DARWIN Scientific Coordinator, Ivonne Herrera discussed standards in crisis management with the European Committee for Standardisation recently. Standards in crisis management are discussed under the heading of Societal and Citizen Security, in the Working Group “Crisis management and civil protection”.
Currently there are no standards concerning crisis management, and this group is working towards the delivery of a technical specification in this area. The standard includes resilience management, in particular resilience as complementary to protective risk management strategies. Ivonne contributed DARWIN knowledge on resilience management developments that can be used in the technical specifications. DARWIN is particularly interested in the harmonization of terminology, standards and ongoing updates concerning risk management and crisis management that are discussed at this working group. 
The main objective of the group is to elaborate a family of European standards, standard-like documents (e.g. procedures, guidelines, best practices, minimal codes of practice and similar recommendations) in the Societal and Citizen Security sector including aspects of prevention, response, mitigation, continuity and recovery before, during and after a destabilising or disruptive event.
The standardisation activities will consider the following main issues related to Societal and Citizen Security: Products and services (equipment, communication, information, goods, transport, energy, cultural inheritance and properties); Infrastructures (roads, ports, airports, rail stations, bridges, factories…); Stakeholder needs and requirements, potential conflicts; Relationship (cultural and geographical diversity), and; Citizen requirements and vulnerabilities, including privacy.
The group is composed of representatives from different countries involved in crisis management who each bring their national expertise to the group.
To find out more about the European Committee for Standardiztion, and its work on standards in crisis management, click here.
