7 Critical Tasks

Question 1

1. ASSESS THE SITUATION

Answer 1

Perform an initial assessment of the incident. The initial assessment should focus on:
a. Provisions for member and public safety.
b. Medical treatment of the injured commensurate with the member’s training and experience and notification of Emergency Medical Services if needed.
c. The following questions may be used for the initial assessment:
i. What is the nature of the incident? (Refer to pages 5-12 for specific incident checklist).
ii. What action(s) are immediately necessary to safe lives? (i.e. move to contact an active shooter, extract occupants in a car fire, etc.)
iii. What is the immediate area of this incident?
iv. How many victims and suspects are involved?
v. What safety hazards exist? (WMD, hazardous materials Refer to DOT Emergency Response Guidebook), explosives, assault/high powered rifles, or other weapons, unsafe structure, fire, etc.)?
vi. What additional assistance is needed to resolve the incident?
Remember that simple information is difficult to obtain, stress brings confusion.

Question 2

2. “DANGER ZONE”

Answer 2

Identify immediately in order to limit additional exposure to danger:

a. Notify the Communications Section of the “Danger Zone’s” boundaries.
b. Notify the first responding supervisor of your initial assessment.
c. Prevent anyone from entering the “Danger Zone” until authorized by the Incident Commander.

Question 3

3. ESTABLISH INNER PERIMETER

Answer 3

Control and contain:

a. No unauthorized personnel are to have access to inner perimeter.
b. If plainclothes personnel are used on inner perimeter, replace with uniform personnel as soon as possible.
c. Ensure personnel take proper cover and concealment, or in the event of a Haz-Mat incident, personnel maintain distance.
d. Attempt to limit the movement of inner perimeter personnel.

Question 4

4. ESTABLISH OUTER PERIMETER

Answer 4

This perimeter is used to limit and control access into the emergency incident area:

a. Identify and secure safe routes of travel for emergency vehicles both to and from the scene.
b. Prevent or control access to inner perimeter.
c. Establish adequate traffic control to protect public safety with minimum interruption to normal traffic flow, if possible.
d. All outer perimeter personnel should be made aware of the following locations:
i. Command Post
ii. Staging Area
iii. Media Information Area

Question 5

5. ESTABLISH INCIDENT COMMAND POST

Answer 5

An Incident Command post should be established between the inner and outer perimeter. However, depending on the type of incident, it should not be in line-of-sight with the scene.

Question 6

6. ESTABLISH A STAGING AREA

Answer 6

The staging area is used to control the deployment of personnel and material:

a. Establish the staging area outside the inner perimeter. A staging area is never to be within view of the scene.
b. Assign a unit to respond to the staging area and assume the duties of the Staging Officer.
c. Advise the Comm. Center of the location of the staging area and the route to be used to gain access to it.
d. Advise all unassigned units responding to the scene to report to the staging area.
e. Advise the radio dispatcher to contact any responding mutual-aid agencies with the staging area information.

Question 7

7. REQUEST ADDITIONAL RESOURCES

Answer 7

Assess the need for additional personnel, specialized units, or other agencies and have additional resources respond to the staging area.

Question 8

What are the 7 Critical Tasks

Answer 8

1. ASSESS THE SITUATION
2. “DANGER ZONE”
3. ESTABLISH INNER PERIMETER
4. ESTABLISH OUTER PERIMETER
5. ESTABLISH INCIDENT COMMAND POST
6. ESTABLISH A STAGING AREA
7. REQUEST ADDITIONAL RESOURCES