Emergency Planning College, York, United Kingdom. ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-3947-082X.
Auckland University of Technology, Auckland, New Zealand. ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-0647-1052.
J Emerg Manag. 2021;19(7):133-149. doi: 10.5055/jem.0596.
The failure to learn lessons from crises is a common observation. The UK Government has been criticized for its response to the COVID-19 crisis. Many critics have highlighted the Government's apparent failure to learn the lessons from Exercise Cygnus, which made recommendations to improve the UK's response to a pandemic. This article compares and contrasts the UK Government's response with the exercise recommendations. It critiques the gaps using current crisis management literature and argues that to avoid future failings, more emphasis is needed on the effectiveness of recommendations from exercises. If this is not done, exercise lessons identified, and their recommendations will not be operationalized. This article argues that the successful transition from policy recommendation to practice requires recommendations to be contextualized, so they are feasible and practical, before they can be institutionalized. It introduces a practical framework and organizational actions on how future exercises can close the gap from lessons identified to be learned and shape practice.
未能从危机中吸取教训是一个常见的现象。英国政府因应对 COVID-19 危机的方式而受到批评。许多批评者强调，政府显然没有从“天鹅座行动”中吸取教训，该行动提出了改善英国应对大流行的建议。本文比较了英国政府的应对措施与演习建议。它利用当前的危机管理文献来批评这些差距，并认为为了避免未来的失败，需要更加重视演习建议的有效性。如果不这样做，演习中确定的教训及其建议将无法付诸实施。本文认为，要使政策建议成功转化为实践，就需要对建议进行背景化处理，使其具有可行性和实用性，然后才能将其制度化。它介绍了一个实用的框架和组织行动，说明未来的演习如何能够弥合从确定的教训到付诸实践的差距。
