National Incident Management System (NIMS) - Key Aspects
The National Incident Management System (NIMS) offers a methodical, active methodology to guide agencies and departments at each level of government, the private sector, and nongovernmental organizations to jointly work to forestall, guard against, react to, retrieve from, and alleviate the impacts of incidents. The key aspects of the NIMS are the Incident Command System (ICS), Emergency Operations Center (EOC), and Multiagency Coordination Groups (MAC Groups).
The ICS denotes a uniform hierarchical arrangement that permits for a supportive response by numerous governmental and non-governmental agencies. This way, the ICS organizes and coordinates response actions without impairing
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Personnel converge at the EOC to either handle response to an unfolding incident or to handle preparations for an anticipated event. By providing these gathered decision makers with the most up-to-date information, the EOC facilitates the making of better decisions. A principal EOC must be set up at the core business facility. Similarly, a subordinate EOC must be set up at a different organization facility, a provisional facility like a hotel, or using a teleconference link created to enable staff work cooperatively in a virtual environment. The EOC provides support for the below listed incident management aspects: activation, situation analysis, incident briefing, incident action plan, and resource management. Regarding the activation aspect of incident management, the EOC brings expertise and knowledge together to handle events that constitute a threat. Concerning the situation analysis incident management aspect, the EOC collects information to establish what is going on and to point out possible effects. Pertaining to the incident briefing incident management aspect, the EOC shares information efficiently amongst team members. With regard to the incident action plan incident management aspect, the EOC offers a unitary decision-making point and identifies the course of action to be taken. On the resource management …show more content…
These individuals include executives or administrators and/or the designees of executives/administrators. MAC Groups do not have any direct involvement in incidents and are thus usually situated a certain distance away from the sites of incidents. The Groups may also operate virtually. To meet own documentation and logistics requirements, MAC Groups could need dedicated support organizations. These support organizations aid in management of incident-linked decision support information, for instance, the tracking of critical resources, situation status, and investigative or intelligence information. Further, the support organizations could help to distribute information to the public and to the news media. The skills and number of a MAC Group’s personnel are dependent on factors such as activity levels, incident complexity, and the Group’s requirements. MAC Groups could be set up inside any discipline or at whatever level (FEMA,
I think the National Incident Management System is a model to be adapted based on the circumstances. It is a good foundation that can be built upon and tailored to each department based on their specific needs and
Waugh, William L, and Gregory Streib. "Collaboration and Leadership for Effective Emergency Management." Public Administration Review, 66.6 (2006): 131-140.
The National response plan outlines four key actions the disaster coordinator should take. They are gaining and maintaining situational awareness, activate and deploy key resources and capabilities, coordinating response actions and demobilizing. Throughout the response it is essential that responders have access to critical information. During the initial response effort the situation is will change rapidly. Situational awareness starts at the incident site. For this reason it is essential that decision makers have access to the right information at the right time. By establishing an Emergency Operations Center (EOC) all key responders are brought ...
A strategic alliance with Dell has allowed ARC to implement a digital operations center for humanitarian relief in 2011 (ARC, n.d.). Social media (Facebook and Twitter) and smartphone applications have also been added to the organization’s communication arsenal as social media (Facebook and Twitter) and smartphone applications communication tools for advance storm tracking, crisis area developments and real time communications between ground crews and decision making management personnel (Zolkos, 2012).
The University of Colorado arranged a report on Jefferson County Type III Incident Management Team’s use of social media communications and work practices during the Colorado Floods in September of 2013. During flood in the fall of 2013, Jefferson County decided to use social media as a means for quick and mass communication for people to receive information about weather emergencies. In this case study, the University of Colorado examined the team’s use of three social media outlets: Facebook, Twitter, and the team’s blog. The University of Colorado utilized a mix method approach of web-based social networking content examination and meetings, the University of Colorado depicts Jefferson County's online practices in connection to the necessities
Local, State and Federal government have unique roles which would allow the flow of communication and resources to transition smoothly during each stage of progression. The local and state level (first responders) are the most important source as they can assess, coordinate and notify the next available resources of what is needed. State and local governments are the front runners of planning for and managing the consequences of a terrorist incident using available resources in the critical hours before Federal assistance can arrive (Managing the Emergency Consequences of Terrorist Incidents, July 2002). A Terrorist Incident Appendix (TIA) was designed to mirror an Emergency Operations Plan in relations to terrorist incidents. The TIA consists of six phases: Initiation, Concept Development, Plan Development, Plan Review Development of supporting plans, procedures and materials and Validation of plans using tabletop, functional, and full scale exercises. The TIA should be compared to those plans of existing Emergency Operation Plans (EOP) in place at the local and state level. Comparing plans before and incident allows time for comparison and revision of the various functions which will prevent disconnects to ensure coordination and
There are five different mission sets that the teams work in. They are Emergency Response, Remediation and Restoration, Technical Escort of materials, Technical Chemical, Biological, Radiological and Nuclear support to COCOMs and Homeland Security. Emergency Response is one of the primary m...
Collaboration among security officers will probably require them to focus on an agreed-upon definition of security incident. The group probably wants to prioritize their limited time dealing with significant threats to the system, not just review reports that have little or no security significance. It is almost inevitable that as a result of human error, a technical failure or a novel attack, that some security incident or privacy breach will occur. It is extremely important that the RHIO has agreed upon procedures for incident response, reporting, and remediation.
The National Incident Management System, NIMS was introduced in March 2004, and is the country’s comprehensive approach to incident management. It outlines how first responders from different disciplines and jurisdictions can work together. The NIMS improves the coordination and cooperation between the public and private entities in different domestic incident management activities. It also creates a framework for compatibility and interoperability through balancing standardization and flexibility. As such, NIMS comes up with a flexible framework for the federal government to work together with private entities to manage domestic incident management activities.
This section is responsible for all support needs for the incident that can include, “ordering resources and providing facilities, transportation, supplies, equipment maintenance and fuel, food service, communications, and medical services for incident personnel (FEMA, 2008, pp. 107).” The service branch will undertake communications, medical, and food issues having to deal with an incident (FEM, 2008). The support branch will oversee all supply, facilities, and ground support that is needed (FEMA, 2008). Finally, the finance and administration section can be broken into a time, procurement, compensation and claims, and a cost unit (FEMA, 2008).
Throughout the recovery period, it is crucial to monitor local media sources for information about where to obtain emergency housing, food, medical, and financial assistance. Direct assistance to individuals and families may come from different organizations such as American Red Cross, Salvation Army, FEMA and non profit organizations. Such organizations can provide food, shelter, essential hygiene supplies and assist in the aftermath clean-up efforts.
4 Introduction For over twenty-two years I have served as a first responder in the United States Air Force in the law enforcement and security career fields (Security Forces). Although this may not seem relevant to Concepts of Emergency Management, in the Air Force Emergency Management, Fire Department, Medical and Security Forces work hand-in-hand to help mitigate, prepare, respond and recover after any type of emergency situation or disaster within the military community. When I earned the rank of Master Sergeant in the Senior Noncommissioned Officer tier, I was given the opportunity to work in the Mission Support Group’s Plans and Protection Cell which was charged with identifying procedures for the response to and recovery from major accidents, natural disasters, terrorist attacks, and use of Chemical, Biological, Radiological, or Nuclear (CBRN) agents against
The communication process is not something that begins when a crisis rears its ugly head rather it is a process that takes place in preparing for a crisis before it happens. While the term crisis represents a blanket term used to describe many situations, each situation is unique, thus presenting different obstacles to overcome. However, with a well-established advanced plan in place an organization places itself in a position to overcome and work around obstacles. The development of a comprehensive crisis management plan is one achieved through effective communication where each member of the crisis management team has an advanced shared understanding of his or her role and responsibility during a time of crisis (du Pr'e, 2005).
2. Detection of Incidents: It cannot succeed in responding to incidents if an organization cannot detect incidents effectively. Therefore, one of the most important aspects of incident response is the detection of incidents phase. It is also one of the most fragmented phases, in which incident response expertise has the least control. Suspected incidents may be detected in innumerable ways.
EOC – Emergency Operations Centre, the EOC is responsible for making all of the operational decisions but they don’t interfere with tactical decisions.