Approaching the criticality of information for emergency response and control center operations

Successful emergency response and control center operations rely on a great number of information sources. The importance of said information becomes immediately obvious if it is not available when required during an emergency situation. This can be described as the criticality of information, signifying a potential need for action to prepare for functional failures. The concept described in this paper approaches the criticality via an analysis that examines various combinations of information sources and situations in order to identify weaknesses and improve existing procedures. The proposed semi-quantitative assessment was developed taking several attributes and characteristics of criticality into account and afterwards conducted in close cooperation with emergency response institutions.