The field of public safety management

Lesson in Public Safety Management

Since it necessitates a person to possess fundamental principles in order to become engaged in dealing with any type of disaster, the field of public safety management never ceases to present significant challenges and rewards for those working in public safety. The safety of all citizens in a particular nation is a fundamental value that is reflected in that nation’s laws. Therefore, it is the responsibility of the central government to develop policies carried out by the various agencies with the goal of protecting its citizens in times of disaster, as well as their homes and places of employment. Public safety management is thus an essential aspect of the everyday life with the public safety offices required to possess the requisite skills and knowledge that can help them in understanding the safety procedures during the emergency (Canton, 2017). There is the need for the people involved to have an optimal work ethic and ability to communicate effectively with all the involved parties to maintain a safe environment. The role of this paper, therefore, is to highlight the lessons in public safety management as there exist many questions surrounding the safety of the citizens in a given country.

Security and Other Threats in Public Safety

In the contemporary world, the issue of security and other threats in the field of public safety continues to raise a lot of concern and thus have become matters of national debate. Some of the risks that can hinder the peaceful coexistence of people include terrorism, the internal armed conflicts, organized criminal networks, and the pandemic outbreak of infectious diseases. Apart from such traditional threats, there exist other kinds of risks that can be orchestrated via the internet and include cyber-attack, phishing, and cyberbullying. In all these forms of threats that create a danger to the lives of the citizens of the country, the government should take strategic actions to mitigate their effect. Nonetheless, to guarantee optimal public safety management experience, then those involved in the public safety should have: effective communications and leadership, ability to prepare for disaster before it happens, risk assessment capabilities, response, and mitigation.

Communication and Leadership

Ensuring public safety requires the ability of the top leader to have exceptional communication and leadership skills to lead the team. Studies reveal that to influence others; then the leader should demonstrate useful communication skills (Canton, 2017). The lack of effective communication skills can make the manager lack credibility to implement the objective of the public safety team thus struggle to rally the team behind him. Further, the managers that can communicate well are also ethical problems solvers, which is a requisite requirement in public safety management. Such a leader is very efficient when it comes to managing people as well as when the emergencies when they arise (Canton, 2017). Having good leadership skills of public management can also make the leader able to prioritize as they can know which actions require their immediate attention and which can wait. The ability to prioritize during an emergency is paramount when it comes to the safety of the public. A competent public safety manager with excellent communication and leadership skills also ensures that their team remains organized. An organized leader makes it easy for their team to manage delicate situations and thus take less time to handle them when they arise.

Risk Assessment Capabilities

Ensuring the safety of people in any given scenario is mandatory. Thus if the leader is unaware of the security threats in a place, then they risk putting the lives of their team and all the people in the location in danger (Denney, 2009). Determining the threats to public safety can be a hard task for the leader. However, the leader should have the necessary knowledge on the means of assessing risks and coming up with methodologies that can identify the occurrence of new threats. The leader of the public safety management team can carry out assessments within the areas prone to threats and maintain awareness of the security issues in the country, the weather conditions, and any other potential risks (Denney, 2009). Having prior knowledge of the probability of the occurrence of a security threat can go a long way in allowing for a greater deal of proactivity in case of disaster mitigation. When the leader takes the time to carry out the risk assessment, then this can guarantee a conducive working environment for the businesses thus improving the image of the country.

The Ability to Prepare for Disaster

The ability to prepare for disaster goes hand in hand with optimal risk assessment capabilities of the public safety management team. In all forms of emergencies, they require different measures to keep the public safe (Sylves, 2014). Thus, the public safety team should always remain prepared. One part of preparing for the threat is knowing the kind of disaster that people are most likely to face and what to do in each situation. The public safety management team can then conduct drills aimed at ensuring that during the actual threat as many people as possible remain secure. Moreover, the public safety management team can teach the public on the routes of evacuation and points of shelter. Knowing the evacuation location before the threat can serve to give the public details of the place ahead of time thus saving on time to figure out these things on their own (Sylves, 2014). Further, the public safety management team can give their emergency call numbers on, which the public can reach them when the threat finally comes.

Response and Mitigation

After the threat has passed, the emergency team should take charge of the daunting task of the recovery and the remediation process. The mitigation process refers to those actions taken by the public safety team to reduce the effects of the emergency (Sylves, 2014). Moreover, a well-rehearsed emergency plan because of the team’s ability to carry out risk assessment enables the efficient coordination between the groups. The response actions aim at saving the lives of the public and alleviate their suffering if in extreme cases people have injuries. The response plan involves the ability of the leader to mobilize the necessary emergency service tools on the site (Sylves, 2014). These tools can help in taking care of the injured and in case of fire, managing it in time before much damage.

Conclusion

Evidently, the goal of the public safety management is to ensure that during a disaster people remain safe by coming up with the various ways that can assist them to prepare for the threat. The core themes in public safety management offer step by step actions adopted by an effective leader of the team to ensure the public and team safety.

References

Canton, L. (2017). Emergency Management: Concepts and Strategies for Effective Programs. Hoboken: JOHN WILEY & Sons.

Denney, D. (2009). Living in Dangerous Times: Fear, Insecurity, Risk and Social Policy. Chichester: Wiley-Blackwell.

Sylves, R. (2014). Disaster Policy and Politics: Emergency Management and Homeland Security. Washington D.C: CQ Press.