ICS is a crucial feature of NIMS responsible for preparing for and responding to emergencies at planned events.

ICS for planned events combines personnel, procedures, facility, equipment, and communication within an organizational structure to achieve successful outcomes and is used by thousands of emergency response agencies and organizations across the world. ICS provides a common language, structure, and plans that are geared towards the specific size, scope, and complexities of an event, so organizers, staff, and public emergency services are better prepared to respond to incidents.

Planned events are simply any anticipated activity, gathering, or event and can be as small as __ or as large scale as the Olympic Games. It’s clear to see the importance of ICS for planned events when looking at a complex event like the Olympics, which takes place over two weeks and hosts events in multiple locations across a city. It’s necessary to have clear lines of authority and accountability, reporting, and structure when responding to emergency events, and ICS provides all of this.

ICS for planned events has a rigid yet flexible structure with an incident commander in charge of it all, shaping goals, objectives, and strategy. Under the incident commander is the command staff, which consists of a public information officer, liaison officer, and safety officer. These individuals report directly to the commander. Reporting to the command staff is the general staff – operations section chief, planning section chief, logistics section chief, and finance/administration section chief. Thanks to this structure, there is a clear authority that everyone knows to report to and defined roles and responsibilities for each. This provides the accountability, reporting, and structure that is paramount to managing the risks of emergencies and responding to them.

ICS for planned events is also important because it helps bring order to what can be a very chaotic emergency situation and achieves effective communication between different responding agencies to ensure all are on the same page. In addition, ICS for planned events provides a structure for communicating with media so the public can be properly and punctually informed as well.

It’s always a good idea to refresh your staff on the importance of ICS before an event, check out our instructor led trainings to ensure you’re better prepared!