Society on Social Implications of Technology

Before, During and Recovering from a Disaster: Sydney 27 October 2011

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Category: Archive

Published on Tuesday, 27 September 2011 11:02

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Thursday 27th Oct 2011, 6pm for 6:30pm start

Room G4, Morven Brown Building

(Map on attached brochure)

University of New South Wales

Public welcome — no entry charge

RSVP: Eugene Scully ( This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. )

The anecdotal evidence to date suggests that the management of the decision making process may well be the most significant determining factor underlying organisational performance before, during, and in the recovery period after a disaster. This is because the decision-making processes, perceptions, and information flows are greatly influenced by the culture and defensive style of the affected organization. Under the right circumstances, however, the collective intelligence of a group of people can work to produce better decisions and outcomes. Three of these factors relate to group membership while the fourth is one of group process. These are discussed and illustrated with short case studies and examples drawn from the author’s personal experience working with organisations re-building after a disaster.

Speaker: Tim Cousins

Tim Cousins is an Engineering Systems Failure Analyst and Disaster Recovery Consultant working in this area for the last 18 years. He is certified by the National Association of Fire Investigators as a Fire and Explosion Investigator and works on an average of over 100 disasters per year. He obtained his Masters Degree in Entrepreneurship and Innovation out of interest in the Dynamics of Organisations following a crisis or disaster.

The work Tim does is largely in two different but complimentary streams. The first stream involves Engineering Systems Failure Analysis which involves technical investigations into the cause of failures within Engineering Systems principally involving electrical, electronic and computer systems. Some of these failures involved injury and death while others developed into fires. The second stream involves the Recovery of Organizations following an incident, crisis or disaster: establishing the resultant nature and extent of damage, and providing consulting assistance with the management of repairs and recoveries.

He currently sits on the Australian Attorney General's Resilience Expert Advisory Group. This Expert Advisory Group provides strategic advice on key aspects of critical infrastructure resilience. It comprises subject matter experts from both within and outside the Trusted Information Sharing Network (TISN). It reports to the Critical Infrastructure Advisory Council which oversees the groups of the TISN, and advises the Attorney-General on the Australian Government’s approach to critical infrastructure resilience.

He also sits on the Expert Advisory Panel of Sydney Water's Climate Change Adaptation Program.

Tim has a long history of speaking engagements and running workshops on organisational resilience. This includes running workshops in the Banking and Finance sector, Water Services groups, ASIC Regional Commissioners as well as at international conferences and events.

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