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THE INCIDENT COMMAND SYSTEM: "…10-4, we have a 10-99 situation here please respond…" No, you don’t have to watch reruns of Broadrick Crawford in "Highway Patrol" in order to understand the basic elements of today’s Incident Command System (ICS). You also don’t have to be a company the size of General Motors or an organization as complex as the U.S. Army to benefit from learning the basic elements of ICS. In a recent fire that threatened a large Southern California company, a company official, who had been trained in ICS and understood how to size requirements, was able to provide the local fire department with the information required to dispatch the exact number of resources needed to effectively respond to the fire. No more and no less. This allowed the fire department to optimize their resources to match the incident and save the company from possible destruction. The need to effectively communicate in a disaster situation cannot be overstated. The modern Incident Command System utilizes a proven structure and descriptive terminology base that is comprehensive and powerful while not being difficult to understand. ICS HISTORY ICS ORGANIZATION The organization of the Incident Command System is built around five major management activities. These five activities are as follows: COMMAND OPERATIONS PLANNING/INTELLIGENCE LOGISTICS FINANCE/ADMINISTRATION These five management activities are the basic foundation for building the ICS organizational structure. In the event of a small incident, these major activities could be managed by one person, the Incident Commander. In larger or more complex situations a fully staffed ICS organization may be required to address all five elements. Across the United States different government agencies and businesses use a variety of customized ICS structures. In all cases the five basic management activities can be found. The Incident Commander (IC) is the person in charge at the incident, and must be fully qualified to manage the incident. As the incident grows in size or becomes more complex, a higher qualified person may be assigned to take over the role of Incident Commander. The Incident Commander will typically assign personnel to both command staff and general staff positions. The command staff provides Information, Safety, and Liaison services for the entire organization. The general staff is assigned major functional authority for Operations, Planning/Intelligence, Logistics, and Finance/Administration. Taking over command at an incident always requires that there be a full briefing for the incoming Incident Commander, and notification to all team members that a change in command is taking place. Key responsibilities of the Incident Commander
are to: • Assess the overall situation The primary ICS organization sections can be subdivided as needed. The ICS organization has the ability to expand to meet the requirements of the incident. A basic tenant of ICS is that the person in charge of an ICS section is fully responsible for that section until such time that they are officially relieved and authority is delegated to another person. THE BUSINESS TRANSLATION The Incident Command System stipulates that major management activities are performed under the direction of the Incident Commander. In business terminology the role of the Incident Commander would be held by a company executive or skilled manager. That person would be required to make command decisions, set objectives, establish priorities, delegate tasks and develop documentation. The Business Incident Commander is faced with the challenging task of responding to the immediate needs of customers, employees, facilities personnel, suppliers, media, and company executives among others. At the same time the Business Incident Commander may be required to communicate with the fire department, police department or other public agency officials who are in charge of putting out the fire, saving lives, securing a crime scene, or containing the incident. In each of these cases a mutual understanding of the Incident Command System will allow all parties to use the ICS terminology to describe what actions have been taken and what critical tasks remain. The use of this common disaster management language can help a business communicate its priorities clearly and may lead to a reduction in business interruption, recovery time, and disaster recovery costs. Quick response, confidence, understanding, and organization are important aspects in any disaster recovery situation. A manager trained in ICS will have the confidence of knowing that the systems being utilized to establish priorities and manage resources have proven themselves time after time in some of the worst disaster situations ever faced. Being educated on the Incident Command System is only one step towards being prepared to respond and recover from a disaster. A physical preparedness review of company facilities, the development of a documented and tested disaster recovery plan, and the identification of critical resources in advance are other key elements of a complete business continuity protection program. HOW DO I LEARN MORE ABOUT ICS? Additional information on ICS, disaster preparedness can be obtained on the Web. Education on ICS and Introduction to ICS Advanced ICS www.nrcc.com/aics97.htm ICS for Corporations www.dr.org/drp-213.html ICS for Executives www.nrcc.com/icsex97.htm About the author: |