ICS (Incident Command System)

The following principles are safeguarded through the use of ICS:

• Uniform Management: Each team member reports into only one leader. This is key to the ICS chain of command structure
• Uniform Terminology: This ensures common understanding and avoids confusion
• Objective Management: People work towards common goals
• Flexible Organisation: Ensures that the response can be scaled up and down based on the size of the issue
• Span of Control: Limits the number of people and resources being managed by an individual, eliminating the risk of overload

At the core of ICS is the structure it brings to planning the response. Time is organised into operational periods, with a set list of objectives forming part of an overall Incident Action Plan which is communicated to the various levels of the organisation. Once this period has passed, work begins on the next part of the Incident Action Plan. ICS therefore necessitates having two key things in mind at one time:

1. Focus on the plan that’s currently in action
2. Think about what the next plan must take into consideration

CIM is a highly configurable platform for developing and implementing the workflows demanded by the ICS model- significant development work has now began on developing functionality to support additional useful functionality which will make One Voice a world leader in supporting the ICS process through software. Developed as a functionality within CIM, One Voice’s tool will allow our customers to use existing information in CIM to build the forms, reports and plans that the ICS structure requires.

The ICS model is considered by many to be a highly flexible approach, regardless of the industry or size of your business, type of event or severity of the incident. This also means that your response organisation can cooperate with other businesses which may not be closely related to you, but share a common problem. For more information on CIM and ICS, please contact us.