Communication and Resilience in a Crisis Management Exercise : A qualitative study of the communication of a staff leading the rescue work during a simulated ferry fire, understood through the systemic resilience model

Abstract: This study concerns communication in a crisis management exercise with a resilience perspective. The staff’s communication during a crisis management exercise, a simulating a ferry fire, facilitated by DARWIN, a European research project in resilience, is analysed with thematic analysis and understood through the Systemic Resilience (SyRes) model (Lundberg & Johansson, 2015)which combines different aspects of resilience. The main themes found are The Staff’s Decision Making, Operational Care of Affected Persons,and Communication. The staff’s decision makingconsist of the following subthemes: SituationAnalysis, Value of Measuresand Delegation.Operational care of Affected Personsinvolves the themes Transport,and Healthcare. Communicationconsists of the subthemes Stakeholders, and External Communication. The themes are connected in the way that in order to make informed decisions about the operational care ofaffected persons, the staff need to communicate with external stakeholders.  The themes could be understood through the functions in the SyRes model as they share elements with, could be seen as parts of, or in another way could fit into the adaptive functions of the SyRes model. This study found themes in the communication of a staff in crisis management. These themes seem to be central for this staff, are reflected in the SyRes model and would reflect what is important for a staff to behave resilient. That is why it would be suggested to examine if the staff’s in crisis management are supported in their work involving these themes.