Operations Management For Developing Disaster Resilient: A Preparatory Plan

Preparatory Measures

Discuss about the Operations Management for Developing Disaster Resilient.

Operations management plan is a key factor for providing relief services during the cyclones in Northern Queensland. The paper has been developed to plan the preparatory measures that must be taken prior to the cyclone period to get ready for the future uncertainties and manage natural disasters (Oh et al., 2014). The primary objective of the study is to prepare a disaster management plan considering the supply chain management principles, inventory management system and technology tracking of infrastructure resources. Furthermore, the report presents an action plan for conducting the activities during the two months period prior to the cyclones in Far Northern Queensland.

During emergency management plan, the preparatory measures have been identified as one of the most obvious things to be considered. Due to the cyclonic conditions during the monsoon season in North Queensland, it is the responsibility of the Operations Manager of Emergency Services to work out adequate rapid response facilities (Morken and Johansen, 2013). Meanwhile, the major role of the rapid action plan will be to reduce the common hazards that can be taken place during the cyclonic season. In the preliminary planning, risk ranking has been recognised as one of the most significant sections. Through the identification of the most badly hit areas, sufficient resourcing control must have been orderly processed (Heizer and Render, 2014).

According to the scenario, rapid response team must be arranged to clear out the debris and recover the people. By anticipating the potential risks and hazards aftermath of the cyclonic condition, high-degree of communication channel must be developed. Thus, emergency services, medical health and other response facilities can be made available to the common public. Herein, sufficient training and testing of the equipment must be appropriately verified before the cyclonic condition so that rapid response team can act according to the plan without any further delay (Petitjean, Mougeolle and Meyran, 2011). Moreover, incident assessment and comprehensive communication facilities must be developed to provide help to the common people.

Inventory Management

Inventory management is the key factor for the success of a disaster management plan. It is important for the Queensland Emergency Services to conduct a resource analysis to know what sort of inventory is needed to provide rapid response to alleviate community hardship (Petitjean, Mougeolle and Meyran, 2011). Along with that, the government organisation needs to prepare small inventories at different locations near the cyclone prone zone to provide quick services or Just-In-Time services taking help of the local NGOs and government bodies (Payne, 2009). The organisation needs to develop a disaster management team that will take care of the needs of the inventories in different locations and contact with the head office to have all resources prepared before the cyclone period.

Logistic Management

Disaster Management Plan

During the cyclonic conditions, active logistics management can help the affected people to get rid of the calamity as early as possible. In order to identify the most significant supply chain management for the task, the seven principles of supply chain management can be taken into consideration (Clogstoun, Trewin and Bosworth, 2006). First of the all, identifying the need for the segment, sufficient services and facilities must be provided to the public. Secondly, customising the best logistics network, efficient services have to be delivered to the target audience. Thirdly, during the resource allocation, the demand has to be aligned according to the severity level. Fourthly, customer-based supply chain management must be delivered to gratify the need of the target demographics (Clark, 2006). Next, resources have to be managed in a strategic way so that it can be delivered across the area. Furthermore, the technological strategy must be developed to facilitate the decision-making process of the supply chain. Last but not the least; the monitoring of the logistic system must be done to verify the collective success of the logistics management (Watson, 2013).

In the contemporary system of emergency management, technology has influenced the networking of rapid action team, to say the least. Moreover, modern technology has provided the most sustainable communication channels to be utilised during the rapid response tactics (Oh et al., 2014). Furthermore, the infrastructural damage happened during the cyclonic events can be quickly modified with the help of modern heavy engineering technology. Most importantly, technology has let the administrator know about the worst affecting areas before the beginning of the event. Hence, the Operations Manager of the rapid response team can shift the mass public from this field to a safer place. Thus, the chances of physical damage have been reduced to some extent (Alzaghal, 2010). Moreover, modern technology has played a major part in the inventory management to predict the sufficient inventory to be required for a large group of people. Apparently, the technology has changed the overall functionality standards of the operations management during the crisis scenario (Walle, Turoff and Hiltz, 2010).

The action plan for disaster management prior to the cyclone period for upcoming two months has been presented in the table given below:

Two Months Action Plan for Disaster Management prior to Cyclone Period
Milestones	Activities	Responsible Person	Timeframe	Recommendations
Risk Assessment and Mitigation Plan	Risk Assessment	Operations Manager and Team	Nov 1 – Nov 05	There is a need of risk assessment that must be conducted to by observing the previous year’s losses using the historic data (Walle, Turoff and Hiltz, 2010). Along with that, the forecast of the weather department must be considered to analyse the future uncertainties.
Contingency Plan	Operations Manager and Team	Nov 6 – Nov 15	After preparing the risk assessment report there is a need of contingency plan that will be executed during the cyclone period (Walle, Turoff and Hiltz, 2010).
Supply Chain Management	Inventory Management Plan	Operations Manager and Team	Nov 16 – Nov 30	There is a need of inventory management plan that will be executed during the cyclone period. Along with that, the Queensland Emergency Services must store some inventory prior to the cyclone period and keep it spread in different distribution centres to reduce the hardship of the community (Walle, Turoff and Hiltz, 2010).
Supplier Management Plan	Operations Manager and Team	Nov 16 – Nov 30	The organisation must develop good relationship with local suppliers to provide the relief services during the cyclone period (Walle, Turoff and Hiltz, 2010). It helps to spread the inventory all across the region.
Logistics Management Plan	Operations Manager and Team	Nov 16 – Nov 30	All emergency service vehicles must be checked prior to the cyclone period and kept ready for the emergency services. Along with that, the support of local NGOs and common public can be taken to provide relief services (Rheem et al., 2016).
Hazard Management Plan	Hazard Assessment	Emergency service ministry	Dec 1 – Dec 5	Hazard assessment will be conducted considering the historic data and technology tracking of infrastructure resources (Rheem et al., 2016).
Hazard mitigation Plan	Emergency service ministry	Dec 6 – Dec 10	A hazard mitigation plan will be prepared as per the hazard assessment report (Rheem et al., 2016).
Safety Training for local people	Educational training	Operations Manager and Team	Dec 11 – Dec 31	Educational training regards to health and safety must be provided to high alert zones to save the life of people (Yamamoto, 2013).
Social Media Awareness	Media Department	Dec 11 – Dec 31	Social media can be used to provide training and alert local people.

Conclusion

The role of the Operations Manager of the Queensland Emergency Services has determined the survival chances of common public avoiding the common hazards to be faced. Admittedly, the activities prior to the cyclonic condition have verified how the rapid response team will perform during the crisis management. Precisely, the most significant preparatory measures, logistic management channels and systematic utilisation of technology have increased the productivity of the emergency management. Most of all, it is the common public that can play the major role to make the operations management a success during emergency circumstances.

References

Alzaghal, M. (2010). Emergency communications interoperability for disaster management. 1st ed. Saarbru?cken: LAP Lambert Academic Publishing.

Clark, (2006). On Developing Disaster Resilient Communications Infrastructure. Marine Technology Society Journal, 40(4).

Clogstoun, R., Trewin, R. and Bosworth, M. (2006). Would Emergency Safeguard Measures Work for Services?. Asian-Pacific Economic Literature, 20(2), pp.56-69.

Heizer, J. and Render, B. (2014). Operations management. 1st ed. Boston: Prentice Hall.

Morken, T. and Johansen, I. (2013). Safety measures to prevent workplace violence in emergency primary care centres–a cross-sectional study. BMC Health Services Research, 13(1).

Oh, E., Kim, K., Kim, K., Kim, J. and Cho, J. (2014). Development Strategy of Infrastructure Risk Assessment Based Disaster Response and Management System. World Journal of Engineering and Technology, 02(03), pp.27-35.

Payne, C. (2009). Contingency plan exercises. Disaster Prevention and Management: An International Journal, 8(2), pp.111-117.

Petitjean, F., Mougeolle, C. and Meyran, D. (2011). Crisis Management: A Possible Improvised Operational Approach. Prehospital and Disaster Medicine, 16(S1), pp.S54-S55.

Rheem, S., Choi, W., Kwak, C. and Oh, K. (2016). A Cooperative Emergency Response System based on the Disaster Response Activity Plan. Crisis and Emergency Management, 12(4), pp.1-15.

Walle, B., Turoff, M. and Hiltz, S. (2010). Information systems for emergency management. 1st ed. Armonk, NY: M.E. Sharpe.

Watson, M. (2013). Supply chain network design. 1st ed. Upper Saddle River, N.J.: FT Press.

Yamamoto, S. (2013). Human interface and the management of information. 1st ed. Berlin: Springer.