies, from an organizational and technical management point of view, will be defined on the proposal of the end users who are part of the project.

The project partners are complementary and cover all the actors of crisis management. They come from the world of research, engineering and industry, which gives the project great maturity. These are: the Chemical Engineering Laboratory (skills in process safety, dynamic modeling and knowledge management), Paris Dauphine PSL University (expertise in coordination analysis in crisis situations and specialist in inter-organizational emergence), the National Institute for Industrial Environment and Risks (INERIS) (reference institute in the field of industrial risks), CRISE company (specialized in the fields of digital simulation and virtual reality) and the association SYNERZIP-LH. This association implements collective risk management between companies and security / safety actors. It brings together 18 companies, including 9 classified SEVESO III, the Grand Maritime Port of Le Havre and rescue teams, which ensures the definition of realistic case studies and the guarantee of the appropriation of the results of the project. In addition, an external steering committee has been defined with institutions (prefecture, SDIS, safety experts).