Participation of society in civil protection operations: review of a 10 years European experience

Abstract

There are still defi ciencies and future possibilities for improvement in the civil protection operations. There is also other side to the incident command system. In recent years it is more and more clear that an participatory and inclusive approaches are needed to the effi ciencing of the current system to ensure acceptable level of safety. It is all the more important if the approach from institutional responsibility is beeing put in contrast to the individual responsibility. This article aims to review current approaches and trends in the participatory fi eld in the civil protection operations. It focus mainly on the possibilities and implications of volunteer work within this framework. Volunteers has different status and possibilities to participate and thus enhance their role in the civil society in the different countries in the EU. Their role differes in two states. One is their solely presence for technical activities and help and second is their participation in decisionmaking, defi ning a political action. This is a matter for further investigation and also for improvemenet.