Critical incidents

The critical incident technique was first described by Flanagan (1954) and was used during World War II to analyze "near-miss incidents." The war time studies of "pilot errors" by Fitts and Jones (1947) are the classic studies using this technique. The technique can be applied in different ways. The most common application is to ask individuals to describe situations involving errors made by themselves or their colleagues. Another, more systematic approach is to get them to fill in reports on critical incidents on a weekly basis. One recent development of the technique has been used in the aviation world, to solicit reports from aircraft crews in an anonjmrous or confidential way, on incidents in aircraft operations. Such data collection systems will be discussed more thoroughly in Chapter 6. 

Case study 5 provides an example from the offshore oil and gas production industry, and illustrates the fact that in solving a specific practical problem, a practitioner will utilize a wide variety of formal and informal methods. Table 7.1, which describes some of the methods used in the study, includes several techniques discussed in Chapter 4, including interviews, critical incident techniques, walk-throughs and task analysis. 

Critical Incident Technique Personnel were asked to recall any incidents or near misses. This produced far more useful information for this study than the incident reports. 

Flanagan, J. C. (1954). The Critical Incident Technique. Psychology Bulletin 51,327-358. Folkard, S., Morrk, T. H., Lobban, M C. (1979). Towards a Predictive Test of Adjustment to Shift Work. Ergonomics 22,79-91. 

Critical incident Rater maintains a record of incidents indicative of both positive and negative behaviors of the employee Derived from documented data Burdensome and subject to interpretation... 

It is likely that tourists recall these multiple brief and routine encounters in a generalised or aggregated way, such as forming an overall impression of friendliness and service quality (Kandampully et al, 2001). It is only when critical incidents (such as stressful or very rewarding brief encounters) take place that powerful memories are created and the service encounters become a noteworthy part of the tourists recall (Lee-Ross, 2001). 

Cross-cultural emphasis Critical incidents Callan (1998) Callan and Lefebve (1997) Jackson et al. (1996) Pearce and Greenwood (1999) Woods (2000)... 

Callan, R.J. (1998) The critical incident technique in hospitality research An illustration from the UK lodge sector. Tourism Management 19 (1), 93-98. 

Flanagan, J.C. (1954). The critical incident technique. Psychological Bulletin,... 

Schaaf, T.W, van der (1988b). Critical Incidents and Human Recovery some examples of research techniques. In L.H.J, Goossens (ed.). Human Recovery, Proceedings of the COST A1 Seminar. Delft, 1987. 

Is there a team of mental health workers specifically trained in critical incident stress management available to debrief rescuers and hospital personnel If not, who will be available to provide stress management for rescue/medical personnel ... 

During the recovery phase the disaster is over, and the facility attempts to return to usual operations. During this period of time, the disaster manager must be attuned to not only the operations of the organization, but to the staff as well. Plans should be in place to provide critical incident stress debriefing for those staff members who may have been exposed to traumatic experiences or worked for protracted periods of time and may be simply exhausted. It is during the recovery phase that... 

Mitchell, J. T, Everly, G. S. (2000). Critical incident stress management and critical incident stress debriefing Evolutions, effects, and outcomes. In B. Raphael J. P. Wilson (Eds.), Psychological debriefing Theory, practice, and evidence (pp. 71-90). Cambridge, UK Cambridge University Press. 

Identify resources available to address the psychological impact, for example. Critical Incident Stress Debriefing (CISD) teams, counselors, Psychiatric/Mental Health Nurse Practitioners (P/MHNPs). 

INTERNATIONAL CRITICAL INCIDENT STRESS FOUNDATION (ICISF) ... 

Maddocks-Jennings W (2004) Critical incident Idiosyncratic allergic reactions to essential oils. Complementary Therapies in Nursing and Midwifery 10 58-60. 

The industry has taken a lot of heat since the story aired, observers say. These companies are under a lot of pressure right now and are trying to do the right thing, says Gary Salmans, senior vice president and leader of Marsh s critical incident prevention practice. Companies that we work with are extremely proactive. ... 

Overall, many chemical plants are making great progress on the long, hard road to improved facility security. Proactive companies and members of ACC are ahead of the curve, says Marsh s Salmans, and the industry is shifting its focus from crisis management to critical incident prevention (see Section 6.6). 

Price, L.E. Critical incidents in the intensive therapy unit. 

This information gathering technique is also known as "critical incident technique" and is a means of collecting both poor and good experience from operationally experienced personnel. 

Gamer RJ, Morley F. 1967. Agricultural implications of a release of fission products from a criticality incident. Health Phys 13 465-475. 

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