Derek Cheevers Civil Protection

Derek Cheevers Crisis management, incident command and exercise planning

As a former senior fire officer, Derek has over 30 years' experience responding to and managing emergencies with Dublin Fire Brigade (DFB). During this time, he also participated in a one-year exchange to Auckland, New Zealand, working with the New Zealand Fire Service. His experience includes working alongside Dublin City Council's Crisis Management Team and international disaster response under the EU Civil Protection Mechanism.

As a fire officer, he has managed large-scale complex incidents, working at operational, tactical, and strategic level. In his time with DFB, Derek qualified as an instructor in several disciplines including SCBA, Rope Rescue and Offshore fire-fighting. He was the Subject Matter Expert for Dublin Fire Brigade on Incident Command, and designed and contributed to many officer development courses, introducing new knowledge and theory on teamwork, communications, and decision-making within the Incident Command System.

Derek holds a Batchelors degree in business studies (emergency services management) and a Master's degree in Major Emergency Management from Dublin City University (DCU). He is also a member of the Emergency Management Institute of Ireland (EMII). Derek is the author of the crisis management protocol document for the country's largest local authority and has designed and delivered many crisis simulation exercises for organisations in both the public and private sector. He is a trainer in both Information Management and On-site Coordination as defined by the Irish Framework for Major Emergency Management.

As a national deployable expert in EU Civil Protection, Derek has undertaken many training courses and missions within the Mechanism. These include deployments to Poland 2022 for the migration influx and medical evacuation from the Ukrainian war, and Türkiye 2023 for the Turkish/ Syrian earthquake. Derek is a trainer within the Mechanism and jointly designed the exercise element of the Operational Deployment (ODC) and Operational Deployment Advanced (ODCA) courses.

Currently working as an independent consultant in Emergency Management through RAN, he also fulfils the role of Associate Lecturer in Incident Command and Risk Management for the South East Technological University, and is a guest lecturer for Dublin City University on information management and business continuity.

Contact Derek through the Network or direct at derek.cheevers@resilienceadvisors.eu

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