What is the responsibility of the incident command system?
Sometimes there is a good reason to reinvent the wheel—for example, if you are in business and the current “wheel” is a proprietary product controlled by your competitor. However, sometimes the tried-and-true solution is the best way to go, and we believe that is the case when it comes to emergency management systems. An emergency management system is the methodology an organization
uses for managing emergencies. Having such a system is critical for the protection of your organization since if and when you do face an emergency, your problems can be made significantly worse if your response is hampered by role confusion and poor communication. So you should definitely have an emergency management system in place—but what kind of system? This is where not reinventing the wheel comes in because in our opinion the best way to organize your crisis management
team and response is to follow the method known as the Incident Command System or ICS. The Incident Command System (ICS) MethodologyThe ICS is a widely used method for organizing emergency response teams, particularly in the public sector. It is: :
In our opinion, you definitely need an emergency management system and ICS is a good framework and methodology. For these reasons, today’s post will be devoted to providing an overview of ICS. We’ll start with a brief description of ICS then provide a table setting forth how an emergency response team is organized under the ICS system. We’ll conclude with a few tips and observations about how to make ICS work for you. Overview of ICSICS was first developed in the late 1960s and 1970s by agencies in Arizona and Southern California that were engaged in fighting wildfires. It has since been adopted or recommended for use by FEMA, the Department of Homeland Security, numerous state and local agencies, many private companies, and emergency management agencies in countries ranging from Canada to New Zealand. ICS consists of a standard management hierarchy and procedures for managing temporary incidents of any size, scope, or complexity. It provides an organizational structure for incident management and a guide for planning, building, and adapting that structure. Establishing ICS early in an incident shifts the response from reactive execution toward proactive thinking. Moreover, when multiple agencies or businesses involved in responding to an event use ICS, the fact that their crisis teams share a similar structure and common language means they can collaborate better, improving their response. ICS Structure and ResponsibilitiesThe ICS structure is built around five major management activities or functional areas:
The table below (adapted from Ready.gov) shows the specific responsibilities for each ICS role:
Tips for Making the Most of ICSHere are a few tips and observations to help your organization make the most of ICS:
ConclusionTo sum up: Your organization definitely needs an emergency management system, and in this case, there’s absolutely no need to reinvent the wheel: Look into ICS and adopt it for your organization. Once you do, your emergency response program will be off and rolling. For more information on ICS, check out the page Incident Management on the government website Ready.gov. It contains in-depth discussions of ICS and the National Incident Management System (NIMS) of which it is a part. What are the responsibilities of the Incident Commander?The Incident Commander (IC) is responsible for the overall management of the incident and determines which Command or General Staff positions to staff in order to maintain a manageable span of control and ensure appropriate attention to the necessary incident management functions.
What are the five basic functions of the incident command system?All response assets are organized into five functional areas: Command, Operations, Planning, Logistics, and Administration/Finance. Figure 1-3 highlights the five functional areas of ICS and their primary responsibilities.
What are three roles of the Incident Commander?The Incident Commander is specifically responsible for: Ensuring incident safety. Providing information to internal and external stakeholders. Establishing and maintaining liaison with other agencies participating in the incident.
What is the function of the incident management system?The National Incident Management System (NIMS) guides all levels of government, nongovernmental organizations and the private sector to work together to prevent, protect against, mitigate, respond to and recover from incidents.
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