Göteborgsbranden 1998 - Myndigheten för samhällsskydd och ...

the situation and what they themselves could do. The leadership formed during the course
of the work had strong confidence in the system’s inherent capacity to be selforganising.
The fire proved almost immediately to be a very special disaster for the hospital. Medical
care for the injured functioned smoothly; the difficulties instead lay in providing information
and support to the many visitors – those affected directly, relatives, the public, as well
as the media. Crisis management efforts were thus shouldered primarily by the psychosocial
unit, but this unit – which, according to the hospital's emergency plan, should take
care of such work – was unable to function. The deficiencies forced establishment of new
leadership for the psychosocial unit and thereby a new order for the group.
Problems of co-ordination also arose between the medical service and the police, when
the police were unable to use their usual routines for identification of the dead, but were
instead forced to operate on a more large-scale basis at the morgue near the hospital.
Based on the observed deficiencies, crisis management at the hospital has provided a
number of lessons. One crucial point is the importance of building external networks with
other hospitals, authorities and organisations, in order to better and more quickly co-ordinate
activities and create the necessary personnel resources. Better co-ordination routines
are required, not least as concerns identification of the dead, which was perhaps the greatest
operational problem. The actors involved also expressed the importance of being able to
divide up information activities directed to different groups, i.e., patients, relatives, one’s
own staff, media and the general public present at the scene. People find themselves in different
stages of responsiveness and seek different kinds of information. A better method of
division and adaptation of information according to recipient group would result in greater
accuracy and fewer misunderstandings. Another lesson learned was the need for better crisis
management training. Finally, one clear deficiency was the insufficient amount of technical
communication equipment at the locations where the crisis work was to be performed.
The fire disaster has helped to create a general crisis awareness at Sahlgrenska University
Hospital. Today, people there are better mentally prepared for the possibility of an event
similar to the fire. The new crisis plan, developed in the aftermath of the fire, puts more
emphasis on establishing networks with other authorities and organisations. For the
psychosocial unit, the event has entailed a total reorganisation, and those who took over
this work in connection with the fire now manage the unit. Organisation within the psychosocial
group has been adapted in accordance with lessons learned in connection with the
fire disaster.
In connection with the 1998 fire disaster, crisis management at Sahlgrenska University
Hospital has provided a number of experiences and lessons:
• Great flexibility in the crisis plan and on the part of the personnel is required, as no two
accidents are identical.
• Attempts should be made to achieve better co-ordination and network construction with
other authorities and organisations (these aspects are said to be part of the crisis plan developed
after the fire). Better co-ordination routines are required for, among other things,
identification of the dead, which caused perhaps the greatest operational problems.
• Another lesson is that better crisis management training is needed. On the whole, there
has been an increased realisation that what is crucial for handling a crisis or catastrophe
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