Conclusive action in connection to a specific response operation
concerns forming concrete goals for meeting the assistance need,
for example through gaining and maintaining control of a chemi-
cal dis charge. Planning for conclusive action by, for example, staff
entails compiling suggestions as a basis for a decision on how to
conclude the operation, which is a form of overall assessment.
This planning is also aimed at lengthening the decision maker’s
time scale, i.e. to gain time, and includes the identification and
assessment of possible courses of events, and the planning and
conclusion of one or more of these.
Command work also includes the constructive testing and as-
sessment of possible conclusive actions. This entails test ing the ca-
pacity of the complete system: testing the capacity of the specific
operation to conclude the situation, identifying threats and new
possibilities, identifying alternative and, in some cases, highly un-
likely but nevertheless possible developments, as well as assessing
the validity and consequences of alternatives. The command work
as such should also be examined. Does the command organisation
and the work it does measure up to the problems that have to be
solved and the assistance need that is to be met?
Sometimes the ‘what if’ scenario is applied. In some cases it
will be necessary to execute alternative methods, not only plan
for them. It should be pointed out that the constructive testing of
a conclusive action should not be performed by the person who
formed it, since it is unlikely that a person testing his or her own
ideas will reject them. In a small organisation it can be difficult to
have the necessary personnel resources for this, which then ma-
kes it important to have a critical approach to ones own operation
and decision making.
In connection with conclusive action, especially when one for
various reasons needs to execute alternative methods, it is im-
portant to reflect over how this affects both the execution of re-
sponse operations and the command of municipal fire brigades
at large. There are, for example, connections to the relationship
between commanders and subordinates:
- What happens in the group when alternative solutions are im-
plemented and in essence redirect the response operation? - How does the organisation deal with the dis appointment and
lack of substantiation that can arise when the direction etc. is
changed?