Critical incidents can take any number of forms and can occur in any organisation from accidents or injuries in the team, to natural disasters, bushfires, or global pandemics including the most recent and current COVID-19 pandemic, which has impacted every person and industry in one way or another.
It’s difficult to anticipate what might lead to an incident occurring because each is the result of varying contributing factors. If there is one thing that recent events have shown us, it’s that while we may not be able to predict everything that is going to happen, we should have a planned approach in place should something go wrong.
A post incident review will help you to understand exactly what has transpired, how it has affected your team, and provide you with a planned approach of how to respond differently next time.
It is important to note that a post incident review is not the same as an incident debrief. An incident debrief is typically conducted immediately after an incident and is beneficial for those directly involved in the incident, giving them an opportunity to share their experiences and perspectives, and determine if more urgent actions such as providing trauma counselling are required.
A post incident review is a separate, often lengthier review that may involve the wider organisation. A post incident review is framed from a strength-based perspective and prompts you to think about the three ‘what’s – what has happened, what went well and what could be done differently.
A well-structured critical incident review process will prompt you to consider the effectiveness of your critical incident/crisis management plan, equipment and resource availability, team capability, and capacity and suitability; following these steps:
- Establish the outcomes to ensure you are achieving results.
- Agree on the best approach to ensure your team will provide constructive feedback.
- Plan the review to ensure everyone turns up when and where required.
- Facilitate the review in a comfortable, open environment to maximise engagement and capturing of the learnings.
- Document the findings, share the results so participants feel heard, and action the feedback to ensure your program is continuing to mature.
Should you require assistance to prepare for and facilitate your post incident review, the Bounce Readiness team can conduct your review and work with you to develop a roadmap with findings and pro-active strategies so your organisation is ready, resilient and able to effectively respond to (and bounce back from) a critical incident.
If you would like to discuss our post incident review process or other services in more detail, please get in touch.