Management Notes

Reference Notes for Management

Which position is always staffed in ics applications

Which position is always staffed in ics applications

A. Incident Commander
B. Safety Officer
C. Operations Section Chief
D. Public Information Officer

The Correct Answer for the given question is Option A. Incident Commander

The position that is always staffed in ics applications is Incident Commanders.

Incident Commanders are responsible for overseeing all aspects of emergency response; this includes developing and maintaining incident objectives, managing all incident operations, applying resources as well as taking responsibility for all persons involved.

Incident Commanders 

➨  During an incident, the incident commander establishes priorities and defines the organization of incident response teams.

➨  When they arrive or as the situation dictates, senior or higher qualified officers may assume the role of incident commander.

➨  It is always assumed or designated that the incident commander position will be assigned even if subordinate positions are not.

➨  Depending on the severity of the emergency, the incident commander may assign subordinates or specific positions to individuals from the same agency or those from assisting agencies.

➨  To stabilize or end the emergency, the incident commander must be given (ahead of time) the authority to make tactical decisions without being influenced by those who normally possess some degree of authority.

➨  In an Emergency Operations Center (EOC), management makes strategic decisions and allocates resources to multiple incidents based on events.

➨  Management is generally not on site when the incident occurs. The emergency operations center and the incident commander must maintain reliable communications.

➨  To ensure that all tasks are completed, the incident commander follows preexisting management policies and uses standard forms and checklists.

Various software programs are available to assist in the management of emergencies in the field, but in order to be effective, as we will note later, these tools must be practiced and reside on systems that can withstand field conditions and be powered by limited resources such as extra batteries or electrical power.

Duties of the Incident Commander

The following are some of the specific duties of the incident commander:

  • Overseeing overall field operations and emergency response
  • Coordination with the EOC or other incident commanders. The incident commander of the firm’s ERT should co-locate with the fire or police department incident commander (an element of Unified Command).
  • Responsible for the safety of all responders.
  • Approving all Incident Action Plans and resources.
  • Analyzing the situation.
  • Establishing objectives and priorities.
  • Delegating authority as needed
  • Primary responder until others arrive

The following assistants to the incident commander may be needed if the extent of the emergency warrants them; they are an information officer, a safety officer, and a liaison officer.

➨  It is the responsibility of the incident commander to determine what goals need to be achieved and how to achieve them.

➨  The liaison officer coordinates with any external agencies or groups that may be involved or have requested assistance, such as the local office of emergency management or local police.

➨  It is possible to combine safety and security officers into one role and, as the name implies, they are responsible for overall safety and security of those involved in emergency response.

➨  The safety/security role entails identifying any potentially dangerous situations, making recommendations, and managing risks.

➨  Besides media communications, the public information officer is responsible for communicating with employees and groups affected by such announcements.

➨  The other sections take on specific roles once the incident commander has outlined the overall objectives.

➨  Planned activities require the team to gather information: what’s happening within and outside of the organization, as well as what resources are available.

➨  Based on that information, the planning team develops a timeline of what needs to be accomplished in the immediate future as well as in the future, even into the recovery phase.

Roles of the Incident Commander

Prepare for incidents

➦ Many events can negatively impact a company that incident commanders must prepare for.

➦ It is impossible to predict everything that will happen, but you can configure a foolproof incident response system to handle a variety of scenarios as they unfold.

➦ Among the items you should consider are:

  • Communication channels to be set up
  • A general incident action plan should be created
  • The incident action plan is being taught to team members
  • Reviewing incident safety measures regularly

Tip: Establishing an incident action plan can be aided by project management. Your online management system will enable you to share the incident plan with everyone in the company.

Create an action plan

➦ By thinking quickly and acting accordingly, you can put your leadership qualities into action during an incident.

➦ Each incident is unique, so preparation only takes you so far. The first step is to analyze the incident and decide how to handle it.

➦ Make sure to modify the incident operations plans according to the situation’s specific needs based on the plans you made earlier.

  • During an incident, you need to consider:
  • Creating a step-by-step action plan
  • Identification of team members
  • Prioritizing tasks according to safety and company needs
  • Communication of the plan to team members

Tip:

  • During an incident, the decision-making process can be stressful for incident commanders.
  • Although team members may offer recommendations during this stage, it is ultimately up to you to decide what to do.
  • As a problem solver and good gatherer of information, you will excel in this role.

Delegate tasks

➦ The moment you figure out how to handle a major incident, you’ll need to assign tasks and delegate authority.

➦ For the incident action plan to work properly, members of the team need to know their responsibilities. Establish an incident management team to simplify the response process for larger incidents.

➦ Your team will be able to assist with:

  • Debugging
  • Research
  • Information security
  • Process briefings

Tip:

  • You can’t do the job of an incident commander by yourself. To effectively manage incidents and stabilize the company for future operations, you’ll need help from other teams.
  • Delegating and overseeing tasks can be done by assigning deputy incident commanders.

Oversee and align teams

➦ As the teams attempt to control the incident, transition yourself into a facilitator role. Make sure everyone knows what they’re supposed to do and provides assistance as needed.

➦ Due to the time-sensitive nature of the environment, you will also assist with any communication problems.

➦ By understanding your team’s communication plan, you’ll be able to decide what notifications should be sent to whom and when to loop in other teams or departments.

➦ Establish the channels your team members should use, how often they should communicate details, and who is responsible for each one in your communication plan.

Tip:

  • During the implementation phase of an incident action plan, you will be responsible for resource management.
  • You need to make sure that your team members have access to additional resources if they need them.
  • The logistics of the operation will be managed by you as well as establishing a unified command.

Keep teams calm and focused

➦ Employees at a company may suffer a great deal of stress as a result of some incidents. Keep everyone calm and focused, for example, if the company loses data temporarily.

➦ Depending on the incident, team morale can fluctuate. It is also crucial to promote remote collaboration along with incident management when team members have to work remotely.

Tip:

  • Empathy and urgency will help your team stay focused and calm during high-stress situations.
  • Before you push team members into immediate action, give them a moment to gather their thoughts and emotions.
  • It is important to emphasize the importance of responding quickly once they have composed themselves.

Escalate issues and review

➦ If you are unable to handle an incident alone, you must escalate it to the assisting agency or department. Senior management or stakeholders can assist in this situation.

➦ Rather than escalate, start following up on the incident in detail instead if it doesn’t require escalated response.

➦ Post mortem meetings will conclude an incident response. You can use this opportunity to evaluate how well you handled the incident. You should consider the following:

  • Speed of response
  • Performance of overall task
  • Level of incident control
  • Your personal performance as incident commander
  • Your incident action plan’s efficiency
  • Future incidents are at risk

Tip:

  • After an incident response, a post mortem examines what went well and what went wrong to learn from it.
  • Hopefully, all future incidents will be handled more effectively and you will feel more confident about managing your team.

Which factor does not impact the complexity of an incident

Smirti

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