scholarly journals THE IMPACT OF NATIONAL INCIDENT MANAGEMENT SYSTEM TRAINING REQUIREMENTS ON THE PRIVATE SECTOR

2008 ◽  
Vol 2008 (1) ◽  
pp. 771-772
Author(s):  
Gabrielle McGrath

ABSTRACT In the National Incident Management System (NIMS) Document dated March 1, 2004, all federal, state, local, tribal, private sector and non-governmental personnel with a direct role in emergency management and response were required to be NIMS and Incident Command System (ICS) trained. National standards for qualification and certification of emergency response personnel were established under NIMS to ensure that personnel possess the minimum knowledge, skills, and experience necessary to execute incident management and emergency response activities safely and effectively. Most recently documented in the National Response Framework, all mid-level managers of federal, state, and local governmental personnel are encouraged to complete ICS-300 and ICS-400 training in fiscal year 2007. Although these standards will greatly improve the ability for governmental personnel to respond in emergencies, private sector personnel are not regulated to participate in the same qualification and certification process. At this time, NIMS has no legal authority to place these requirements on industry personnel, such as members of oil spill management teams. The resulting imbalance of qualification and certification requirements between these two groups could severely hinder oil spill response efforts in the near future by causing miscommunication in the Unified Command during critical points in the response, including when setting response objectives and sharing resources. However, the solution cannot be to pass further governmental regulations on an already highly-regulated community. The NIMS Integration Center should consider utilizing the existing partnerships in individual regions, particularly through the Area Committee and the Area Maritime Security Committee, to solve this issue before it becomes a significant problem in the middle of a large-scale response effort.

2005 ◽  
Vol 2005 (1) ◽  
pp. 291-294 ◽  
Author(s):  
Gil Jamieson

The way this nation prepares for and responds to domestic incidents is about to change. It won't be an abrupt change; best practices that have been developed over the years are part of this new comprehensive national approach to incident management known as the National Incident Management System (NIMS). But it will change—and for the better. Developed by the Department of Homeland Security and issued in March 2004, the NIMS will enable responders at all jurisdictional levels and across all disciplines to work together more effectively and efficiently. Beginning in FY 2006, federal funding for state, local and tribal preparedness grants will be tied to compliance with the NIMS. One of the most important ‘best practices’ that has been incorporated into the NIMS is the Incident Command System (ICS), a standard, on-scene, all-hazards incident management system already in use by firefighters, hazardous materials teams, rescuers and emergency medical teams. The ICS has been established by the NIMS as the standardized incident organizational structure for the management of all incidents. Although many agencies now use various forms of ICS, there is considerable uncertainty about NIMS ICS and the impact it will have on systems and processes currently in place. These are important questions because one of the FY 2005 requirements for implementing NIMS is “institutionalizing the use of ICS, across the entire response system.” This paper is intended to provide an historical perspective on the development of ICS, explain how NIMS ICS works, describe how it is different from previous systems, and discuss the future of NIMS ICS training.


2005 ◽  
Vol 2005 (1) ◽  
pp. 747-753
Author(s):  
Kristy L. Plourde ◽  
LaDonn Hight-Allen ◽  
Denise L. Matthews ◽  
Martin L. Smith ◽  
CDR Jeff Gafkjen

ABSTRACT The United States faces a broad range of threats and hazards, both naturally occurring and manmade. Over the past few decades, efforts to prevent, prepare for, respond to, and recover from these varied threats and hazards have evolved into a patchwork collection of special-purpose plans including the National Oil and Hazardous Substances Pollution Contingency Plan (NCP). These plans govern U.S. policy toward hazardous materials releases and oil spill response. Homeland Security Presidential Directive 5 (HSPD-5), Management of Domestic Incidents, mandates the creation of a National Incident Management System (NIMS) and National Response Plan (NRP) to provide a single, comprehensive national approach to incident management. The NRP is intended to integrate the various prevention, preparedness, response and recovery plans into an all-discipline, all-hazard approach. NIMS provides a standard Incident Command System (ICS) for Federal, State, local and tribal government to work together to prepare for and respond to incidents. NIMS ICS includes a core set of concepts, principles, terminology, technologies, multi-agency coordination systems, unified command, training, identification/management of resources, qualification/certification, and the collection, tracking and reporting of incident information and incident resources. Together, the NRP and NIMS provide a standardized framework to ensure that Federal, State, local, and tribal governments, the private sector, and non-governmental organizations work in partnership to support domestic incident management regardless of cause, size, or complexity of the incident. How does this change what is being done in oil and hazardous materials response? The National Contingency Plan (NCP, 40 CFR 300) notes that “where practicable,” the framework for the response shall use ICS within a Unified Command (UC) system. OSHA regulations (29 CFR 1910.120) also require the use of ICS for emergency response. The response community (federal, state, local, and tribal governments, the private sector, and non-governmental organizations) has been using “ICS” in oil spill/HAZMAT response since the early 1990's in the United States. NIMS ICS will be used when responding to oil HAZMAT spills, however, there are differences in ICS implementation between responders in the response community and NIMS ICS will have stricter requirements to improve uniformity in application. These similarities and differences will be discussed at length in this paper.


1995 ◽  
Vol 1995 (1) ◽  
pp. 761-765
Author(s):  
William Boland ◽  
Pete Bontadelli

ABSTRACT The Marine Safety Division of the 11th Coast Guard District and the California Office of Oil Spill Prevention and Response are pursuing new avenues to assure that federal, state, and local efforts in California achieve the goals of the Oil Pollution Act of 1990 and the Lempert-Keene-Seastrand Oil Spill Prevention and Response Act of 1990. Coordination of the seven California area committees, publishing detailed area contingency plans, and the implemention of a memorandum of agreement on oil spill prevention and response highlight recent cooperative successes. In 1994 a joint Coast Guard/state/industry incident command system task force drafted an ICS field operations guide and incident action plan forms that meet National Interagency Incident Management System and fire scope ICS requirements.


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