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After-Action Reviews-Can They Be Used Effectively For Learning Purposes?
Ed Moffat

Introduction
After-action reviews (AARs) also known by other terms, are a detailed
critical summary of a past event conducted and documented for the
purpose of re-assessing decisions and considering alternatives for
future reference. The Emergency Management Division (EMD) of the
Justice Institute of BC is interested in determining how after-action
reviews are conducted in Canada following disasters including
rationale for these processes. The information gathered on afteraction reviews in this study will be utilized to support further research
on this topic as well as support curriculum development in the JIBC
Certificate of Emergency Management program.

Background

The utilization of after-action reviews began over 40 years ago by the
US military, and are now being used by those responsible for
emergency preparedness and response to convey important lessons
learned to promote individual and organizational learning post
event(s). With the number of disaster events increasing along with
the complexity and magnitude of such events, how can after-action
reviews be performed in a timely fashion to convey lessons learned
and implemented for improving response in the next event.

Discussion

After-action reviews were first introduced by the US Military over 40
years ago to improve learning capabilities after an event as well as
improve performance. It is important to understand the role of the
after-action review so that emergency managers can implement new
strategies and solutions to previously identified problems to continue
being prepared and adapting to what are normally fast changing
situations.
The main purpose of performing after-action reviews is to identify
what changes should be implemented in order to improve future
responses (Girard et al., 2014). An effective after-action review needs
to be conducted by a strong leader who can create open, honest and
safe environments in which people can speak honestly and with
confidence; AARs should not be undertaken to simply fix problems or
allocate blame (Cronin & Andrews, 2009). Many organizations repeat
the same issues over and over again as they have not adopted the
recommended lessons learned from previous events. If lessons
learned are not being adopted into new policies, procedures or
response plans then the effectiveness of the whole process needs to
be further researched to determine why.

Methods

Conclusions or Recommendations

Research into this paper was to review existing peer reviewed
literature on after-action reviews firstly from a Canadian perspective.
The research was expanded to include peer reviewed literature from
the US as well as Australia as they have similar experiences with
emergency management as well as literature from a variety of
disaster events such as Hurricane Katrina (2005), BP Oil Spill (2010)
and Wildland-Urban fires.

Once an after-action review is conducted they are able to convey
lessons-learned, however, the AAR is not being utilized to its full
extent and those responsible for emergency management are
doomed to repeat the same challenges over and over again disaster
after disaster. Although after-action reviews have been around for
over 40 years the current practice may not lead to increased
individual or organizational improved practice. This is concerning as
AARs and the usage of such documents can lead to improvements in
planning and response to events.
Existing research is spread across a broad spectrum of research fields,
each with its own varying findings. It is necessary for emergency
management to further explore after-action reviews to determine the
best methods of conducting and reporting as well as when and how
they should be performed to improve overall response to events so
that identified issues are not re-occurring time and time again.

Results/Findings
After-action reviews are known by many other names depending on
which organization is performing them and this may be confusing.
Some of the names include after-action reviews, after-action reports,
debrief, critiques, post-mortems as well as huddles and hot-washes.
Within Canada, the lessons learned approach are the experiences
gained during an event or exercise that are collected, and the
mistakes are highlighted as lessons. For emergency preparedness, the
lessons learned approach stands on the assumption that learning
from experience, whether it be our own or others, and whether it be
from real events or simulations, improves practice and minimizes
avoidable deaths and negative economic and social consequences of
disasters (Savoia, Agboola & Biddinger, 2012). After-action reviews are
valuable when utilized by organizations to learn but the learnings may
not be practiced regularly and the lesson learned from the completed
AARs are not distributed or implemented effectively (Kaliner, 2013).
Performing AARs is vital to the success for future events. As such it is
important that those facilitating the process are trained and
competent to lead participants through stimulating and open
discussions that reflect on the planned goals, successes as well as
areas needed for improvement from the current event for future
events. There are no standardized policies surrounding after-action
reviews and the requirement for collection, analysis, sharing and
archiving the information (Friesen, Kelsey & Legere, 2017).

References
Cronin, G., & Andrews, S. (2009). After action reviews: A new model
for learning. Emergency Nurse, 17(3), 32-35.
Girard, T., Wenzel, F., Khanzai, B., Kunz-Plapp, T., Daniell, J. E., & Brink,
S. A. (2014). Near real time analysis of publicly communicated
disaster response information. International Journal of Disaster
Risk, 5(3), 165-175. https://doi.org/10.1007/s13753-014-0024-3
Kaliner, J. (2013). When will we ever learn? The after action review,
lessons learned and the next steps in training and educating the
Homeland Security enterprise for the 21st century. (Master’s thesis,
Calhoun: The Naval Postgraduate School Institutional Archive)
Monterey, CA. Retrieved from
https://apps.dtic.mil/dtic/tr/fulltext/u2/a585764.pdf
Savoia, E., Agboola, F., & Biddinger, P. D. (2012). Use of after action
reports (AARs) to promote organizational and systems learning in
emergency preparedness. International Journal of Environmental
Research and Public Health, 9(8), 2949-2963.
https://doi.org/10.3390/ijerph9082949

Image: from Basildon Healthcare Library
Image: From usfa.fema.Gov

Bachelor of Emergency and Security Management

Justice Institute of British Columbia