To improve the understanding of cascading effects in crisis situations, resulting in enhanced analysis, preparations and response actions by first responders and other actors and disciplines involved in incident management, the partners of the CascEff have compiled training material divided in the following topics:
- Cascading effects – What are they, and how do they affect society
- Improved Incident Management – introducing a transdisciplinary approach to managing incidents with cascading effects
- The Incident Evolution Methodology – for modelling of cascading effect incidents
- Crisis Communication – News Media and Crisis Management, Guidelines for Effective Crisis Communication
- Exercise methodology – running exercises to raise awareness of cascading effects and/or to train the application of emergency plans taking into account cascading effects
These topics reflect the CascEff project objectives: gaining a better understanding of cascading effects in crisis situations, the development of an Incident Evolution Methodology (IEM) and Tool (IET) for predicting past, present and future crisis evolution leading to cascading effects, the exploration of the impact of human activities in a crisis situation and the improvement of incident management for present and future threats. More specifically, the objectives in the creation of the training material were to optimize the level of impact and to facilitate the dissemination of project results to a wide range of recipients by providing recipients with a flexible, comprehensive and relevant material for teaching and self-studies.