JESIP South Africa
Joint Emergency Services Interoperability Principles
Working together,
Saving lives
JESIP models and principles have become the standard for interoperability in many jurisdictions. The JESIP Joint Doctrine: The Interoperability Framework sets out a standard approach to multi-agency working , along with training and awareness products for responding organisations to train their staff.
DMISA is hosting the ZAJESIP website in the interest of improved disaster risk and response management, and especially on-scene management of major incidents and disaster impacts.
Interoperability is defined as…
the extent to which organisations can work together coherently as a matter of routine.
Principles for joint working
The principles for joint working should be used during all phases of an incident, whether spontaneous or pre-planned and regardless of scale. They support the development of a multi-agency response and provide structure during the response to all incidents. The principles can also be applied during the recovery phase.
M/ETHANE
Shared situational awareness is a common understanding of the circumstances, immediate consequences and implications of the emergency, along with an appreciation of the available capabilities and the priorities of the responder organisations.
Joint Decision Model
One of the difficulties facing responders is how to bring together the available information, reconcile potentially differing priorities and then make effective decisions together. The Joint Decision Model (JDM) was developed to resolve this issue.
What is Joint Organisational Learning?
To have a joint organisational learning strategy fully embedded nationally is one of the objectives for ZAJESIP and is a key element of the JESIP Joint Doctrine: The Interoperability Framework.
The lessons identified from debriefing activities are vital to improving the way we respond to incidents. Inquests and inquiries focus heavily on previous lessons and responder organisations must be able to prove they have identified and shared learning to try to prevent future similar issues.
Issues have frequently been identified, but not successfully acted upon, to improve effective joint working. It is essential that Joint Organisational Learning (JOL) is accepted as the standard for multi-agency learning and is adopted by all responder organisations to ensure interoperability is continually improved.
In future, ZAJOL Online, supported by a robust process and governance, will provide responder organisations with a consistent and accountable mechanism to ensure lessons identified are acted upon, to make the transition from lessons identified to lessons learned.
It is envisaged that an Interoperability Working Group will provide governance for the ZAJOL arrangements. This will ensure that any issues regarding interoperability are considered and acted upon by appropriate representatives from the emergency services, their respective government departments and other key stakeholders.
