epr-method (2003) - IAEA Publications - International Atomic Energy ...

Unity of command, where each person within an organization reports to only one designated
person: Established/Uniform chain-of-command (reporting to immediate supervisor within
ICS structure). Always have a single individual, the incident commander, in charge.
A unified command structure, which allows all agencies with responsibility for the incident,
either geographic or functional, to manage an incident by establishing a common set of
incident/emergency objectives and strategies:
(1) used in single jurisdiction multi-agency response, multiple jurisdiction incidents; and
(2) share command responsibility - develop one incident action plan; all have input.
Consolidated incident/emergency action plans, which describe response goals, operational
objectives, and support activities:
(1) requires a written or oral plan;
(2) written plan required for complex incidents or multi-agency incidents/emergencies; and
(3) plan describes response goals, operational objectives, and support activities.
A manageable span of control, which limits the number of resources that any supervisor
may control:
(1) range 3-7; and
(2) optimum 5.
Designated incident/emergency facilities/locations, which include an incident command
post and may include staging areas; other incident facilities may be designated, depending on
the requirements of the incident:
(1) incident command post (the location at which the primary command functions take
place); the incident commander is located at the ICP;
(2) facilities and locations described in Appendix 14; and
(3) others identified as needed (e.g. staging area, evacuee monitoring and registration
area, heliport).
Comprehensive resource management, which maximizes resource use, consolidates control of
single resources, reduces the communication load, provides accountability, reduces
freelancing, and ensures personnel safety:
(1) consolidates control of multi-agency resources;
(2) staging area serves as resource marshalling location; and
(3) monitor resource status: assigned, available, out of service.
A13.2 BASIC STRUCTURE
The ICS organization is built around five major components: command, planning, operations,
logistics and finance/administration. In small scale incidents/emergencies, one person, the incident
commander, may manage or perform all of the components. Large-scale incidents/emergencies
usually require that each component, or section, is set up separately. Each of the primary ICS
sections may be divided into smaller functions as needed. Typically, the organization is divided
into branches depending on the nature of the activity having functional or geographic
responsibility, groups that are responsible for a specified functional assignment, and finally teams.
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