Partner News: TNO lends expertise to project on incident management

Date: 25 July 2008

The Dutch government is currently examining how incident management on the Dutch road network is organised. TNO is lending its expertise in a follow-up to a previous study in which TNO had drawn up a concept of incident management in the Netherlands. This second phase will see the improvements implemented.

Whenever an accident occurs on the Dutch road network various emergency services have to be summoned to handle the incident. Based on the severity of the accident, it is decided which services are charged with the rescue effort. In cases where there is only material damage, drivers get their cars off the road as quickly as possible and deal with the paperwork themselves. However, in the event of injury or death, road authorities, police, fire brigade, ambulance and paramedics need to get to the accident site as fast as possible. It is essential that cooperation between the different services works smoothly, so that the suffering of accident victims is minimised and the road can be cleared as quickly as possible.

Optimising cooperation
TNO is investigating how procedures at accident sites can be optimised and cooperation between the relevant services improved. This means that following the report of an incident, the ‘right’ emergency services must be sent to the site. Much could be improved regarding the reporting process as emergency service staff have to communicate with each other effectively to streamline the process of handling the incident. For this to occur, everyone has to understand each other and, more importantly, respect each other’s work.