Integrating Incident Command System (ICS) into the
Organization’s Business Continuity Program
Presented by William McCarson
Purpose of ICS
The Incident Command System (ICS) is a response management system that enables effective and
efficient incident management by integrating responders and resources within a common
organizational structure.
ICS is structured to facilitate activities in five major functional response areas:
• Command
• Operations
• Planning
• Logistics
• Finance and Administration
ICS is a standardized set of management tools that
can be highly effective in emergency response
management, because it was designed by responders,
for responders.
History of ICS
The concept of ICS was developed in the 1970’s, in
the aftermath of a devastating wildfire in California.
Although all of the responding agencies cooperated
to the best of their ability, numerous problems with
communication and coordination hampered their
effectiveness.
Congress mandated that the U.S. Forest Service
design a system that would improve the capabilities
of Southern California wildland fire protection
agencies to effectively coordinate interagency action.
Under the “FIRESCOPE” Technical Team, ICS and
the Multi-Agency Coordination System (MACS)
were developed.
For the past 40+ years ICS has been evolving into a
universal response management system for private
and public responders.
Adoption by U.S. DHS
On March 1, 2004, the U.S. Secretary of Homeland Security issued the National Incident
Management System (NIMS) to:
1.
Provide a comprehensive national approach to incident management, applicable to all
organizations.
2.
Establish standard incident management processes, protocols and procedures so that all
responders can work together more effectively.
3.
Adopt the Incident Command System (ICS).
ICS is now used by all U.S. Federal and State Agencies, and almost all private response
organizations and companies with response management teams. It is becoming more accepted by
other nations and world-wide response organizations.
Uses of ICS
ICS is used by many different organizations for different purposes,
but the structure and processes always remain the same.
ICS is can be used for:
• Tactical emergency response (fire, EMS, Law enforcement)
• Incident-specific response (oil spills, wildfires, hazardous
materials releases, pandemics)
• Regional disasters (earthquakes, hurricanes, tornados, tsunamis)
• Crisis Management (corporate crisis management)
• Business Continuity Response (private industry and
government)
ICS has been used successfully in responses of all sizes, from
tactical operations to crisis management.
Advantages of ICS
The Incident Command System has the following
advantages for private organizations:
• Enhances a safe and efficient response
• Enhances ability to respond in coordination with
public responders
• Is flexible and modular
• Meets the needs of incidents of any kind or size
• Allows personnel to meld rapidly into a common
management structure
• Is cost effective by avoiding duplication of efforts
• ICS training is widely available and standardized
Principles of ICS
The foundations of ICS include some of the following principles:
1.
Common terminology
2.
Common Organizational Structure
3.
Management by Objective
4.
Unified Command
5.
Planning Cycle
6.
Incident Action Plan
Common ICS Terminology
• ICS has its own unique terms for positions, facilities, processes, forms and plans.
• It is important for all response personnel to know and use this common terminology.
• Common ICS terminology allows responders from multiple organizations to effectively
communicate.
• All communications during the response should be in plain language and clear text.
• When communicating, do not use initialisms, acronyms, radio codes, company-specific terms, or
jargon.
• Using common terminology helps to define organizational functions, incident facilities, resource
descriptions, and position titles.
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Basic ICS Organization
Incident
Commander
Public Information
Officer
Liaison
Officer
Command Staff
Safety
Officer
Operations
Section Chief
Planning
Section Chief
Logistics
Section Chief
Finance/Admin
Section Chief
A key principle of ICS is its flexibility. The ICS organization may be
expanded easily from a very small size for routine operations to a larger
organization capable of handling catastrophic events.
General Staff Organization
Example of an ICS
organization for a Tier 2 Oil
Spill Management Team.
Regardless of the number of
responders, there is still
unity in the chain of
command.
Management by Objectives
Incident Commander establishes Objectives
Management by Objective:
Simple, but effective management style.
Everyone on the team is told the
objectives of the response.
Team members focus on achieving the
objectives by performing tasks under
certain response strategies.
Incident Commander monitors and adjusts Objectives as necessary
Team develops Strategies
Operations implements Tactics to achieve Strategies
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Unified Command
• Unified Command is used when incidents cross
jurisdictional boundaries or the limits of individual
organization functional responsibility.
• Unified Command is a team effort process, allowing
all entities with geographical or functional
responsibility for an incident, to assign an Incident
Commander to a Unified Command organization.
ICS Planning Cycle
• The ICS Planning Cycle is a series
of team meetings and briefings that
leads to development and
implementation of an Incident
Action Plan.
• A Planning Cycle is conducted for
each Operational Period.
• There can be as many, or as few
briefings as necessary.
• The Planning Cycle is a key
principle of success in ICS.
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Incident Action Plan
• An Incident Action Plan is required for all incidents.
• It may be very simple – even a verbal Incident Action Plan may be adequate for a very small
response.
• For more complex incidents, the Incident Action Plan becomes a written document, and may
become several hundred pages long.
• Purpose of the Incident Action Plan:
• Document the current situation, response objectives, key events, team organization, resources available
• Provide supervisory team members with direction for future actions
• ICS forms are used to prepare an Incident Action Plan, which may be supplemented by any
number of appendices.
• The Incident Action Plan is approved by the Incident Commander and/or Unified Command for
each Operational Period.
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Integrating ICS into the Organization’s Business
Continuity Program
• The use of ICS in Business Continuity is not
widespread nor well-developed as a concept.
• Today, many organizations use a business
continuity response structure that is generally
designed around its normal business model.
• This team may be devoted exclusively to
business continuity, or also serve as a crisis
management team.
Example: Non-ICS Business Continuity/Crisis
Team
Integrating ICS into the Organization’s Business
Continuity Program
• To use ICS organization for business continuity response, normal job functions
and structure are replaced by the response-oriented ICS organization.
• The ICS team organization can be used for almost any purpose:
•
•
•
•
•
Crisis Management
Incident Management
Emergency Management
Natural Disaster Response
Business Continuity
Business Continuity Team – ICS Structure
More Information about ICS
http://training.fema.gov/EMIWeb/IS/ICSResource/index.htm
http://www.training.fema.gov/IS/
The End
Thanks for participating in the ACP!
If you have any questions, e-mail William McCarson at:
[email protected]