Crisis Decision-making During Hazardous Materials Events

During responses to hazardous material events, crisis decision makers often engage “paralysis by analysis,” spending valuable time trying to precisely identify the substances involved.  Research has shown that most effective decision makers use some form of the Recognition-primed Decision (RPD) model to rapidly find and select a reasonable and workable solution.  The RPD model encourages making rapid, “good enough” decisions, rather than spending too much time gathering information to make a perfect decision that may come too late.

Using a new six-step implementation of the RPD model, decision makers can use cues at the scene to quickly identify the actual substance or a similar one with “good enough” characteristics leading to successful response actions.

This presentation describes effective crisis decision-making techniques for hazardous material events and reinforces those lessons with demonstration of several scenarios. The importance of training, “good enough” decisions, and hazardous substance identification will be discussed.