New crisis organisation for the Swedish Transport Administration – a challenge even for Combitech
How to create a new common crisis management structure at the Swedish Transport Administration’s Railways Department? That’s a challenge for Combitech’s consultants who, by 2011, will have devoted nearly 8,000 hours to what is so far the largest project of its kind within the company.
The Swedish Transport Administration is responsible for the operation and maintenance of the railways in Sweden. In 2007, the Administration was reorganised, adding particular urgency to the issue of a new, joint organisation for crisis management. In 2010 the Swedish Rail Administration and the Swedish Road Administration were merged, forming the Swedish Transport Administration, thus further complicating the assignment. The aim is for all sections within the Railways Department to have a unitary crisis management structure so that it will be easier to manage the operation in the event of a crisis.
Since 2008, Combitech’s consultants have been working intensively as part of a project organisation with the Swedish Transport Administration’s own employees. 2008 saw the initiation of the analysis phase of the work model that Combitech always applies to this type of complex assignment. In 2009, the planning and implementation phase was launched with the establishment of the new organisation and structure, and development of the emergency plans for use in a crisis. Full staff training was undertaken in 2010 with the relevant training exercises. The work on the new crisis management organisation is due to be completed in 2011.
“We follow an extremely precise working method that includes as many aspects as possible to ensure the quality of the project,” says project manager Fredrik Revelj at Combitech. This involves everything from making sure the plans are structured uniformly for all the relevant employees, to ensuring that appropriately equipped crisis management locations are set up. In addition, all staff need to be fully trained and must have taken part in the exercises.
It is a major challenge for Combitech’s employees to work on such a large project in an organisation which is constantly engaged in its operational activities. The project is being rolled out as planned to the full satisfaction of the customer. The new procedures were delivered just before the winter, and work is now ongoing on training people in the use of the system. The next step will be to tie in external players with the internal plans, so that everything functions as a whole.