Improving emergency management teamwork using non-technical skills

Incident management and emergency management teams are regularly required to operate under difficult and demanding conditions, coordinating the response to large-scale emergencies. Non-technical skills, such as cognitive, social and personal skills, play a central role in the performance of these teams. 

Researchers have developed the Emergency Management Non-Technical Skills tool, presented in Hazard Note 93, designed to help emergency management individuals and teams enhance their non-technical skills to complement technical skills and strengthen individual and team capabilities. It focuses on seven non-technical skills – communication, coordination, cooperation, leadership, situation awareness, decision-making, and coping with stress/fatigue – and provides descriptions and behavioural markers that can be used to determine how effectively these skills are being used and where improvements can be made. 

The Emergency Management Non-Technical Skills tool is one of six tools developed by this project. Access all six tools on the CRC's Online Tools page in the 'Teamwork tools' section. 

Download Hazard Note 92 by clicking the DOWNLOAD NOW button above.