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Towards a total quality framework for the evaluation and improvement of emergency plans management

Abstract:

The evaluation of the quality of emergency plans is an unresolved issue. While most research efforts have focused on the definition and improvement of planning methods and the associated tools, a reference framework allowing the assessment of emergency plans is still missing. In this paper, we report our initial work towards the definition of a quality framework for emergency plan management. To create it, we are borrowing results from more than one century of research on quality methods, with special emphasis in the newest Total Quality Management approaches that pay attention to technical, human and strategic concerns during the plan development process. The QuEP framework defines a number of planning principles and practices to define a maturity-driven layered model for the evaluation of organizations. We list the principles and practices, and describe its potential to be integrated with other emergency plan management frameworks.