Efficient management seen as a major factor in Tham Luang cave rescue mission

[webfact]

Efficient management seen as a major factor in rescue mission

By Pratch Rujivanarom 
The Nation 

 

 

Photo/EPA

 

Despite starting with limited resources, chain of command and adaptive approach enabled rescuers to overcome the challenges
 

Highly adaptive planning and management have been credited as the key factors in the successful mission to pluck 12 boys and their coach from what many had thought was certain death in a flooded Chiang Rai cave.

 

Agencies, experts and volunteers who worked on the rescue yesterday gathered at the Engineering Institute of Thailand to discuss the lessons they had learned as they overcame tough challenges to achieve total success in one of the world’s most difficult rescue missions.

 

Such an accomplishment could never have been achieved without that mission’s use of adaptive rescue plans and a mitigation management system, said a senior official with the Disaster Prevention and Mitigation Department.

 

“According to the world’s leading experts on cave diving, the nature of this mission and its challenges made it one of the toughest cave rescue operations not only in Thailand but in the entire world,” said the department’s deputy director-general Kobchai Boonyaorana.

 

“Thanks to well organised and flexible management and control at the rescue command centre, and the ability to adapt to situations at hand, the team was able to shrink the problems and difficulties and finally accomplish this ‘mission impossible’.”

 

The first major obstacles the rescue team faced, explained Kobchai, were the hostile environment inside the cave and the complexity of the topography. The team, composed of foreign cave divers and Navy SEALs, needed to negotiate deep water with near-zero visibility while also struggling through narrow spaces and other obstacles in an environment running low on oxygen.

The rescue team also lacked detailed data on the geography of the cave system, which had not been thoroughly explored. At the operation’s start, there was not even an accurate map available.

 

The team of Navy SEALs who were in charge of operations lacked proper equipment for cave diving and were using air tanks suitable for open-ocean diving, which is their speciality. Cave diving requires more advance skill and equipment, and is much more dangerous than standard diving, Kobchai said.

 

At the same time, the command centre had to deal with the challenge managing up to 7,000 officials from 337 different organisations working together in an extremely difficult operation in which a single mistake could spell catastrophe. 

 

A core element of the rescue was efforts to drain floodwater to create a safer exit for the boys.

 

“However, we prevailed over natural obstructions with the strong dedication of all officials, who despite exhaustion continued to work to drain water from the cave system with various methods, until the Navy SEALs could take all survivors out safely,” Kobchai said.

 

“We also have to give credit to the strict chain of command under the administration of former Chiang Rai provincial governor, Narongsak Osottanakorn, which ensured well-organised operation management and made this operation successful.”

 

Anukoon Sorn-ek, an expert on cave exploration and geography, noted that the challenges were so serious that the British cave rescue team initially said the rescue operation was impractical.

 

But the Navy SEALs team showed they could adapt and face the situation with the equipment and resources they had at hand, and the British cave rescue team decided to carry on until the end, he added.

 

National Park, Wildlife and Plant Conservation deputy director-general Chongklai Worapongsathorn said Thailand had just passed one of the hardest tests yet of its ability to cope with disasters and emergencies.

 

The operation has gifted the nation with precious lessons for the future, he said.

 

“With the lessons from this cave disaster, our department is now working to set up safety measures and rules for travelling inside the caves to prevent similar incidents in the future,” Chongklai said.

 

“There are we more than 100 caves in national parks across the country open to visitors.” 

 

Source: http://www.nationmultimedia.com/detail/national/30350426

 

-- © Copyright The Nation 2018-07-20

[Get Real]

First about the movie, and now the second article about these poor boys. Time to let them be a get back to their life. They had enough problems already, and do not need any more preassure in their life.

[davehowden]

" “We also have to give credit to the strict chain of command under the administration of former Chiang Rai provincial governor, Narongsak Osottanakorn, which ensured well-organised operation management and made this operation successful.” "

 

Is that why he got demoted to Phayao, too efficient!!

[Nyezhov]

The logistics were run by the US Air Force via the Thai Civil authorities. The actual rescue operation was performed by British and Aussies. The Thais provided brave men to do the grunt work. All ctributed to a successful mission.

[Lupatria]

4 hours ago, webfact said:

Efficient management seen as a major factor in rescue mission

If the efficient management was solely in Thai hands, that would be another miracle to the cave story.

[Nigeone]

4 minutes ago, Lupatria said:

If the efficient management was solely in Thai hands, that would be another miracle to the cave story.

And a whole different outcome ! Couldn't make this up but we all knew it was coming . Give it a few months and no international help were there  

[chrisinth]

5 hours ago, davehowden said:

" “We also have to give credit to the strict chain of command under the administration of former Chiang Rai provincial governor, Narongsak Osottanakorn, which ensured well-organised operation management and made this operation successful.” "

 

Is that why he got demoted to Phayao, too efficient!!

His move to Phayao was already written in stone before this event happened, the effective transfer date happening during the operation. 

 

If the powers that be thought, like you, do that he wasn't efficient why do you think that they kept him in control until the end?

 

[peperobi]

6 hours ago, webfact said:

Highly adaptive planning and management have been credited as the key factors in the successful mission to pluck 12 boys and their coach from what many had thought was certain death in a flooded Chiang Rai cave.

So now we know, not the divers (Statist?) are the heroes only the management.

[Surasak]

Not so very surprised the foreign cave divers have been sidelined.

[gamini]

I am no supporter of the military, but I think they deserve a lot of credit for the cave rescue. They called in foreign experts and listened to everyone. They got what was needed quickly.

I'm quite sure that if it had been any of the previous governments they would have been a high chance of rescue being unsuccessful. There would have been all sorts of politicians trying to get involved, getting in the way trying to promote themselves causing a lot of problems.

[Nyezhov]

1 hour ago, peperobi said:

So now we know, not the divers (Statist?) are the heroes only the management.

No, it was a team effort. I'm sure the cave divers know that their safety depended on hundreds of air tanks coming in on C-130s, the generators running,the compressors, the food,the supplies......

 

Team!

 There is no I in team...

 

 

 

[Cranky]

"the team was able to shrink the problems and difficulties and finally accomplish this ‘mission impossible’.”

 

Magicians, Jesus only parted the Red Sea, this lot could make it vanish.

[connda]

11 hours ago, webfact said:

Efficient management seen as a major factor in rescue mission

More like: Without the help of experience foreigners, those kids would probably either still be in the cave or no longer with us. 
So it has a lot to do with those who could innovate on the fly.  Efficient management means making sure group pictures of the uninvolved of 'higher status' get published with awards, limelight, and copious praise.

As opposed to the typical farang response: "We're not heroes, we were just doing what needed to be done with the experience we had at our disposal."

But movies needs heroes and status conscious Thais need accolades and rewards.  So - form committees. 

[coulson]

2 hours ago, Cranky said:

"the team was able to shrink the problems and difficulties and finally accomplish this ‘mission impossible’.”

 

Magicians, Jesus only parted the Red Sea, this lot could make it vanish.

Yeah, even Moses could only walk on water......fat lot of good that would have done in a cave ?

 

But still, have to give due credit here.

[chainarong]

There were 94 in the cave rescue and thousand outside with backup logitics,  everyone did their bit, even the locals supplying the meals. 

[Retiredandhappyhere]

Clearly, they are already beginning to write the script for the movie.

 

Hence, according to the article:

 

The Navy Seals showed the British experts that the rescue mission could be done, thereby preventing the British team from giving up.

 

The Navy Seals took all the survivors out safely.

 

Basically, the whole operation was successful due largely to a very efficient THAI management team.

 

Rewriting history is of course one of  Thai'land's major arts.

[Chris Lawrence]

13 hours ago, webfact said:

“We also have to give credit to the strict chain of command under the administration of former Chiang Rai provincial governor, Narongsak Osottanakorn, which ensured well-organised operation management and made this operation successful.”

Also prevented the big boys from Bangkok getting involved.

 

A lot of credit should go to this man. A great project manager. Maybe would make a good Prime Minister.

[Humpy]

''extremely difficult operation in which a single mistake could spell catastrophe. ''  ....it did...... like entering the cave with insufficient air in the tank for the task. 

[Rhys]

Yes kudos to those responsible for organizing and problem solving the issues that arose...but now  the money is to be made....555

 

[chama]

Efficient Management!!! Wha ta concept!! Can that be used in other areas of Thai business, politics, private and public sector activities? Wooooow!!!!

[DJ54]

On 7/20/2018 at 4:39 AM, davehowden said:

" “We also have to give credit to the strict chain of command under the administration of former Chiang Rai provincial governor, Narongsak Osottanakorn, which ensured well-organised operation management and made this operation successful.” "

 

Is that why he got demoted to Phayao, too efficient!!

 

I heard or read it was because he couldn’t get along with others ......which aka he wasn’t a YES Man....and bowed to their command.  looked like he was well organized during the rescue

[DrTuner]

Short memory eh? It looked like a complete circus for the few first days. Incidentally started working after the US soldiers arrived at the scene. Go figure.

[kannot]

On 7/20/2018 at 4:26 AM, webfact said:

7,000 officials from 337 different organisations

u think they may be overstaffed??

[kannot]

18 hours ago, Retiredandhappyhere said:

Clearly, they are already beginning to write the script for the movie.

 

Hence, according to the article:

 

The Navy Seals showed the British experts that the rescue mission could be done, thereby preventing the British team from giving up.

 

The Navy Seals took all the survivors out safely.

 

Basically, the whole operation was successful due largely to a very efficient THAI management team.

 

Rewriting history is of course one of  Thai'land's major arts.

all funded by the man at the top no doubt, caring for his  flock

[inquisitive]

I'm over the moon that everyone made it out. We all knew that the situation could turn impossible in a matter of hours. In fact, the authorities were fairly sure that would happen and continually predicted that they were in a race with nature. So with that said, why on earth food they stretch the removal over three days? Why did they stop every night instead of finishing up in less than 36 hours? Because it was dark out? Did no one notice that it's always dark inside a cave? If they ran out of time, who was going to explain to the parents of the boys left inside that no one could plan more than 12 hours in advance.

This was NOT an example of good management. With thousands of participants available, the managers still let the operation close down every sunset - let the boys be damned.

Sent from my SM-N910C using Thailand Forum - Thaivisa mobile app

[steve73]

20 hours ago, inquisitive said:

I'm over the moon that everyone made it out. We all knew that the situation could turn impossible in a matter of hours. In fact, the authorities were fairly sure that would happen and continually predicted that they were in a race with nature. So with that said, why on earth food they stretch the removal over three days? Why did they stop every night instead of finishing up in less than 36 hours? Because it was dark out? Did no one notice that it's always dark inside a cave? If they ran out of time, who was going to explain to the parents of the boys left inside that no one could plan more than 12 hours in advance.

This was NOT an example of good management. With thousands of participants available, the managers still let the operation close down every sunset - let the boys be damned.

Sent from my SM-N910C using Thailand Forum - Thaivisa mobile app
 

I'm not actually sure that your post requires an answer, but since I don't recognize your username from the many other threads that would have stopped you asking such dumb questions, I will assume you are relatively new to this whole cave rescue operation and I shall try to help....

 

There were only 18 sufficiently experienced divers available for the actual rescue phase, many of whom had been working for around 10 days.  To attempt to rescue more than 4 boys at a time would have meant these divers returning a 2nd or 3rd time.. physically tiring and entailing much greater risk to themselves and the whole operation.

As well as the 18 rescue divers, there were many more involved at each section of the cave system, each evening after the rescue divers had left, the empty air bottles all needed removing, recharging, and replacing... This didn't happen by itself.

Each evening the rescue divers were able to discuss the retrievals and were able to improve on the time it took to complete the next days rescues, to the point where the last 5 trapped were able to be taken out on the third day, rather than stretching into a 4th day.

 

I think your suggestion that it could have all been complete in a one day period demonstrates your total lack of understanding of the situation & conditions they had to deal with.  Rescues are always much easier when managed from the comfort of your armchair....   

 

 

 

[inquisitive]

I'm not actually sure that your post requires an answer, but since I don't recognize your username from the many other threads that would have stopped you asking such dumb questions, I will assume you are relatively new to this whole cave rescue operation and I shall try to help....
 
There were only 18 sufficiently experienced divers available for the actual rescue phase, many of whom had been working for around 10 days.  To attempt to rescue more than 4 boys at a time would have meant these divers returning a 2nd or 3rd time.. physically tiring and entailing much greater risk to themselves and the whole operation.
As well as the 18 rescue divers, there were many more involved at each section of the cave system, each evening after the rescue divers had left, the empty air bottles all needed removing, recharging, and replacing... This didn't happen by itself.
Each evening the rescue divers were able to discuss the retrievals and were able to improve on the time it took to complete the next days rescues, to the point where the last 5 trapped were able to be taken out on the third day, rather than stretching into a 4th day.
 
I think your suggestion that it could have all been complete in a one day period demonstrates your total lack of understanding of the situation & conditions they had to deal with.  Rescues are always much easier when managed from the comfort of your armchair....   
 
 
 

I'll try to not take offense at the lack of self control that caused you to call my questions "dumb". You've embarrassed yourself unnecessarily, but I guess you know that already.

It happens that I'm an experienced caver, and I've had two occasions where I've had to travel "blind" through underwater passages too narrow and curved to allow a stretcher. I believe that I probably have a better understanding of the situation than most. There is no doubt that this was a daring rescue.

But let's look at some of your math: We know that the men that accompanied the boys through the first underwater passage handed them off to others to complete the journey. This is because the first section required an exceptional skill level. After that the journey was easy enough that Elon Musk could travel and send photos home. This is moot to take anything away from the bravery and skill shown by EVERY one of the rescuers. It is only brought up here because it impacts upon how the rescuers should be allocated

There were 4 boys per day, each accompanied through the very long underwater section by two experts.

Ok. That's eight experts doing a two hour round trip - plus the time to and from the staging area for this heroic effort. That leaves another ten experts doing less demanding work.

Another possibility is some of the top experts escorting more than one boy each day, which would leave even more experts doing lower level stuff.

And unless some of these guys were ferrying more than one boy per day, they were spending (some parents might even call it "wasting") more time traveling back and forth to their cars than doing the most essential work for which only they were qualified.

I have nothing but respect and admiration for these men, but I don't understand why they were told to spend so much time and energy doing things that people with lesser skills could do.

In this life and death race against time, why on earth would anyone ordet6 them to spend so many hours commuting to work when they could have eaten and rested inside the cave - and there would be much higher chance that all the boys would come out alive. In the time that they spent commuting to their cars Ann returning back to the boys, they each could have saved 2-4 boys each. So, OK, we have to assign two experts to each boy, but with 18 experts that still comes to between 18 and 36 more boys in that same amount of time.

No matter how you dress it up, with lives on the line, there was no reason compelling enough to shut down every night, or even to sleep in a soft bed until every child was breathing air with sufficient oxygen and safe outside the cave.

My hat goes off to those who saved those lads, but it was not by virtue of good management as the politicians want ud to believe.

If it was your son that they were saving, what would be your call?

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[steve73]

With time of the essence due to heavy rains  forecast to be resuming, I'm pretty sure that if the rescuers could have removed all 13 in a single period without risking their own lives they would have done so.  There had already been one fatality amongst the rescuers - another would have been totally unacceptable.

 

Perhaps, if there was some political benefit to be gained by stretching it over 3 days then maybe not.... but surely the international cavers would have stated if this were the case.

 

Next time there are lives to be saved, we may call on your expertise...

 

btw.. I agree that "dumb" was an insensitive word... perhaps "unnecessary"  would have been better?