SOCIAL NETWORK ANALYSIS OF EMERGENCY MANAGEMENT TRAINING IN THE BORDER REGION OF NORWAY AND SWEDEN

The paper reports from an Interreg / EU funded project that developed a tool for training emergency personnel ( police, fire, ambulance and local officials) in handling crisis situations in the border region between Norway and Sweden. In cooperation with partners in the emergency management agencies the project developed the internet-based tool and a set of scenarios that were used in three training sessions in 2011, 2012 and 2013. The scenarios presented winter storm situations with missing people in the mountains, mud slides, bus accidents and other complications that the emergency personnel had to contend with during 3 hour training sessions. The participants included employees at the operator, tactical and strategic level of the organizations. The training tool recorded all communications among participants which primarily was text based. Following each training session the participants took part in a debriefing session with detailed analysis of the social networks established on either side of the border and across the border. Operative personnel ( switchboard operators) within the police, fire and ambulance services expressed appreciation at the chance of training communications with colleagues across the border.