Incident Command System

A typical Incident Command Post

The Incident Command System (ICS) is a management system used within the United States, parts of Canada, the United Kingdom and other countries to organize emergency response and was designed to offer a scalable response to incidents of any magnitude. Incident Management Teams (IMT), are combined crews of multi-agency staff that use the concepts outlined within the Incident Command System to react to an emergency situation.

As part of FEMA's National Response Plan (NRP), the system was expanded and has become the National Incident Management System (NIMS). The system is designed to grow and shrink along with the incident, allowing more resources to be smoothly added into the system when required, and also the smooth release of resources when no longer needed.

Introduction

An incident is an occurrence, either caused by humans or natural phenomena, that requires response actions to prevent or minimize loss of life or damage to property and/or the environment.

Examples of incidents include:

• Fire, both structural and wildland.
• Medical, when there are multiple patients
• Inter-agency, where different agencies must work together
• Natural disasters, such as tornadoes, floods, ice storms or earthquakes.
• Human, animal and plant disease / pest outbreaks.
• Search and rescue missions.
• Hazardous materials incidents.
• Criminal acts and crime scene investigations.
• Terrorist incidents, including the use of weapons of mass destruction.
• National Special Security Events, such as Presidential visits or the Super Bowl.
• Other planned events, such as parades or demonstrations.

Given the magnitude of these types of events, it's not always possible for any one agency alone to handle the management and resource needs. Partnerships are often required among local, State, Tribal, and Federal agencies. These partners must work together in a smooth, coordinated effort under the same management system. The Incident Command System, or ICS, is a standardized, on-scene, all-hazard incident management concept. ICS allows its users to adopt an integrated organizational structure to match the complexities and demands of single or multiple incidents without being hindered by jurisdictional boundaries. ICS has considerable internal flexibility. It can grow or shrink to meet different needs. This flexibility makes it a very cost effective and efficient management approach for both small and large situations.

ICS is interdisciplinary and organizationally flexible to meet the following management challenges:

• Meet the needs of incidents of any kind or size.
• Allow personnel from a variety of agencies to meld rapidly into a common management structure.
• Provide logistical and administrative support to operational staff.
• Be cost effective by avoiding duplication of efforts.

ICS consists of procedures for controlling personnel, facilities, equipment, and communications. It is a system designed to be used or applied from the time an incident occurs until the requirement for management and operations no longer exists.

History

The Incident Command System (ICS) was developed in the 1970s following a series of catastrophic fires in California's urban interface. Property damage ran into the millions, and many people died or were injured. The personnel assigned to determine the causes of this disaster studied the case histories and discovered that response problems could rarely be attributed to lack of resources or failure of tactics.

Surprisingly, studies found that response problems were far more likely to result from inadequate management than from any other single reason.

Weaknesses in incident management were often due to:

• Lack of accountability, including unclear chains of command and supervision.
• Poor communication due to both inefficient uses of available communications systems and conflicting codes and terminology.
• Lack of an orderly, systematic planning process.
• No common, flexible, predesigned management structure that enables commanders to delegate responsibilities and manage workloads efficiently.
• No predefined methods to integrate inter agency requirements into the management structure and planning process effectively.

Emergency managers learned that the existing management structures - frequently unique to each agency - did not scale to dealing with massive mutual aid responses involving dozens of distinct agencies. As a result, the Incident Command System (ICS) was collaboratively developed to provide a consistent, integrated framework for the management of all incidents from small incidents to large, multi-agency emergencies.

ICS is supposed to be based on successful business practices and is supposed to represent organizational 'best practices'. It has resulted from decades of lessons learned in the organization and management of emergency incidents. In the United States, ICS has been tested in more than 30 years of emergency and non-emergency applications, by all levels of government and in the private sector and has now found its way into everything from law enforcement to every-day businesses, as the basic goals of clear communication, accountability, and the efficient use of resources is common to all. In some cases, such as a Hazardous Materials incident in California, it is state law that the Incident Command System be used to handle the situation. The United States Department of Homeland Security has mandated the use of ICS for emergency services throughout the United States as a condition for federal preparedness funding. ICS is widely used in the United Kingdom. The United Nations recommended the use of ICS as an international standard. New Zealand has implemented a similar system, known as the Coordinated Incident Management System, while Australia has the Australian Inter-service Incident Management System or AIIMS.

Organization

Every section of ICS can be divided into sub-sections as needed, and ICS has the ability to grow and shrink along with the incident. The basic guiding idea in ICS is that a person at the top of the command structure is the responsible party until the task is delegated. This allows for small incidents to be handled by a single or few people who fill multiple roles, or large incidents to have many people working towards a common goal, but all on different tasks.

The major management activities that always apply and are always filled, no matter the size of the incident, are made up of the following 5 sections in the general staff: Command, Operations, Planning, Logistics, and Finance/Administration. In addition there are three positions in the command staff that report directly to the Incident Commander: Information Officer, Safety Officer, Liaison Officer. The general staff positions can be performed by the same person, or multiple people.

Command - The Incident Commander (IC) is the single person in charge at the incident, and initially fills all 5 command staff positions. As the incident grows the tasks covered by other sections can be delegated, and those new positions take the title of Section Chief. The IC is responsible for all activity on the incident as well as creating the overall incident objectives. In certain cases to ease multi-agency coordination this may be a Unified Command where multiple agencies share command.

Operations - The Operations Section Chief is tasked with directing all actions to meet the incident objectives.

Planning - The Planning Section Chief is tasked with the collection and display of incident information, primarily consisting of the status of all resources and overall status of the incident.

Logistics - The Logistics Section Chief is tasked with providing all resources, services, and support required by the incident.

Finance/Administration - The Finance Section Chief is tasked with tracking incident related costs, personnel records, requisitions, and administrating procurement contracts required by Logistics.

Public Information Officer, who serves as the conduit for information to internal and external stakeholders, including the media or other organizations seeking information directly from the incident or event.

Safety Officer, who monitors safety conditions and develops measures for assuring the safety of all assigned personnel.

Liaison Officer who serves as the primary contact for supporting agencies assisting at an incident.

Chain of Command

The Chain of Command is an essential part of being able to control incidents of any size. Every person on the incident has a designated supervisor. There is a clear line of authority within the organization, and all lower levels connect to higher levels, eventually leading solely back to the IC.

The principles clarify reporting relationships and eliminate the confusion caused by multiple, conflicting directives. Incident managers at all levels must be able to control the actions of all personnel under their supervision. These principles do not apply to the exchange of information. Although orders must flow through the chain of command, members of the organization may directly communicate with each other to ask for or share information.

The command function may be carried out in two ways:

• As a Single Command in which the Incident Commander will have complete responsibility for incident management. A Single Command may be simple, involving an Incident Commander and single resources, or it may be a complex organizational structure with an Incident Management Team.
• As a Unified Command in which responding agencies and/or jurisdictions with responsibility for the incident share incident management.

A Unified Command may be needed for incidents involving:

• Multiple jurisdictions.
• A single jurisdiction with multiple agencies sharing responsibility.
• Multiple jurisdictions with multi-agency involvement.

If a Unified Command is needed, Incident Commanders representing agencies or jurisdictions that share responsibility for the incident manage the response from a single Incident Command Post. A Unified Command allows agencies with different legal, geographic, and functional authorities and responsibilities to work together effectively without affecting individual agency authority, responsibility, or accountability. Under a Unified Command, a single, coordinated Incident Action Plan will direct all activities. The Incident Commanders will supervise a single Command and General Staff organization and speak with one voice.

File:ICS Chart.gif

ICS Organization Chart

The Chain of Command follows an established organizational structure which adds layers of command as needed. The basic outline of command layers follows:

• Command
• Sections
• Branches
• Divisions/Groups
• Units
• Resources

A role of responsibility can be transferred during an incident for several reasons: As the incident grows a more qualified person is required to take over as Incident Commander to handle the ever-growing needs of the incident, or in reverse where as an incident reduces in size command can be passed down to a less qualified person (but still qualified to run the now-smaller incident) to free up highly-qualified resources for other tasks or incidents. Other reasons to transfer command include jurisdictional change if the incident moves locations or area of responsibility, or normal turnover of personnel due to extended incidents. The transfer of command process always includes a transfer of command briefing, which may be oral, written, or a combination of both.

Flexibility

The ICS is an extremely flexible organizational system that ideally reflects only what is required to fill the planned incident objectives. The efficient use of all resources on an incident is a high priority, reducing incident clutter and costs. A single person may be in charge of more than one unit if the span of control for that single person has not yet been exceeded, but in all cases an element of the incident must have a person in charge of that element. Elements of the system that have been expanded but are no longer needed are contracted and the resources released from the incident.

ICS Key Management Concepts

Many agencies and organizations modify ICS to fit their needs, yet it is absolutely critical to realize that without the application of the ICS management concepts, ICS becomes ineffective. While the picture of the response organizational tree may look like the ICS, without applying the management concept and principles, the organizational charts and models will resemble the original ICS model in title alone. Furthermore, problems and conflicts during some incidents will indicate that fundamental ICS management concepts either are missing or not functioning as designed. Therefore, to avoid such difficulties, agencies/organizations using an ICS design should incorporate the following basic management concepts:

Span of Control

Span-of-control is the most fundamentally important management principle of ICS. It applies to the management of individual responsibilities and response resources. The objective is to limit the number of responsibilities being handled by, and the number of resources reporting directly to, an individual. ICS considers that any single person's span of control should be between three and seven, with five being ideal. [1] In other words, one manager should have no more than seven people working under them at any given time.

When span-of-control problems arise around an individual's ability to address responsibilities, they can be addressed by expanding the organization in a modular fashion. This can be accomplished in a variety of ways. An Incident Commander can delegate responsibilities to a deputy and/or activate members of the Command Staff. Members of the Command Staff can delegate responsibilities to Assistants, etc.

There may be exceptions, usually in lower-risk assignments or where resources work in close proximity to each other.

Incident Action Plan

Consolidated Incident Action Plans means that for the specific event, the response is coordinated and managed through one plan of action. The consolidated Incident Action Plan (IAP) can be verbal or written (except for hazardous material incidents where it has to be written), and is prepared by the Planning Section. The consolidated IAP means that everyone is working in concert towards the same goals set for that operational time period. The purpose of this plan is to provide all incident supervisory personnel with direction for actions to be implemented during the operational period identified in the plan. Incident Action Plans include the measurable strategic operations to be achieved and are prepared around a time frame called an Operational Period. Incident Action Plans provide a coherent means of communicating the overall incident objectives in the context of both operational and support activities. The consolidated IAP is a very important component of the ICS that reduces freelancing and ensures a coordinated response.

At the simplest level, all Incident Action Plans must have four elements:

• What do we want to do?
• Who is responsible for doing it?
• How do we communicate with each other?
• What is the procedure if someone is injured?

Management by Objective

Management by Objective: The Incident Commander and Planning Section are responsible for the development of Strategic Objectives that clearly define what the ICS response team is working to achieve during emergency response operations. Based upon the information presented at the initial incident planning meeting and the analysis of incident potential and impacts, the Incident Commander, and Section Chiefs should have a clear understanding of the major problems that need to be addressed.

The Planning Section Chief is responsible for ensuring the objectives define how the ICS plans to address the problems. Strategic objectives should be written and posted on a status board or communicated through the organization. Objectives must be Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Relevant, and Time-based (S.M.A.R.T). Having S.M.A.R.T objectives helps the ICS response organization keep specific goals in sight during the operational period. Keeping tangible goals in sight is beneficial not only from perspective of keeping response teams focused, but also from a post-mortem standpoint to benchmark the effectiveness of the response against the objective set.

Unity of Command

Unity of Command means that each individual participating in the operation reports to only one supervisor. This eliminates the potential for individuals to receive conflicting orders from a variety of supervisors, thus increasing accountability, preventing freelancing, improving the flow of information, helping with the coordination of operational efforts, and enhancing operational safety. Unity of Command also means that that all personnel are managed and accounted for.

Modular Organization

Modular Organization means that the size and focus of the ICS organization depends on the magnitude of the incident, and the system can be expanded or contracted as necessary. Only positions that are required for an adequate response need to be filled, and ICS sections should be kept as small as possible to accomplish incident objectives and monitor progress. The level of response necessary for a specific incident dictates how and when the organization develops, and in many instances not all sections need to be activated. Only in the largest and most complex operations would the full ICS organization be staffed.

Comprehensive Resource Management

Comprehensive Resource Management is a key management principle that implies that all assets and personnel during an event need to be tracked and accounted for. Comprehensive Resource Management ensures that visibility is maintained over all resources so they can be moved quickly to support the preparation and response to an incident, and ensuring a graceful demobilization. Comprehensive resource management also applies to the classification of resources by kind and type, and the categorization of resources by their status.

- In Transit resources are those that are dispatched to, but not yet checked-in at an incident scene.

- Assigned resources are those that are working on a field assignment under the direction of a supervisor.

- Available resources are those that are ready for deployment, but have not been assigned to a field assignment (note: all resources in a staging area should be on an "available" status).

- Out-of-service resources are those that are not in either the " available" or "assigned" categories. Resources can be "out-of-service" for a variety of reasons, including: a shortfall in staffing (i.e., not enough people to operate equipment); personnel taking a rest; maintenance or repair; weather; demobilization, or others.

The "kind" of resource describes what the resource is, for instance, generator or a truck. The "type" of resource describes a performance capability for a kind of resource for instance, a 50 kW generator or a F-350 truck, etc.

Resource management includes processes for:

• Categorizing resources.
• Ordering resources.
• Dispatching resources.
• Tracking resources.
• Recovering resources.

It also includes processes for reimbursement for resources, as appropriate.

Pre-Designated Incident Facilities

Pre-Designated Incident Facilities: Response operations can form a complex structure that must be held together by response personnel working at different and often widely separate incident facilities. These facilities can include:

- Incident Command Post (ICP): The ICP is the location where the Incident Commander operates during response operations. There is generally only one ICP for each incident or event, but it may change locations during the event. Every incident or event must have some form of an Incident Command Post. The ICP may be located in a vehicle, trailer, tent, or within a building. The ICP will be positioned outside of the present and potential hazard zone but close enough to the incident to maintain command. The ICP will be designated by the name of the incident, e.g., Trail Creek ICP.

- Staging Area: Can be a location at or near an incident scene where tactical response resources are stored while they await assignment. Resources in staging area are under the control of the Logistics Section and are always in available status. Staging Areas should be located close enough to the incident for a timely response, but far enough away to be out of the immediate impact zone. There may be more than one Staging Area at an incident. Staging Areas can be collocated with the ICP, Bases, Camps, Helibases, or Helispots.

- A Base is the location from which primary logistics and administrative functions are coordinated and administered. The Base may be collocated with the Incident Command Post. There is only one Base per incident, and it is designated by the incident name. The Base is established and managed by the Logistics Section. The resources in the Base are always out-of-service.

- Camps: Locations, often temporary, within the general incident area that are equipped and staffed to provide sleeping, food, water, sanitation, and other services to response personnel that are too far away to use base facilities. Other resources may also be kept at a camp to support incident operations if a Base is not accessible to all resources. Camps are designated by geographic location or number. Multiple Camps may be used, but not all incidents will have Camps.

- A Helibase is the location from which helicopter-centered air operations are conducted. Helibases are generally used on a more long-term basis and include such services as fueling and maintenance. The Helibase is usually designated by the name of the incident, e.g. Trail Creek Helibase.

- Helispots are more temporary locations at the incident, where helicopters can safely land and take off. Multiple Helispots may be used.

Each facility has unique location, space, equipment, materials, and supplies requirements that are often difficult to address, particularly at the outset of response operations. For this reason, responders should identify, pre-designate and pre-plan the layout of these facilities, whenever possible.

Common terminology and Clear text

Common terminology: An emergency response organization is made up of individuals who normally may not work together as a team except during emergency response operations. When they come together, the use of common terminology is viewed as an essential element in team building and communications, both internally and with other organizations responding to the incident. The Incident Command System promotes the use of common terminology, and has an associated glossary of terms that help bring consistency to position titles, the description of resources and how they can be organized, the type and names of incident facilities, and a host of other subjects.

Clear text communications is critical in an effective multi agency incident management system. All communications (in English speaking countries) must be in plain English. This means that in ICS radio codes, agency-specific codes and jargon are not used.

When effectively applied in concert with each other, these concepts provide the basis for an effective and coordinated response to an emergency.

Integrated Communications

The use of a common communications plan is essential for ensuring that responders can communicate with one another during an incident. Communication equipment, procedures, and systems must operate across jurisdictions (interoperably). Developing an integrated voice and data communications system, including equipment, systems, and protocols, must occur prior to an incident.

Effective ICS communications include three elements:

• Modes: The "hardware" systems that transfer information.
• Planning: Planning for the use of all available communications resources.
• Networks: The procedures and processes for transferring information internally and externally.

Accountability

Effective accountability during incident operations is required at all jurisdictional levels and within individual functional areas. Individuals abide by their agency policies and guidelines and any applicable local, tribal, State, or Federal rules and regulations. The following guidelines are adhered to:

• Check-In: All responders, regardless of agency affiliation, must report in to receive an assignment in accordance with the procedures established by the Incident Commander.
• Incident Action Plan: Response operations must be directed and coordinated as outlined in the IAP.
• Unity of Command: Each individual involved in incident operations will be assigned to only one supervisor.
• Span of Control: Supervisors must be able to adequately supervise and control their subordinates, as well as communicate with and manage all resources under their supervision.
• Resource Tracking: Supervisors must record and report resource status changes as they occur.

Safety

For Emergency services, any incident will have a designated Safety Officer. For smaller incidents this can be a role taken on by the Incident Commander, but for most incidents the Safety Officer is an entirely separate person, one that must be very well qualified in all the technical aspects in use on the incident. The Safety Officer is the only person allowed to move in and out of the chain of command and issue orders to resources not directly his subordinate. While, in essence, all people on an incident are “Safety Officers” and can stop an operation at any time if they have a safety concern, it is the Safety Officer’s job to evaluate that concern and make a final judgment. Most Safety Officers are also known to do routine, random checks on resources throughout the incident and ensure everyone knows at all times their supervisor, their exact job on the incident, and the safety measures in place for them on the incident. This roving, well-trained, powerful role is a crucial key to keeping an incident safe while still moving at the speed required to meet the operational goals of the incident.

See also

• National Incident Management System
• Gold Silver Bronze command structure
• French red plan

External links

• Federal Emergency Management National Incident Management System
• UN Wildfire Working Group report recommending use of ICS
• FEMA Incident Comand Resource Center