Presentation by Maaike van Tuyll, Ministry of Security and Justice, the Netherlands. The workshop on “Learning from crises and fostering the continuous improvement of risk governance and management”, jointly organised with the governments of the Netherlands, Norway and Sweden, was held in Oslo, Norway on 17-18 September 2014. More information is available at www.oecd.org/gov/risk/high-level-risk-forum-oslo-workshop-2014.htm

1. Learning from crises in the Netherlands
18 September 2014

2. Learning from crises in the Netherlands | 18 September 2014
Crisis management in the Netherlands (1)
Crisis- and disaster management is primarily a responsibility of:
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Municipalities
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Safety regions National level acts when:
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Existing structures and routines are not sufficient
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Crisis has a national effect (e.g. societal disruption) National crisis management is interdepartmental Minister of Security and Justice has the lead (unless PM takes the lead) Supported by the NCTV and the NCC
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3. Learning from crises in the Netherlands | 18 September 2014
Crisis management in the Netherlands (2)
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4. Learning from crises in the Netherlands | 18 September 2014
Challenges since 2012
NCTV as a new organisation
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All-hazard (including CT & Cyber)
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Safety and security
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Minister highly visible
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Co-ordinating on national security in both:
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Cold fase
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Warm fase
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5. Learning from crises in the Netherlands | 18 September 2014
Lessons from evaluations
Who’s in the lead – does national level ‘take over’? Sectoral behaviour – this is a .... (e.g. agricultural) crisis What do they know? – tendency to interfere with operations Slow response – talking about what’s going on instead of decision- making Complicated structures – going through all layers crisis committees when speed is needed Crisis communication! – too slow, too little, too different Who does what? – exercises not paying off
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6. Learning from crises in the Netherlands | 18 September 2014
Improvements (1)
List of key-decisions at national level
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What decisions are made at national level + who’s consulted
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What decisions are made that need consultation of national level e.g. scarcity of crisis management-assets Common picture at start of crisis-meeting - situation sketch - sense-making (e.g. impact on national security) Provided by NCTV using information from all stakeholders Net centric sharing of information instead of ‘serial’ Advice on crisis communication - team of professionals at NCC for assistance at local level - national communication team (coordination)
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7. Learning from crises in the Netherlands | 18 September 2014
Improvements (2)
Have the parts in place, but only use those you need
Simple and compact exercises vs complex and complete
Train as you fight, fight as you train
Crisis management as a profession: NCTV supports the lead ministry
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8. Learning from crises in the Netherlands | 18 September 2014
How did we implement?
Problem: not a lot of crises in the Netherlands
Solution: ‘create your own – planned – crisis’
Abdication of Queen Beatrix – january 2013
Succession by King Willem-Alexander – april 30th 2013
4 months to prepare for a national event
And improving further:
Nuclear Security Summit – april 2014
Creating a sense of urgency for implementing
improvements and testing them under stress
Creating trust between partners
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9. Learning from crises in the Netherlands | 18 September 2014
Did it work?
MH17 crash – 17th July 2014
Improvisation... But:
Crisis structure up and running within 30 minutes
No discussions about roles
Common picture improved decision making and speed
Co-ordinated communication and response
Trust and confidence between partners
- “In an exercise no one would have believed this scenario”-
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