ETSI STF 472 Interview Guideline

ETSI STF 472 Interview Guideline

This document has been prepared by the STF 472 aiming at serving the guide for interviews with stakeholders in order to better shape the actual and future scenarios of an emergency and disaster relief platform. Therefore, some questions may be relevant for some scenarios, but are kept here in the unified questionnaire. All the information gathered in this questionnaire will be kept confidential and it will be used purely to aggregate to other responses to reach collective conclusions. No publication of the individual responses will be made elsewhere. The experts nominated by the SatEC group, in addition to the STF 472 experts, may have access to the individual responses.

The STF 472 is an expert group set by ETSI SES/SatEC with the purpose to identify reference scenarios for Emergency satellite-assisted Telecommunications Services. The key personnel of the STF 472 are:

TB/secretariat representatives
Jean-Jacques Bloch / TC SES Chairman
Alice De Casanove / SES/SatEC Chairman
Laurent Franck / Telecom Bretagne (French Ministry)
Luca Ronga / CNIT
Alberto Berrini / STF Manager
Bernt Mattsson / TC SES Technical Officer
Thierry Comont / STF Support and Administration
STF 472 (emergency scenarios) experts:
Egil Bovim / Egil Bovim Consulting / KoKom
Haitham Cruickshank / CCSR
Robert Mort / Systek Consulting / THALES
Anton Donner / Ingenieurbüro Donner / DLR
Julian Seseña Navarro / Wireless Partners

1.Personal Detailsof the Interviewee and his/her Organization

The details on this table are collected purely to characterize the profile of the interviewee.

Name
Contact details (email, telephone)
Organization
Role of the Organization (e.g., police, law enforcement, medical rescue, technical rescue etc.)
Size of the Organization
Position of the interviewee in the Organization
Scope of the Organization activities (municipal/local, Regional, National, European)
Personal experience multi-disciplinary rescue operations with other organisations/disciplines (e.g., organisations from other countries, organisations from own country, fire brigades, rescue organisations, police, armed forces, non-governmental organisations)?
Personal experience mass casualty incident (MCI)? If yes, which main event(s) (what happened, when, where, duration, length of preparation phase, lessons learned, etc.)?
What language is used in your organization when providing assistance to an incident? Local language, English? What portions of the team members speak at least one foreign language (estimation in percent)?

The following questions shall be answered for each commented/reportedincidentseparately!

2.Description of Incident

When responding to comments about specifics of the incident, it is convenient to refer to a specific incident in order to better assess commonalities and singularities with other incidents.

When
Where
What
Response activities carried out

3.Review of current availableCommunications Infrastructure

3.1Mobile Control/Operations Rooms

What is your primary voice communication system (in the field, to the emergency control centre)?
Do you have/use vehicles with built-in mobile C4 (command, control, communication, and computers)?
Do you have/use portable/transportable equipment for C4 (command, control, communication, and computers)? Note: portable means to be carried by a person, transportable means e.g., a forklift is required.
How does the mobile control room communicate and exchange information with the next upper level of hierarchy within your normal region?
How does the mobile control room communicate and exchange information with the next upper level of hierarchy during international missions (e.g., telephone, satellite)?
Which applications were used for data gathering, documentation, processing and visualisation? Used by which role/entity?

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3.2Voice Communications

Which voice telecommunication systems were in use (public switched telephone network,mobile cell phones, professional mobile radio, satellite network, walkie-talkie, etc.)?Please fill in the following table:

Voice communication system / User group/role and purpose / Usability / Problems, limitations / Reliability, availability / Confidentiality (cyphering), compatibility to neighbouring regions/countries / Free text
public switched telephone network
mobile cell phones / (e.g., GSM)
private/professional mobile radio (direct mode and network mode operation) / (e.g., analogue, TETRA, TETRAPOL, other)
satellite network / (e.g., Iridium, Globalstar, Inmarsat, other)
walkie-talkie
amateur radio
other

Which form of communication do you use more frequently?

Do you share the network with other users?

3.3Data Communication Networks

Which data networks were in use in the field (including alerting)? Please fill in the following table:

Data communication network / User group/role and purpose / Usability / Problems, limitations / Reliability, availability / Confidentiality (cyphering) / Free text
analogue private/professional mobile radio (Selcall)
POCSAG
TETRA short data service (SDS)
TETRAPOL SDS
cell phone SMS
GPRS/3G/4G
satellite services / (e.g., Inmarsat BGAN, other)
fixed cable network
WLAN
WiMAX
other

Which form of communication do you use more frequently?

Do you share the network with other users?

3.4Data Storage

How and where do you store data (both on paper and electronically)? Do you share these data with other roles or user groups, roles, or rescue disciplines?

Data description (incl. content, source, purpose) / Rescue discipline and/or user group/role / Storage medium and format / Physical location / Shared with / Free text

3.5Data Exchange

Which data exchange applicationswere used?Please fill in the following table:

Data communication applications / User group/role and purpose / Usability / Problems, limitations / Reliability, availability / Free text
paper, data storage medium / (e.g., USB memory stick)
e-mail (with attachments)
messaging/chat / (e.g., SMS, SDS, WhatsApp, other chat software)
audio/video conference, desktop sharing / (e.g., Skype, Adobe Connect)
geographic information systems (GIS) / (e.g., Google maps, other)
dedicated management/ logistic/ assessment software / (vendor, product, purpose?)
other

Which form of communication do you use more frequently?

3.6Data Synchronisation

How do you compare and synchronize data between different user groups/roles or rescue disciplines?

User group/role or discipline 1 / User group/role or discipline 2 / Data to be synchronized / Approach/tool / Free text

3.7IT-Hardware in the field

Note: private/professional mobile radio terminals (analogue, TETRA, TETRAPOL) with voice and short message/data services only are not so important here!

Please consider both hardware used in the field emergency control centre and “personal” hardware (i.e. carried by persons during rescue operations).

Hardware / User group/role and purpose / Usability / Problems, limitations / Reliability, availability / Free text
(e.g., problems with practical issues such as maintenance, coldness, rain, darkness, battery life, wearing gloves, protection suits, breath protection)

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3.8External Information Sources

Did you make use of any external information sources in the field? E.g., web browsing, television, social media, others? If yes, what and how?

3.9Other Questions

How do you know about other (local) decision makers/next higher level hierarchies to be informed?
How do you obtain information on other regional or national areas where you might be deployed to (e.g., maps, databases, standard operating procedures (SOPs), hierarchy, local user technology, local frequency regulation issues, contacts and telephone numbers etc.)?
Do you use digital plans/maps?
If yes, where do these maps come from? Are maps updated during rescue operations? How are maps updated? Do you provide feedback to the originator of the maps?
What is a use case for video teleconferencing?
Do you need broadcast capability to enable information to be sent to all users? If yes, to which level of hierarchy and for which purpose?
Do you need multicast capability to enable information to be sent to groups of users or selected individuals? If yes, for which purpose?
Do you make use of cypheringduring emergency communication?
If there is no cyphering, do you believe that it is important to have it set up?

4.Specific Rescue Operations Details

Two specific scenarios are studied: earthquake and mass casualty incident (MCI). As there are singularities of each incident, two sections with questions follow. It is understood that an earthquake could be perceived as the combination of several types of incidents including the MCI.

4.1Mass Casualty Incident (MCI)

4.1.1DraftMCI Structure

Do you identify any missing element in Figure 1 depicting the overall structure of MCI operations?

Figure 1: Possible MCI structure.

4.1.2Explanation Typically Involved Entities/Roles

4.1.2.1Regional/National/Civil Protection Authorities

Example authorities/infrastructure providers

Civil protection authorities
Crisis management groups
Government, police, armed forces
Utilities/ Telecom providers
Geology/ Hydrology expertise
Public health authorities
Transport authorities (roads, railways, air-traffic)
Social services

Example tasks

Risk assessment
Call centre for relatives,including “I am alive” services)
Organization infrastructure (shelter, water, food, transport)
Coordination of supra-regional help
Temporary compensation for broken infrastructure
Prevention epidemics (safe water, sanitation)
Preparation of more permanent shelters/ structures for longer rescue periods
Request/ preparation/ implementation of assistance from external resources (national/ international)

4.1.2.2Field Emergency Control

Example tasks

Coordination with other rescue disciplines
Mapping of patients to ambulance cars / hospitals
Contact to emergency control centre
Requesting additional rescue forces/specialists (via the emergency control centre/authorities)

4.1.2.3Emergency Control Centre / Public Safety Answering Point

Example tasks

Call centre for emergency calls
Alerting
Dispatching of ambulance cars / fire brigades
Hospital resource allocation (?)
Liaison with ECCs of other services (if applicable)
Interaction with NGOs
Coordination with relevant non-emergency services
Resource allocation and prioritisation between sites

4.1.2.5TriageArea

Interface between “hazard zone” and “safe operation area”
First triage (if not done directly in the incident area) performed by triage teams
Depending on the incident there might be one to many triageareas
Typically “self-organising” selection of triage arealocation
Very theoretical approach, works only in rare cases

4.1.2.6Interim Care Centre

Optional, depending on available transport capacities
Functionality ranging from weather protection to field hospital with pre-clinical treatment
Triage at the entrance
Typically different “pipelines” for different triage categories
Can be based on tents or available buildings

4.1.2.7Shelter

Comments?

4.1.3Other Specific Questions

Is there a guideline provided by your organisation for MCI management available?
Did the depicted entities/roles reflect the actual situation?
Were there other entities involved?
Were there other roles involved?
Were there other tasks?
Which roles/entities did use which tools for MCI management?

Triage teams (incident area)
Interim care centre
Shelter
Transport
Hospitals
Field emergency control
Emergency control centre
Public safety answering point
Authorities

Which communication systems were/are used, how is information exchanged (see section Information Flows and Figure 2)?
What are weaknesses of the current approach (if any)?
Do you use electronic fleet management or billing tools for ambulance cars? If yes, can these tools be used for MCI logistics, too? How?

Tool 1:
Tool 2:

What are possible improvements to the current MCI management approach??
Was an “I am alive” service implemented?
How was it advertised?
Which media did it use (public phone services, social media etc.)?
What was the uptake?

4.1.4Information Flow specific to MCI Incident

(See Figure 2)

Any role/entity missing? Anything wrong?
Any communication channel missing?
Which information has to be exchanged between the different roles/entities (i.e. who needs to know what?)?
Examples: number of patients category red, hospital capacity, arriving ambulance cars etc.
How do you know that hospitals nearby are not already in saturation?
Anything missing in the patient data structure,Figure 3?

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Figure 2: MCI information flows.

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4.1.5Patient Data

Figure 3: MCI patient data (patient perspective)

4.1.6Qualitative Classification

What are typical problems when gathering information about the incident?
What are typical problems when handling the incident?
What are obstacles to successful MCI handling?
Examples: access to incident area (blocked streets/roads), variety of involved organisations/rescue disciplines etc.

4.1.7Quantitative Size/Complexity

What are parameters driving the complexity of an MCI? I.e. what parameters have direct influence on the effort necessary for MCI handling?
Examples: size of incident area, various access possibilities to incident area, number of triage points, number of interim care centres, number of field emergency control (sub-)sections, transport capacities (ambulance cars/other transport means like busses or helicopters), number of patients and affected persons, number of involved rescue forces, distance to hospitals etc.

4.1.8Other Questions/Discussion

What is the personal wish list of the interviewee?
What needs for standardization does the interviewee identify?
Are there specific roles/agents structured in your rescue plan?
Are there specific needs identified for communications between each participant agent?
Can you provide schemes of your communications infrastructure or your communications needs?
Is there any specific requirement which you think could be solved by using satellite based services?

4.2EarthquakeRescue Resources Characterization

Albeit this section is entitled “earthquake” we are interested in management of multi-disciplinary rescue responses.

4.2.1Draft Earthquake Structure

Please, characterize the overall architecture of the rescue resources?

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Figure 4: Draft earthquake structure.

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4.2.2Explanation Typically Involved Entities/Roles

4.2.2.1Regional/National/Civil Protection Authorities, Emergency Task Force

Example authorities

Public health authorities
Transport authorities (roads, railways, air-traffic)

Example tasks

Risk assessment
Call centre for relatives, including “I am alive” services)
Coordination of supra-regional help
Prevention epidemics (safe water, sanitation)
Preparation of more permanent shelters/ structures for longer rescue periods
Request/ preparation/ implementation of assistance from external resources (national/ international)

4.2.2.1Infrastructure/Service Providers, Information Sources

Example providers

Utilities/ telecom providers
Geology/ hydrology expertise
Social services

Example tasks

Organization infrastructure (shelter, water, food, transport)
Temporary compensation for broken infrastructure

4.2.2.2Field Emergency Control

Example tasks

Coordination with other rescue disciplines
Mapping of infrastructural and other effects
Risk management (rescuers and affected persons)
Contact to emergency control centre
Requesting additional rescue forces/specialists (via the emergency control centre/authorities)

4.2.2.3Emergency Control Centre / Public Safety Answering Point

Example tasks

Call centre for emergency calls
Alerting
Dispatching of ambulance cars / fire brigades / other rescue disciplines
Hospital resource allocation (?)
Liaison with ECCs of other services (if applicable)
Interaction with NGOs
Liaison with relevant non-emergency services
Resource allocation and prioritisation between sites

4.2.3 GeneralQuestions

Who were the involved actors?
How was the incident advertised?
Time of implementation locally and centrally
Gathering of material from the field
Dissemination of findings/ conclusions
Implementation of findings/ conclusions
Was the process in line with set procedures?
Did the depicted (Figure 4) entities/roles reflect the actual situation?
Were there other entities involved?
Were there other roles involved?
Were there other tasks?

4.2.4 Infrastructure

Power supply

Was there a power cut?
What was the geographic distribution?
What was the geographic distribution?
How long did it last?
How was it compensated for?

Water supply

Was it broken?
What was the geographic distribution?
How long did it last?
How was it compensated for?

Telephone services

Were they down?
What was the geographic distribution?
How long did it last?
Howe was it compensated for?
When working, were there problems with capacity?

Sanitation

Were sewage systems working?
How and when was this compensated for?
How was the population instructed and enabled to prevent epidemics?
Was there an increase in hygiene-related diseases (diarrhoea)?

Permanent (re)-settlement/ shelters

When were these services initiated?
How big proportion of the victims were dependant on assistance from the public services for (semi) permanent shelters?
How was the movement of individuals from temporary shelters to more permanent dwellings documented and reported?

NGOs

Were they requested for/ mobilised?
Who made the decision to mobilise them?
Who coordinated their activities? ECC? FR? Others?
What were their roles?
What were their lines of reporting?
What were their means of communication?

Internally within their own group
With other rescue organisations

Were there any specific challenges?

Non-emergency public services

Internally within their own group
With other rescue organisations

Were there any specific challenges?

International organisations

Internally within their own group
With other rescue organisations

Were there any specific challenges?

4.2.5 Other information on Earthquake characterization -free additional info

Are there specific agents structured in your rescue plan?
Are there specific needs identified for communications between each participant agent?
Can you provide schemes of your communications infrastructure or your communications needs?
Is there any specific requirement which you think could be solved by using satellite based services?

5.Glossary/Acronyms

Glossary