Resources for a staff ride

Many organisations in the fire, land and emergency management sector are seeking to improve their organisation’s learning.  There are many ways this can be done, and extensive experience in the military domain has been extended and built upon by wildland fire agencies in the US - many resources are available on the US Wildland Centre for Lessons Learned web site. 

Some of the research conducted by the Bushfire CRC project teams of Mary Omodei and Christine Owen, has made significant contributions to understanding how human factors can contribute to breakdowns in operations.  A hallmark of learning organisations is the willingness and commitment to learn. 

One tool that can be used to understand and explore what has happened in operational situations, is a ‘Lessons Learned Incident Field Trip’, also known as a ‘staff ride’.  Partnering with the Tasmanian Parks and Wildlife Service, the Bushfire CRC has developed learning resources to assist agencies to run their own incident learning field trips.  Guidelines and a video are on our web site at http://www.bushfirecrc.com/resources/guide-or-fact-sheet/designing-staff-ride.