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National Incident
Management
System (NIMS) |
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Resource
Typing |
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Incident Command
System
(ICS) |
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Mutual Aid
Agreements
(MAA) |
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<< NIMS
Preface
Chapter II -
COMMAND AND MANAGEMENT >>
Chapter I
NIMS - Introduction and Overview
A. INTRODUCTION.
Since the
September 11, 2001, attacks on the World Trade Center and the
Pentagon, much has been done to improve prevention,
preparedness, response, recovery, and mitigation capabilities
and coordination processes across the country. A comprehensive
national approach to incident management, applicable at all
jurisdictional levels and across functional disciplines, would
further improve the effectiveness of emergency response
providers1 and incident
management organizations across a full spectrum of potential
incidents and hazard scenarios. Such an approach would also
improve coordination and cooperation between public and
private entities in a variety of domestic incident management
activities. For purposes of this document, incidents can
include acts of terrorism, wildland and urban fires, floods,
hazardous materials spills, nuclear accidents, aircraft
accidents, earthquakes, hurricanes, tornadoes, typhoons,
war-related disasters, etc.
On February 28,
2003, the President issued Homeland Security Presidential
Directive (HSPD)-5, which directs the Secretary of Homeland
Security to develop and administer a National Incident
Management System (NIMS). According to HSPD-5:
| This system will
provide a consistent nationwide approach for Federal,
State,2 and local3 governments to work effectively and
efficiently together to prepare for, respond to, and
recover from domestic incidents, regardless of cause,
size, or complexity. To provide for interoperability and
compatibility among Federal, State, and local
capabilities, the NIMS will include a core set of
concepts, principles, terminology, and technologies
covering the incident command system; multiagency
coordination systems; unified command; training;
identification and management of resources (including
systems for classifying types of resources);
qualifications and certification; and the collection,
tracking, and reporting of incident information and
incident resources. |
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B. CONCEPTS AND PRINCIPLES.
To provide this
framework for interoperability and compatibility, the NIMS is based
on an appropriate balance of flexibility and standardization.
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1.
Flexibility.
The NIMS provides a
consistent, flexible, and adjustable national framework within
which government and private entities at all levels can work
together to manage domestic incidents, regardless of their
cause, size, location, or complexity. This flexibility applies
across all phases of incident management: prevention,
preparedness, response, recovery, and
mitigation.
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2.
Standardization.
The NIMS provides a set of
standardized organizational structures—such as the Incident
Command System (ICS), multiagency coordination systems, and
public information systems—as well as requirements for
processes, procedures, and systems designed to improve
interoperability among jurisdictions and disciplines in
various areas, including: training; resource management;
personnel qualification and certification; equipment
certification; communications and information management;
technology support; and continuous system
improvement. |
C. OVERVIEW.
The NIMS integrates
existing best practices into a consistent, nationwide approach to
domestic incident management that is applicable at all
jurisdictional levels and across functional disciplines in an
all-hazards context. Six major components make up this systems
approach. Each is addressed in a separate chapter of this document.
Of these components, the concepts and practices for Command and
Management (Chapter II) and Preparedness (Chapter III) are the most
fully developed, reflecting their regular use by many jurisdictional
levels and agencies responsible for incident management across the
country. Chapters IV-VII, which cover Resource Management,
Communications and Information Management, Supporting Technologies,
and Ongoing Management and Maintenance, introduce many concepts and
requirements that are also integral to the NIMS but that will
require further collaborative development and refinement over
time.
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1. NIMS
Components.
The following discussion
provides a synopsis of each major component of the NIMS, as
well as how these components work together as a system to
provide the national framework for preparing for, preventing,
responding to, and recovering from domestic incidents,
regardless of cause, size, or complexity. A more detailed
discussion of each component is included in subsequent
chapters of this document.
a.
Command and Management.
NIMS standard
incident command structures are based on three key
organizational systems:
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(1)
The ICS.
The ICS
defines the operating characteristics, interactive
management components, and structure of incident
management and emergency response organizations
engaged throughout the life cycle of an
incident;
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(2)
Multiagency Coordination
Systems.
These define
the operating characteristics, interactive
management components, and organizational
structure of supporting incident management
entities engaged at the Federal, State, local,
tribal, and regional levels through mutual-aid
agreements and other assistance arrangements;
and
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(3)
Public Information
Systems.
These refer to
processes, procedures, and systems for
communicating timely and accurate information to
the public during crisis or emergency
situations.
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b.
Preparedness.
Effective incident
management begins with a host of preparedness activities
conducted on a “steady-state” basis, well in advance of
any potential incident. Preparedness involves an
integrated combination of planning, training, exercises,
personnel qualification and certification standards,
equipment acquisition and certification standards, and
publication management processes and
activities.
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(1)
Planning.
Plans describe
how personnel, equipment, and other resources are
used to support incident management and emergency
response activities. Plans provide mechanisms and
systems for setting priorities, integrating
multiple entities and functions, and ensuring that
communications and other systems are available and
integrated in support of a full spectrum of
incident management
requirements.
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(2)
Training.
Training
includes standard courses on multiagency incident
command and management, organizational structure,
and operational procedures; discipline-specific
and agency-specific incident management courses;
and courses on the integration and use of
supporting technologies.
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(3)
Exercises.
Incident
management organizations and personnel must
participate in realistic exercises—including
multidisciplinary, multijurisdictional, and
multisector interaction—to improve integration and
interoperability and optimize resource utilization
during incident
operations.
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(4)
Personnel Qualification and
Certification.
Qualification
and certification activities are undertaken to
identify and publish national-level standards and
measure performance against these standards to
ensure that incident management and emergency
responder personnel are appropriately qualified
and officially certified to perform NIMS-related
functions.
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(5)
Equipment Acquisition and
Certification.
Incident management
organizations and emergency responders at all
levels rely on various types of equipment to
perform mission essential tasks. A critical
component of operational preparedness is the
acquisition of equipment that will perform to
certain standards, including the capability to be
interoperable with similar equipment used by other
jurisdictions.
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(6)
Mutual Aid.
Mutual-aid
agreements are the means for one jurisdiction to
provide resources, facilities, services, and other
required support to another jurisdiction during an
incident. Each jurisdiction should be party to a
mutual-aid agreement with appropriate
jurisdictions from which they expect to receive or
to which they expect to provide assistance during
an incident.
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(7)
Publications Management.
Publications
management refers to forms and forms
standardization, developing publication materials,
administering publications—including establishing
naming and numbering conventions, managing the
publication and promulgation of documents, and
exercising control over sensitive documents—and
revising publications when
necessary.
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c.
Resource Management.
The NIMS defines
standardized mechanisms and establishes requirements for
processes to describe, inventory, mobilize, dispatch,
track, and recover resources over the life cycle of an
incident.
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d.
Communications and Information
Management.
The NIMS identifies
the requirement for a standardized framework for
communications, information management (collection,
analysis, and dissemination), and information-sharing at
all levels of incident management. These elements are
briefly described as follows:
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(1)
Incident Management
Communications.
Incident
management organizations must ensure that
effective, interoperable communications processes,
procedures, and systems exist to support a wide
variety of incident management activities across
agencies and
jurisdictions.
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(2)
Information Management.
Information
management processes, procedures, and systems help
ensure that information, including communications
and data, flows efficiently through a commonly
accepted architecture supporting numerous agencies
and jurisdictions responsible for managing or
directing domestic incidents, those impacted by
the incident, and those contributing resources to
the incident management effort. Effective
information management enhances incident
management and response and helps insure that
crisis decision- making is better
informed.
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e.
Supporting Technologies.
Technology and
technological systems provide supporting capabilities
essential to implementing and continuously refining the
NIMS. These include voice and data communications
systems, information management systems (i.e., record
keeping and resource tracking), and data display
systems. Also included are specialized technologies that
facilitate ongoing operations and incident management
activities in situations that call for unique
technology-based capabilities.
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f.
Ongoing Management and
Maintenance.
This component
establishes an activity to provide strategic direction
for and oversight of the NIMS, supporting both routine
review and the continuous refinement of the system and
its components over the long
term.
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2.
Appendices.
The appendices to this document
provide additional system details regarding the ICS and
resource typing.
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<< NIMS
Preface
Chapter II -
COMMAND AND MANAGEMENT >> |
1 As
defined in the Homeland Security Act of 2002, Section 2(6), “The term
‘emergency response providers’ includes Federal, State, and local
emergency public safety, law enforcement, emergency response, emergency
medical (including hospital emergency facilities), and related personnel,
agencies, and authorities.” 6 U.S.C. 101(6).
2 As
defined in the Homeland Security Act of 2002, the term ‘‘State’’ means any
State of the United States, the District of Columbia, the Commonwealth of
Puerto Rico, the Virgin Islands, Guam, American Samoa, the Commonwealth of
the Northern Mariana Islands, and any possession of the United States. 6
U.S.C. 101(14).
3 As
defined in the Homeland Security Act of 2002, Section 2(10), the term,“
local government” means “ (A) county, municipality, city, town, township,
local public authority, school district, special district, intrastate
district, council of governments (regardless of whether the council of
governments is incorporated as a nonprofit corporation under State law),
regional or interstate government entity, or agency or instrumentality of
a local government; an Indian tribe or authorized tribal organization, or
in Alaska a Native village or Alaska Regional Native Corporation; and a
rural community, unincorporated town or village, or other public entity.”
6 U.S.C. 101(10). |
