OPS 020 Incident Command System Flashcards
Risk Critical
What hazards are present with regards to the ICS?
- Working in hostile environments.
- Inadequately prepared/ trained IC.
- Failure to comply with legislation or organisational procedures.
- Failure to gather and consider relevant information
- Failure to communicate effectively with FRS crews, officers and other emergency responders
- Ineffective organisation of the incident ground.
- Decision making outside of responsibility.
- Ineffective safety management and situational awareness.
- Failure to contain and prevent further deterioration of the incident.
- Failure to justify critical incident decisions.
- Crews/individuals outside of IC’s instructions
Risk Critical
What risks are present and who might be affected with regards to ICS?
- Safety of FRS personnel and other emergency responders.
- Breach of statutory duty.
- Adverse societal exposure as a result of poorly managed incidents.
- Ineffective communication/briefings.
- Briefing not fully understood.
- Impaired decision making and situational awareness.
- Psychological/physiological fatigue.
- Impaired leadership and teamwork function.
- Decision making overload.
Risk Critical
Control Measures & Safe Systems of Work
How can FRS’s reduce the risk of ICS?
- Development of a robust safety culture that is reflected in all emergency intervention and training activities.
- Organisational Culture
- Assertive and effective IC’s
Risk Critical
Control Measures & Safe Systems of Work
The role of the Incident Commander is to:
- Command and control the incident.
- Identify hazards and manage risks.
- Assess resource requirements.
- Determine an incident plan.
- Co-ordinate and deploy available resources.
- Evaluate progress against the plan.
Risk Critical
Control Measures & Safe Systems of Work
The Incident Commander will:
- Identify the hazards and risks
- DRA
- ARA
- PRA (personal risk assessment).
- Communicate the identified hazards and risks.
- to all FRS personnel and other emergency responders (JESIP).
- Adopt risk control measures.
- Ensure safe systems of work are implemented.
Risk Critical
What is the Firefighter safety maxim?
At every incident the greater the benefit of fire and rescue actions, the greater the risk will be accepted by commanders and firefighters. Activities that present a high risk to safety are limited to those that have the potential to save life or to prevent rapid an significant escalation of the incident.
- high risk and low benefit - limited risk is tolerated
- high risk and potentially high benefit - greater measured risk is tolerated.
Safety Critical
Summarise the firefighter safety maxim
- High risk and low benefit = limited risk is tolerated.
- High risk and potentially high benefit = greater measured risk is tolerated.
Safety Critical
How should tactical modes be communicated?
- Declare an appropriate tactical mode and communicate to crews on the incident ground.
- Inform Fire control asap.
- Tactical mode should be communicated at regular intervals (20 mins) and when it changes.
Safety Critical
When should defensive mode be considered?
Where significant doubt exists regarding the safety of crews ‘defensive mode’ should be considered until further information is available to allow a clearer assessment of risk.
Safety Critical
Incident commanders must ensure:-
- clear brief to crews stating tasks and hazards and confirm acknowledgment.
- A defined, visible line of command.
- Spans of control and communication are manageable.
- clearly defined command roles.
- use of command support function
- a predictable pattern of sectors
Safety Critical
What is it called when rare circumstances where following procedures may hinder successfully resolving an incident:-
Operational discretion
- saving human life
- where taking no action may lead to others placing themselves in danger
In these circumstances the IC will apply professional judgement and adapt procedures to achieve the desired outcome.
Safety Critical
How should the IC justify using operational discretion?
The IC should always be able to justify their decision to exercise operational discretion in terms of outcomes balanced against the assessed risk.
- Does the benefit of what I am intending to do justify the risk I am willing to take?
Safety Critical
What is the Decision Control Process DCP?
At a single agency (FRS) incidents, the DCP will be utilised by HFRS personnel. It is scalable and can be applied to an individual task or plan the resolution of an entire complex incident.
It compliments the JESIP JDM
Safety Critical
Explain the DCP decision control process?
Situation assessment
Situation assessment
- incident information
- Resource information
- Benefit and risk information
Each stage - Active monitoring
Safety Critical
Explain the DCP decision control process?
Plan
Plan
- Objectives
- Tactical priorities
- Operational Tactics
Each stage - Active monitoring
