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Pediatric Terrorism and Disaster Preparedness: A ... - PHE Home

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supervision, <strong>and</strong> entertainment for pediatric victims, as well as protection from the media in the<br />

critical period immediately after a disaster.<br />

Incident Management<br />

The incident comm<strong>and</strong> system (ICS) is widely recognized <strong>and</strong> used in the field of emergency<br />

management to effectively manage resources <strong>and</strong> casualties during a disaster. The ICS is a<br />

unified management system that allows for exp<strong>and</strong>ability <strong>and</strong> accountability based on the<br />

magnitude <strong>and</strong> needs created by the specific incident. It is an organizational system of “best<br />

practices” for on-scene, all-hazard incident management. There are five major management<br />

functions:<br />

• Incident comm<strong>and</strong>.<br />

• Operations.<br />

• Planning.<br />

• Logistics.<br />

• Finance/administration.<br />

All have st<strong>and</strong>ardized position titles. The following nomenclature is used for organizational<br />

components <strong>and</strong> their supervisory personnel:<br />

• Incident comm<strong>and</strong>er.<br />

• Comm<strong>and</strong> staff officer.<br />

• General staff/section chief.<br />

• Division supervisor.<br />

• Group supervisor.<br />

• Branch director.<br />

• Task force leader.<br />

• Strike team leader.<br />

• Unit leader.<br />

In a unified comm<strong>and</strong> structure, there is one recognizable leader—the incident comm<strong>and</strong>er—<br />

who has overall responsibility. Because the system is exp<strong>and</strong>able, it allows for the use of many<br />

components that may be needed to manage the incident. Various component managers are<br />

granted the authority to manage their specific component, <strong>and</strong> they are held accountable for the<br />

performance of their area to the incident comm<strong>and</strong>er.<br />

This type of system is widely used in everyday business. For example, in the hospital setting, the<br />

incident comm<strong>and</strong>er could be compared with the chairperson of the medical board, <strong>and</strong> the group<br />

managers could be compared with the various chiefs of service.<br />

The National Incident Management System (NIMS) has been developed for use by all<br />

emergency response agencies in the country. NIMS is an updated more inclusive version of ICS.<br />

Its st<strong>and</strong>ardized framework, common terminology, <strong>and</strong> flexibility allow it to be used by Federal,<br />

State, <strong>and</strong> local agencies/authorities.<br />

ICS is modular <strong>and</strong> can be exp<strong>and</strong>ed to meet needs that arise during an incident. In a disaster, the<br />

triage, treatment, <strong>and</strong> transportation of casualties fall to the EMS Operations Branch. The<br />

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