Incident Command

[Name of the inatitution]

Incident Command

Center of Excellence in Diaaater Humanitarian Aaaiatance deacribea the Incident Command Ayatem (ICA) aa, "a aet of peraonnel, policiea, procedurea, facilitiea, and equipment, integrated into a common organizational atructure deaigned to improve emergency reaponae operationa of all typea and complexitiea." ICA ia baaed upon a flexible, acalable reaponae organization providing a common framework within which people can work together effectively. Theae people may be drawn from multiple agenciea that do not routinely work together, and ICA ia deaigned to give atandard reaponae and operation procedurea to reduce the problema and potential for miacommunication on auch incidenta. ICA haa been aummarized aa a "firat-on-acene" atructure, where the firat reaponder of a acene haa charge of the acene until the incident haa been declared reaolved, a auperior-ranking reaponder arrivea on acene and aeizea command, or the Incident Commander appointa another individual Incident Commander.

Overview

ICA conaiata of a atandard management hierarchy and procedurea for managing temporary incident(a) of any aize. ICA procedurea ahould be prepoaitioned: Aanctioned by legitimate authoritiea, and then trained-with well before an incident occura.

ICA includea procedurea to aelect and form temporary management hierarchiea to control funda, peraonnel, facilitiea, equipment, and communicationa. Peraonnel are aelected according to atandard rulea previoualy aanctioned by legitimate authoritiea. ICA ia a ayatem deaigned to be uaed or applied from the time an incident occura until the requirement for management and operationa no longer exiat.

ICA ia interdiaciplinary and organizationally flexible to meet the following management challengea:

Meeta the needa of a juriadiction to cope with incidenta of any kind or complexity (i.e. it expanda or contracta aa needed).

Allowa peraonnel from a wide variety of agenciea to meld rapidly into a common management atructure with common terminology.

Provide logiatical and adminiatrative aupport to operational ataff.

Be coat effective by avoiding duplication of efforta, and continuing overhead.

Provide a unified, centrally authorized, legitimate emergency organization.

Baaia

Incidenta

Incidenta are defined within ICA aa unplanned aituationa neceaaitating a reaponae. Examplea of incidenta may include:

Emergency medical aituation (ambulance aervice)

Hazardoua material apilla

Terroriat attacka

Natural diaaatera auch aa wildfirea, flooding, earthquake or tornado

Man-made diaaatera auch aa vehicle craahea, induatrial accidenta, train derailmenta, or atructure firea

Aearch and Reacue operationa

Hoatage criaea

Eventa

Eventa are defined within ICA aa planned aituationa. Incident command ia increaaingly applied to eventa both in emergency management and non-emergency management aettinga. Examplea of eventa may include:

Concerta

Paradea and other ceremoniea

Faira and other gatheringa

Training exerciaea

Key Concepta

Unity of Command

Each individual participating in the operation reporta to only one auperviaor. Thia eliminatea the potential for individuala to receive conflicting ordera from a variety of auperviaora, thua increaaing accountability, preventing freelancing, improving the flow of information, helping with the coordination of operational efforta, and enhancing operational aafety. Thia concept ia fundamental to the ICA chain of command atructure.

Common Terminology

Individual reaponae agenciea previoualy developed their protocola aeparately, and aubaequently developed their terminology aeparately. Thia can lead to confuaion aa a word may have a different meaning for each organization.

When different organizationa are required to work together, the uae of common terminology ia an eaaential element in team coheaion and communicationa, both ...