Office of Operations
21st Century Operations Using 21st Century Technologies

5.9.5 Staff

  1. Develop an Emergency Action Pocket Guide for Staff – “Develop pocket guide identifying transportation emergency actions.”
    Evacuations Management Emergency Preparedness

  2. “Empower the Relevant Staff to Make Decisions and to Communicate Them – The opening of an Emergency Operations Center in the Detroit area required one person’s authorization, who was on a plane when the blackout hit. A lesson learned for Emergency Operations Center staff was that other people should be authorized to open the Emergency Operations Center, when necessary. Depending on the organization, it may be useful to empower many people in the agency to make independent decisions.”
    Effects of Catastrophic Events on Transportation System Management and Operations August 2003 Northeast Blackout Great Lakes Region

  3. “Maintain a Policy of Empowering Employees to Make Decisions – The Metropolitan Transportation Authority maintained this policy. On September 11, station managers and train drivers became frontline commanders.”
    Saving City Lifelines: Lessons Learned in the 9/11 Terrorist Attacks


February 7, 2006
Publication #FHWA–HOP-08-015