Australasian Inter-Service Incident Management System

In Australia, the Australasian Inter-Service Incident Management System (AIIMS) is the nationally recognised ^[1] system of incident management for the nation's fire and emergency service agencies.^[2] organizational principles and structure used to manage bushfires and other large emergencies (e.g. floods, storms, cyclones etc.) utilizing the all agencies approach. AIIMS was first developed in the 1980s as a derivative of the United States’ NIIMS, and is based on the principles of management by objectives, functional management and span of control. AIIMS is a trademark of AFAC and the material in the AIIMS manual and training materials is copyright of AFAC.

Principles

AIIMS is based on three key principles:

Management by objectives
Functional management
Span of control.

Management by objectives

To ensure all incident personnel are working towards one set of objectives, the Incident Controller, in consultation with the Incident Management Team, determines the desired outcomes of the incident. These are communicated to all involved. At any point in time, an incident can have only one set of objectives and one Incident Action Plan for achieving objectives.

Functional management

The control system of AIIMS is based on a structure of delegation with five functional areas: Control, Planning, Public Information, Operations and Logistics. This guarantees that all vital management and information functions are performed.

Control - The management of all activities necessary for the resolution of an incident. (Coloured White)
Planning - The collection and analysis of information and the development of plans for the resolution of an incident. (Coloured Yellow)
Public Information - Provision of warnings, information and advice to the public and liaison with the media and affected communities. (Coloured Brown)
Operations - The tasking and application of resources to achieve resolution of an incident. (Coloured Red)
Logistics - The acquisition and provision of human and physical resources, facilities, services and materials to support achievement of incident objectives. (Coloured Blue)

For every incident, an Incident Controller is appointed who is ultimately responsible and accountable for all of the five functions. Depending on the size and complexity of an incident, the Incident Controller may elect to delegate one or more of the functions of planning, public information, operations and logistics.

Functional management dictates that there can only be one Incident Controller managing an incident at any one time. Delegation of the functions results in an Incident Management Team of up to five people and enables span of control to be maintained.

The Public Information Unit was added the AIIMS 3rd edition (2011) as a result of recommendations from the 2009 Black Saturday Bushfires Royal Commission.

Span of control

Span of control is a concept that relates to the number of groups or individuals that can be successfully supervised by one person. During emergency incidents, the environment in which supervision is required can rapidly change and become dangerous if not managed effectively. Up to five reporting groups or individuals is considered to be desirable, as this maintains a supervisor’s ability to effectively task, monitor and evaluate performance.

Where span of control is exceeded, the supervising officer should consider delegating responsibility to others. Conversely, where the span of control is lower or the tasks are fewer (for example in a de-escalating incident), the supervisor may reassume responsibility or reorganise delegation to contract the structure to fit the tasks required.

The way in which AIIMS is "scalable" is that it does not require the full-scale response to every incident – it allows for the build-up of resources and response activity. For example, a single-story house does not require an Incident Control Centre (i.e. control room) with six people managing the incident; however, the 2010–2011 Queensland floods required all functional areas to be filled by a separate individual as other people filling the other roles which come under each functional area (e.g. welfare, catering etc.) as a single person would not be able to handle the logistics, operations, planning etc. all by themselves as would be expected of the single-story fire (at least in the first instance).

This scalability is also demonstrated by AIIMS being used by other agencies such as Department of Environment and Primary Industry (DEPI) where they state "the use of the AIIMS system promotes effective joint operations through the use of common structures and terminology"^[3] when they collaborate with other agencies using AIIMS to manage public land emergencies (e.g. floods, fires etc.).

Its uses also extended to the management of the locust plague,^[4] where they used AIIMS to manage the incident. Although as with any system it is not without its criticisms, mainly stemming from when people should delegate (i.e. scale the system) from a single incident controller to an IC plus Operations Officer or when to involve planning or as demonstrated by Black Saturday bushfires or the 2010–2011 Queensland floods who is responsible for intelligence, inter-service communication etc. which the government hopes will be or has been overcome by the promotion of Intelligence and Public Information although only time will tell and with no major disasters since early 2011 the new system remains largely untested.

References

↑ AFAC KnowledgeWeb - AIIMS Archived July 25, 2012, at the Wayback Machine.
↑ AFAC KnowledgeWeb - AIIMS Archived July 25, 2012, at the Wayback Machine.
↑ http://www.depi.vic.gov.au/fire-and-emergencies
↑ http://www.weeklytimesnow.com.au/article/2010/11/09/258235_locusts-news.html

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