How can you use the incident command system effectively?

From my experience, being able to incorporate ICS into actual events requires the individual have to have a baseline knowledge of how ICS works and how it is implemented, but also when and where flexibility and adaptation can be made. The vast majority of my utilization of ICS is/was at the moderate level of deployments where all the traditional roles were not staffed, and many served in dual roles. The real beauty of ICS is once it is understood and practiced it can be scalable when implemented.

The most effective ICS rollouts I've ever seen have not been strictly adherent to ICS. Instead, people are familiar enough with the principles to know which ones to adapt. You don't get to the point of deviating from the principles until you're an expert at them. Otherwise, you're just taking a shortcut, which probably isn't helping anyone.

I agree with the points raised by others in the comments. I want to emphasize a couple of things: 1) Assuring all those within one's own organization that would have a role in responding to an emergency are appropriately trained in ICS. This is particularly true for those who are in leadership roles within the organization during routine operations. Much of this training needs to occur prior to an incident, but there is a place for just-in-time training as well. This is one of our lessons learned from the COVID pandemic emergency. Establishing and maintaining partnerships/relationships with internal and external partners is crucial. This is a fundamental tenet of emergency management, but not always applied in the concrete situation.

Both my experience instructing the ICS and responding to actual events where it was implemented was impressive. When there was a good control of assets, LE/Fire/EMS and other required agencies that reached out to establish, maintain and finally an orderly departure of an incident it went very well. As we are aware, if this structure is not effectively used it can be chaotic to say the least and dangerous to responding units. I have seen throughout my career as more training and practice of this system from the first responding units to the top command it really made a difference and continues to be evaluated and updated today.

From my experience as a Team Leader, you may know the roles and regulations binding Incident Command System (ICS) which you want to implement during emergency, but the management most times has a way of altering the role of engagement. For me i will say you can only use the (ICS) effectively by training with majority of agencies and top management involved in emergency response, so everyone should know their role during emergency.

With regard to ICS and not overall Emergency Management - It is so important to remember that during an incident, Management establishes the objectives and Operations determines the tactics or processes to achieve those desired objectives. In so many instances Management tries to dictate how to accomplish the given task. This can be due to multitude of reasons including: egos, politics, lack of understanding etc. Knowing your role and staying in your lane will greatly contribute to the overall success.

So the biggest hurdles in ICS. It’s the human ego/error. Almost never communicated. Planning who is in charge and has the knowledge and skill for the emergency. Communication between agency, local, state, and NGOs. ID strengths and weaknesses in various situations. No plan survives contact. It’s those moments when the plan seems to fail on contact. Practice in flexibility and confidence in an adaptive network you have been crafting will be rewarded. Allow flexibility within your plan. Let someone who might step up in the midst of the emergency, lead . The job is the emergency, not to look good. Closing, I would say practicing handing off complete command to someone with exactly the right skills and knowledge to best suit the situation.

Spending time talking to other departments and stakeholders prior to any planning processes or real event is the best investment. This "networking" time will pay dividends when more formal meetings are planned, or events occur. From my experience the difficult part to accomplish this task is the high change over rates among personnel within many departments.

ICS also provides a framework for communication between the public and private sectors. Roles have the same names and functions across all users of ICS, i.e. IC, PIO, Safety Officer, etc, providing for better integration of efforts between NGOs and the public sector. Training is critical for the success of ICS, and private sector organizations would benefit greatly by adapting more ICS protocols into their emergency response plans.

I don't like wasting time on meetings and drills just to have them, but I have found if you can get the big bosses to buy off on them, they tend to be useful. Sometimes the best aspect from the meetings or trainings is the face-to-face time and meeting of new people in a non-deployment phase.

To me, this is the most critical category. If everyone is not singing from the same page in the proverbial hymnal, no system is going to be productive. Periodic reviews help to establish ICS as a full-time SOP, and not just something that is adhered to only on certain occasions, and only by certain individuals, companies, or departments.

Using the perspective of "these might be the people we'll work with when the real one happens" can create a different perspective on training, drilling, and exercises. Once the basic skills and abilities are developed, and we start playing in bigger sandboxes, we need to consider the development of trusted relationships and better understand the capabilities that others might bring to the table. Developing those relationships "with blue skies" helps reduce the frictions and distrust that can come in place when creating them during the crisis response.

I have found training and exercises to be crucial for preparing organizations and responders for how to perform after an incident. Many times organization’s focus on internal table top exercises to meet requirements. These are good though sometimes the partner perspective is missed. Occasionally expanding from table top to functional exercises can greatly benefit organizations by preparing them for the complexities of an incident, how to respond and what to expect of partnering agencies.

Send your people to training and then send them again. If you want a well-oiled machine to operate properly in chaos, then a training investment has to be made. On the West Coast (CA) - There is a multitude of training available and much of it is low or no cost for tuition. Ca. Office of Emergency Services (OES) Ca. State Training Institute (CSTI) as well as FEMA and other civic groups. After sending your people to training, have them return and teach others what they learned.

Emergency Management is a full-time commitment. ICS is a process in which we operate to better accomplish our goals and therefore positively affect the jurisdictions outcomes.

In my experience as Past President of Utah State VOAD (Voluntary Organizations Active in Disaster), building relationships of trust and developing relationships through drills, exercises, and trainings in "blue skies" is critical to the 4C's of VOAD: cooperation, communication, coordination, and collaboration in "grey skies to create unity of purpose "Whole Community Resilience" or WCPC "Whole Community Preparedness Coalitions."