Incident of Command is a body that was created to respond to emergency needs such as fire outbreak, terrorism-related scenes, and other environmental hazards that may be a threat to human life. The aim was to promote quick response through command, control, and coordination to suppress the situation by preventing loss of life, property damage and environmental destruction. The incident of command is guided by several basic principles and procedures of responding to the incident. Unified command structure is one of the principles which allow agencies to take control of the incident, integrated communications which have common operating procedures and a modular organization which makes sure the structure meet the needs of the incident.
The chain of command consists of a public information officer who operates under Incident Commander whose main duty is to collect, verify and relay community information to the general public through the available media platforms. Sign et al., (2019) asserted that the commander is the interface between the scene of the incident and the public, media and other stakeholders to keep them updated on any changes regarding the incident. In addition, he is responsible for managing the joint information center and acts as an advisor to the Incident Commander. The PIO is mandated to provide overall communication policy direction and recommends a strategy for briefings and news releases.
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The joint information system (JIS) is responsible for coordinating and integrating information between incident managers and joint information center (Griffith & Roberts, 2015). The JIS ensures timely, accurate and consistent accessible information, messaged across multiple jurisdictions including private and public organizations. It provides means of sharing information and controls rumors that make cause suspense and mistrust of the general public. It updates the incident commander on possible challenges that may deter the rescue operation efforts.
The Joint Information Center (JIC) is a place that facilitates the operations of Joint Information System by providing tools such as equipment for enabling communication with various rescue agencies (Singh et al., 2019). The center assists in gathering, verification, and dissemination of accurate and timely information on the events surrounding the scene of the incident.
According to Jensen & Thompson (2016), the incident of a command system is effective since it has helped to minimize damage and prevent loss of lives through faster response among the different agencies concerned. For example, the ICS has been used in the Gulf of Mexico Oil spill to save aquatic animals and has helped in putting off wildfires that were consistent in California and Arizona.
The problems encountered when selecting an individual to serve as the Incident Commander is the lack of minimum skills and knowledge required to run the post. Most of the people screened for the post do not have the necessary experience on how to respond to disaster management. There is lack of adequate training for people who can serve as incident commanders, continued distrust for the incident commander and poor succession planning.
References
Jensen, J., & Thompson, S. (2016). The incident command system: a literature review. Disasters , 40 (1), 158-182.
Griffith, J. C., & Roberts, D. L. (2015). A meta-analysis of crew resource management/incident command systems implementation studies in the fire and emergency services. Journal of Aviation/Aerospace Education & Research , 25 (1), 1-25.
Singh, S., Jain, M., & Evans, M. (2019). Smart Commissioning for First Responders in Incident Command System . U.S. Patent Application No. 16/325,822 .
