Author Description

Disaster Management: Lessons From Man-made Disasters is a book that spring forth from our researches in major on-land disasters in Malaysia that had led to either Public or Royal Inquiries. An in depth analysis of six such disasters was conducted and despite the differences of disasters involved and their technologies, they were found to exhibit common features and characteristics. The disasters were not sudden cataclysmic events but evolved in phases with long developmental period. Underlying causes were attributed mainly to social errors where a complex set of managerial, procedural, training, safety and failure to learn factors interact with external factors of regulatory and human failures to produce the disasters. Understanding of the development and causes of the disasters provides a tool for organisational and institutional diagnosis of vulnerability and risks. The hindsight gained from these negative events could be utilised by the government and enterprises to design organisational structures, regulations and policies that will help reduce the likelihood of occurrences of the disasters in the future. This book is a useful resource for regulators, administrators, emergency agencies, safety managers, disasters professionals and graduate students in related fields.