Institutionalizing the use of ICS

Institutionalizing the use of ICS
 

To "institutionalize the use of ICS" means that government officials, incident
managers and emergency response organizations at all jurisdictional levels adopt
the Incident Command System and launch activities [in FY 2005] that will result in
the use of the Incident Command System for all incident response operations.
Actions to institutionalize the use of ICS take place at two levels - policy and
organizational/operational.
At the policy level, institutionalizing the ICS means government officials, i.e.,
governors, mayors, county and city managers, tribal leaders and others:
1. Adopt the ICS through executive order, proclamation or
legislation as the jurisdiction's official incident response system; and
2. Direct that incident managers and response organizations in their
jurisdictions train, exercise and use the ICS in their response operations.
At the organizational/operational level, evidence that incident managers and
emergency response organizations are institutionalizing the ICS would include the
following:
1. ICS is being integrated into functional and system-wide emergency
operations policies, plans and procedures;
2. ICS training is planned or under way for responders, supervisors and
command level officers;
3. Responders at all levels are participating in and/or coordinating ICS-
oriented exercises that involve responders from multi-disciplines and
jurisdictions.
While it is not expected that all these activities would be completed in FY
2005, it is expected that where possible they will be and that, at a minimum,
planning for such activities would be initiated and actions taken to put them
into practice.

THE NIMS INTEGRATION CENTER
February 17, 2005

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