Emergency Planning: Learning from Experience - 9/11

There are many sociological examples from which we can draw conclusions and compare them to the events of 9/11. From situations like those in tribal communities, a group of kids in elementary school, and even the show "Survivor," we learn that people will follow someone in charge, especially when their own safety is on the line. Each situation is slightly different, but the general principles are similar. There must be leadership or there will be chaos. Leadership must prove itself competent or no one will follow. In the normal course of things this takes some time.

However . . . 9/11 was an exceptional event in that all these principles occurred very quickly, and under very stressful conditions. People under stress will cling to what they feel is going to help them survive. If the WTC security personnel had people stay in offices, then that's what they were going to do. Later, the threat changed from building damage to probable collapse. Both security and the office people realized that their new best bet was to get out of there. It is unlikely that many, when told to leave their office and evacuate because now the building may collapse, would complain that security couldn't make up their mind. Under less urgent circumstances, complaints may have been heard.

An organization's emergency action plan cannot include every possible contingency. Those that try to include everything become cumbersome volumes of material that no one will read or know how to navigate through in the event of an emergency. Businesses' major threats must be identified early in the planning process. Part of the security survey is to identify potential threats and vulnerabilities. We then determine the probability and criticality of those events and base our planning, and spending, from this - and other factors.