Evaluation of coordination of emergency response team through the social network analysis. Case study: Oil and gas refinery

Background: The purpose of this study was to examine the cohesions status of the coordination within response teams in the emergency response team (ERT) in a refinery. Methods: For this study, cohesion indicators of social network analysis (SNA; density, degree centrality, reciprocity, and transitivity) were utilized to examine the coordination of the response teams as a whole network. The ERT of this research, which was a case study, included seven teams consisting of 152 members. The required data were collected through structured interviews and were analyzed using the UCINET 6.0 Social Network Analysis Program. Results: The results reported a relatively low number of triple connections, poor coordination with key members, and a high level of mutual relations in the network with low density, all implying that there were low cohesions of coordination in the ERT. Conclusion: The results showed that SNA provided a quantitative and logical approach for the examination of the coordination status among response teams and it also provided a main opportunity for managers and planners to have a clear understanding of the presented status. The research concluded that fundamental efforts were needed to improve the presented situations.