Inquiries housed in database

A new database that captures the outcomes from inquiries and reviews into emergency management and natural hazards has been created by the Bushfire and Natural Hazards CRC.

Containing a catalogue of 300 inquiries and reviews across all states and territories, the Inquiries and Reviews Database is the outcome of a CRC project that brings together over 130 years’ worth of data for the first time.

In addition to the facts on all of the reviews conducted between 1886 and 2017, the database also has the full recommendations from 55 inquiries carried out between 2009 and 2017 and allows users to custom search through over 1,300 of these recommendations.

The Inquiries and Reviews Database allows users to search and compare recommendations through keywords and themes. All recommendations have been coded with set values into specific categories.

The database can be used in a variety of different ways:

• to compare equivalent recommendations between inquiries, themes and jurisdiction
• to track inquiries across jurisdiction, year and types
• To download and work with all inquiries and listed recommendations for the particular needs of an organisation

It is an essential resource for government and emergency management agencies to help them recognise past lessons and identify effective practices both now and into the future.

CRC researcher Dr Michael Eburn from the Australian National University was part of the research team that helped develop the database and believes that it will ensure emergency managers continue to learn from the past.

“Inquiry recommendations get lost or distorted over time, and having a place where practitioners can find and search the actual text of inquiry recommendations will help with understanding the past in order to keep learning for the future,” Dr Eburn said.

“Post event inquiries are only helpful if their recommendations are available and not forgotten. Bringing together the lessons from past events will help practitioners identify trends and recurring themes and ensure the lessons of the past are not forgotten.”

As an example of the power of the Inquiries and Reviews Database, a search for bushfire inquiries shows that between 2009 and 2017 there have been 51 inquiries, resulting in 811 recommendations. The most recommendations relate to ‘doctrine, standards and reform’, with 106 individual recommendations. ‘Incident management teams’ and ‘emergency management agency and authority’ have also had many related recommendations, with 71 and 64 respectively.

In the flood space, 15 flood-related inquiries have been conducted from 2009 to 2017, with the database allowing users to easily identify the recommendations and outcomes made by these inquiries. 328 total recommendations have been made from these inquiries, with the most relating to ‘land-use and building regulations’ (61 recommendations), ‘government responsibility’ (33 recommendations) and ‘doctrine, standards and reform’ (30 recommendations).

The database has a collection of all inquiries and can be sorted by hazard types, keywords etc.