RISK MANAGEMENT: Dick Ahlstrom outlines the planning for every eventuality that went into this world event
An enormous security operation was put in place to ensure the Special Olympics took place safely for contestants and those attending the events. Part of this involved preparing a response to the worst that could happen, from a plane crash to a terrorist incident.
An Irish firm, Risk Management International (RMI), volunteered to help the games' organising committee prepare for any eventuality. It has worked with the committee for the past four months, assessing procedures, looking at command and control structures and training staff.
"We are crisis management specialists," explained Mr Cathal O'Neill, CEO of the RMI Group. "We were referred by an insurance broker to try to contribute some of our expertise."
RMI's main role, he said, was to ensure the committee was as prepared as possible for any eventuality. "We have been helping them to validate their contingency plans, making sure they can deal with any type of incident that could arise."
The committee already had a "very robust" set of procedures in place, he said, things that had been learned from previous games. It was "one of the best" set of plans he had seen, and RMI offered to run through them in detail, carry out exercises and simulations and make sure that everyone knew the chain of contacts to be made for any incident.
Think of anything that can go wrong and the committee and RMI have thought of it. A response is ready for anything from a flat tyre on a bus carrying contestants, to an outbreak of gastroenteritis in a national team, from vandalism at a sporting venue to too many spectators trying to get into Croke Park.
They also had to consider worst-case scenarios, for example a helicopter carrying a film crew losing power and landing on a sports venue or a major fire at a hotel catering for contestants. Terrorism has also been considered, Mr O'Neill acknowledged. "From a security point of view it is a very fluid situation around the world at the moment," he said.
"The committee has already done a lot of its own contingency planning," he said. "They have to be in a position to respond, and it is the quality of the response that makes the difference."
A security hub was prepared, a "main operations centre", Mr O'Neill said. It provided "strategic command and control" support for critical incidents. Games staff on the ground however, handle most of the things that go wrong, from an ill contestant or security at a venue.
The centre provided a backup and focus for all security activities during the games, he said. "The military is heavily committed to this," providing the expertise and personnel to set up and run the centre. It also involved top-level gardaí and committee staff, he added. Having senior staff involved from all concerned agencies meant everyone knew the chain of command and who should be contacted in the event of an incident.
Nothing was left to chance, he said. Routes to and from venues were assessed, crowd control measures were studied, plans for fatalities at sporting grounds and viral or bacterial outbreaks were also considered, the latter in particular given the SARS scare.
Yet all this was happening behind the scenes and away from the cameras, which usually only show pictures of happy and excited athletes arriving with high hopes for a medal. And security would remain behind the scenes until actually needed, ready to swing into action should the need arise.