Advanced Search Results Detail

Project ID: 10-1-05-1

Year: 2010

Date Started: 05/30/2010

Date Completed: 08/10/2012

Title: Using Escaped Prescribed Fire Reviews to Improve Organizational Learning

Project Proposal Abstract: Prescribed fire escapes continue to occur with regularity in all federal and state fire management agencies throughout the United States. By interagency policy, after an escape official reviews must be prepared. Paradigms guiding reviews have evolved over the past decade and now focus on organizational learning as opposed to individual accountability for all but the most serious accidents. In the absence of specific direction, a variety of innovative methodologies have been developed  including Facilitated Learning Analysis, After Action Reviews, and reviews based on High Reliability and Resiliency theory. Whatever review style or context reviewing agencies make the assumption that, once a review has been prepared, approved and sent out to field units, learning has or will occur. Yet, as David Garvin notes, a lesson is not learned just because the reason for an error or accident is known; true learning only occurs when individual behaviors change in the field. To date, there has been no comprehensive assessment to determine whether learning post-review is actually taking place, nor has anyone ascertained whether field practices were actually modified after an escape report is transferred to the field. In this proposal, we seek to understand whether and how any of the escaped prescribed fire reviews (EPFR) processes as currently designed and implemented by U.S. federal fire agencies actually promote organizational learning. We address three specific facets of this broad question: How current EPFR products compare against the tenets of organizational learning; How effectively current EFPR transfer of knowledge gained; and What aspects of organizational culture are needed to strengthen reviews. Since the challenge is less on the theoretical side - a tremendous amount of theoretical information exists about organizational learning and understanding error  and more on the cognitive side, we seek to answer these questions by engaging review participants in structured dialogues, and by comparing the theoretical and existing state-of-knowledge with existing review processes. We propose to present results in a variety of formats: a benchmark comparison of existing EFPR techniques against the precepts of organizational learning and understanding error; recommendations for improving EFPRs based on field and desk-based assessments (this will be field tested in at least one region); and six 6 minute podcasts covering various tips for organizing and conducting reviews that can be used by units and teams prior to and during reviews to maximize organizational learning.

Principal Investigator: Anne E. Black

Agency/Organization: Forest Service

Branch or Dept: RMRS-Forestry Sciences Lab-Missoula

Other Project Collaborators

Type	Name	Agency/Organization	Branch or Dept
Co-Principal Investigator	James Saveland	Forest Service	RMRS-Natural Resources Research Center
Co-Principal Investigator	Dave Thomas	Forest Service	Region 4-Intermountain Region
Federal Cooperator	James Saveland	Forest Service	RMRS-Natural Resources Research Center
Federal Fiscal Representative	Susan T. Major	Forest Service	RMRS-Rocky Mountain Research Station

Project Locations

Consortium

Alaska

Appalachian

California

Great Basin

Great Plains

Lake States

Oak Woodlands

Northern Rockies

Northwest

Pacific

South

Southern Rockies

Southwest

Tallgrass

Level	State	Agency	Unit
NATIONAL		FED

Project Deliverables

Final Report ("Results presented in JFSP Final Reports may not have been peer-reviewed and should be interpreted as tentative until published in a peer-reviewed source.")

	ID	Type	Title
	9406	NonRefereed Publication	Overview of Workshop Participants
	9475	NonRefereed Publication	Learning From Escaped Prescribed Fire Reviews: Workshop Flip-Chart Summary
	9474	NonRefereed Publication	Learning From Escaped Prescribed Fire Reviews: Workshop Discussion Summary
	9715	NonRefereed Publication	Prescribed Fire Escapes: Are We Learning Anything?
	9704	Invited Paper/Presentation	Presentation and Discussion of Findings Relevant to Revisions of the Interagency Prescribed Fire Guide
	9714	Invited Paper/Presentation	International Webinar for Wildland Fire Lessons Learned Center, Feb 21, 2012, Delivered from: Missoula, MT
	9713	Invited Paper/Presentation	Presentation to the US Fish and Wildlife Service’s National Meeting of Regional Fuels Planners
	9712	Invited Paper/Presentation	Learning from Escaped Prescribed Fire Reviews
	9833	Conference/Symposia/Workshop	Learning as a Shared Responsibility: Insights from a Series of Dialogic Workshops with Practitioners, Leaders, and Researchers
	9407	Conference/Symposia/Workshop	Learning From Escaped Prescribed Fire Reviews

Supporting Documents

There are no supporting documents available for this project.

Convert PDF documents to an html document using Adobe's online conversion tool.