NOG - The Foundation Of Incident Command Flashcards
The role of the incident commander
The incident commander has overall responsibility on the incident ground. In order to resolve an incident assertively, effectively and safely they should:
- Command and control the incident
- Identify hazards and manage risk
- Assess resource requirements
• Determine an incident plan
• Co-ordinate and deploy available resources - Evaluate progress against the plan
The Fire-fighter Safety Maxim
There is a balance between ensuring fire-fighter safety and carrying out the role of the fire and rescue service.
This is known as the Fire-fighter Safety Maxim, and is as follows:
“At every incident the greater the potential benefit of fire and rescue actions, the greater the risk that is accepted by commanders and fire-fighters. Activities that present a high risk to safety are limited to those that have the potential to save life or to prevent rapid and significant escalation of the incident.”
Risk assessment at an incident
To ensure a safe working environment they will need to:
- Select the most appropriate control measures
• Consider the benefits of proceeding with actions taking account of the risk - Take into account any time constraints
Risk concepts
Define a Hazard
Hazard
An event or situation with the potential to cause death or physical/psychological harm, damage/loss to property, and/or disruption to the environment and/or to economic, social and political structures.
Risk concepts
Define a Risk
Risk
The measure of the significance of a potential harm in terms of its assessed likelihood and impact.
Risk Concepts
Define Control measure
Control measure
These are measures to reduce the likelihood of exposure to a hazard from a given risk, and/or mitigate the impacts of that exposure.
Risk Concepts
Define Dynamic risk assessment
Dynamic risk assessment
The term dynamic risk assessment (DRA) describes the assessment of risk in a rapidly changing environment at an incident where decisions are sometimes made in fast-moving situations with incomplete or inaccurate information. It is a process not a controlled measure. The outcome of the dynamic risk assessment will contribute to the incident commander’s incident plan. It helps to inform whether crews should be operating in the risk area. This in turn determines the tactical mode.
Risk Concepts
Define Analytical risk assessment
Analytical risk assessment
As the incident progresses, or becomes more complex, it requires a more detailed and formal record of the significant findings of the risk assessment. The fire and rescue service call this analytical risk assessment (ARA).
Risk Concepts
Define Personal (or individual) risk assessment
Personal (or individual) risk assessment
Personal (or individual) risk assessment helps fire-fighters remain safe when working unsupervised, which is derived from the Health, Safety and Welfare Framework for the Operational Environment.
Offensive mode
This is where fire service personnel are working within the hazard area and exposed to greater risk, because the incident commander has decided it is appropriate following their risk assessment.
This mode may apply to an individual sector or to the whole incident when every sector is offensive.
Offensive mode is likely to be the common mode of operation. Examples include house fires, road traffic collisions and industrial premises where we might fight the fire, effect rescues or close down the plant.
Examples of offensive mode:
- A property fire where crews enter the building for fire-fighting
• Crews dealing with an incident outside a building but still operating in the hazard area - Crews dealing with a road traffic collision and working on the carriageway
• Withdrawing a crew from a hazardous area because the risk has increased
In the last example, although crews are being withdrawn they are still in the hazard area and the tactical mode is still offensive. It would not change to defensive mode until all crews have left the hazard area and been accounted for. Use the message “tactical withdrawal in progress” or “emergency evacuation in progress” to time stamp the decision of the incident commander’s dynamic risk assessment, including the need to change to defensive mode.
Defensive mode
This is where commanders deal with an incident from a defensive position. In defensive mode, the identified risks are unacceptable and outweigh the potential benefits. No matter how many extra control measures could be put in place at that particular time, the risks remain too great to commit crews into the hazard area.
Defensive mode indicates that no crews are working in the hazard area. It does not indicate that no operational activity is taking place.
Examples of defensive mode:
• Firefighting outside a hazard area
• Standing by awaiting expert advice, before commiting crews
• Standing by in a safe area while other services deal with an incident, for example, a terrorist related incident
There will be circumstances, where having been in defensive mode, the risk has changed, tactical priorities have been revised or additional control measures are available. This may mean it is acceptable to enter or re-enter the hazard area. In this case as crews are committed the tactical mode will change to offensive.
Tactical withdrawal
The incident commander may need to redeploy resources or move people away from danger. This is a tactical withdrawal. When a tactical withdrawal has taken place there will not be an evacuation signal or full incident roll call.
As crews will still be in the hazard area then the tactical mode will still be offensive.
To timestamp the dynamic risk assessment that crews should be withdrawn, an informative message should be sent using the phrase “tactical withdrawal in progress”.
Safety organisation on the incident ground including risk information:
Command support
These include:
• Acting as first contact point for all attending appliances and officers
• Maintaining a physical record of resources in attendance
• Briefing arriving resources on any safety related matters, including the tactical mode
• Maintaining a record of the findings of the risk assessment and any decisions or actions taken
• Recording information about the tactical mode and relaying that information both around the incident ground and back to the fire control room
• Liaising with other agencies, assisting in joint understanding of risk
• Supervising personnel from other agencies and conducting safety briefings for these personnel before they enter the incident ground
• Briefing designated people about their tasks and safety critical information
• Instigating the service system for logging fire and rescue service personnel on the incident ground
• Acting as the, or nominating alternative, muster points for an emergency evacuation
• Overseeing roll call with the incident commander after an emergency evacuation
• Logging and safety related decisions made and the reasons behind them
