Incident Management Summit - September 11-12

On top of the direct health effects, transportation is the fastest-growing source of heat-trapping pollution. What spews from tailpipes in traffic jams or road accidents, accounts for an unacceptably high level of carbon omissions which is not good for our health or our environment.What is the problem? Daily traffic incident management along the main roads and waterways is a major task for ministries and chain members such as police, fire department and ambulance services. Besides improved safety for road users and emergency workers, Incident Management has a direct, positive impact on traffic mobility. To carry out the Incident Management process in an effective and efficient way, the need for (spatial) information and supporting information is a high priority. This need has grown because reducing mobility problems is high on the political agenda.To support the process of Incident Management, the need for mobile, context-aware (spatial) information and supporting information systems will be a paradigm shift. Adapting to changes in the environment is at the heart of context-aware computing where it is envisaged that, by adding context, systems could:- provide more relevant and useful location and task-specific feedback by using, say, the userâs current location, the time of day, and the userâs electronic personal diary,- make user interaction more natural and- personalised, thus increasing the richness of communication, and be more dynamic by adapting to the continuously changing situation of the user. For example, real-time location and status information of an inspector makes logistics and co-ordination activities much more effective.The introduction of mobile, context-aware information systems can reduce the time interval between the detection of the incident and the flow of traffic which is therefore re-established in a significant way. In return, this has a direct, positive effect on the reduction of traffic congestion. The strategy to meet this challenge is built on the principles of uniform working models, open standards, server-based computing and central data hosting and maintenance.In practice, it is the responsibility of the police, fire brigade, ambulance services, Department of Public Works, recovery services and repair services to co-operate in handling incidents safely and efficiently. Priorities are: the emergency workerâs own safety, traffic safety, adequate treatment of casualties, flow of traffic, damage reduction (environmental, cargo, vehicle and social) and, depending on the gravity of accidents, the possibility of answering the question of guilt by investigating the incident scene. Some 13% of traffic congestion is the result of incidents such as crashes and vehicles shedding their loads. The majority of this traffic congestion is caused by accidents with cars. While relatively few incidents involve trucks, these incidents can cause immediate, large-scale traffic congestion that catches public attention. All these problems contribute significantly to the economic damage that Europe suffers each year from traffic congestion. A traffic jam also creates an unsafe traffic situation and in many cases collisions occur in the tail of a jam. This entails the risk of further material damage as well as injury. Therefore, there is sufficient reason to limit, as far as possible, the length and duration of such congestion.In general, the aim of Incident Management is to ensure the safe and rapid handling of incidents so that the traffic flow restrictions caused by an incident are lifted as quickly as possible. Good victim assistance and the safety of both emergency service workers and other road users are important considerations. MAIN ISSUES IN THE FIELD OF INCIDENT MANAGEMENT:- no common shared picture from each chain member of the actual status of an incident. This means each individual chain member knows the location and the work status of their own employees but does not necessarily know that of the other emergency services,- underlying maps on technical infrastructure are not the same,- new kinds of information systems using location-based services and context-awareness are not developed,- the need for European standards to play a crucial role in the way information is shared,- many involved parties (chain members) do not have a policy or a formal document which describes which kind of information will be shared within the different chain members, and- highlighting conflicting policy goals between the chain members.GOALS OF THE SUMMIT:- share knowledge between different countries to identify general problems and establish workable solutions,- formulate an overview of different initiatives and explore adoptive avenues, review standards development organisations on these issues,- initiate a new European project (match between demand and supply) that will enhance co-operation and development, andnetworking.TOPICS OF THE SUMMIT:- review of the problems, barriers and policies,- overview of different initiatives,- innovations in this field, such as an introduction on context-aware information systems, mobility and innovation processes,- review of standardisation for geo-infrastructure, and- overview of different solutions in the field of Incident Management.

For more information visit:

www.imsummit.org/joomla/

Summit Pre-registration form