Building Resilience: Being Fair in an Emergency Response

Ensuring stakeholders are treated fairly can be difficult at the best of times. But when a national security or public safety incident occurs, the issue of fairness can become a significant challenge. As tensions run high and resources become scarce, organizations responsible for response and recovery must ensure that all stakeholders, including first responders and victims, are treated fairly. Case studies of national security and public safety incidents in Canada and internationally point to four principles that can guide decisions on what is fair in these circumstances. These principles are efficiency (the efficient allocation of resources and personnel), containment (preventing the creation of new victims), triage (priority for the most seriously injured, but potentially savable, victims), and difference (priority for those who hold positions held or skills that may be of significant value during a response).