A supervisor must be proficient at navigating organizational communications within and between government agencies, especially during critical moments of emergency situations. Understanding how to work with the components of government agencies can help agencies to adopt communication strategies to support effective emergency incident response. Highly prepared agencies will regularly collaborate with each other to improve their communications.

 

The federal government established the National Incident Management System (NIMS) as a standard to allow different organizations across the U.S. to communicate regardless of their type, jurisdiction, and location. The Incident Command System (ICS) is one of six key components of the National Incident Management System (NIMS). ICS is a management system adopted by the federal government as the standard method to address all domestic incidents. All levels of government are expected to adopt and understand the tenets of both NIMS and ICS.

Scenario

Your agency is onboarding new emergency responders from local partner organizations to help your area prepare for emergencies. As the supervisor at the agency, you have been tasked with training your new colleagues during an upcoming session on what to expect from organizational communications during such incidents. You will prepare for the training session by making a reference guide of the information you will use to train them on using NIMS and ICS protocols so they can be ready to support effective collaboration during emergency incident response.

Preparation

• Select an emergency that might occur in your area to use as an example incident scenario. Choose an incident that would likely require involvement from law enforcement and multiple agencies to respond to the emergency. Review the NIMS and ICS protocols that would apply to this situation. Examples of emergency incidents include:
• Natural disasters such as fire, flood, storm, earthquake, or outbreak
• Drug or fentanyl issues
• Gang activities or other organized crime
• Missing person
• Wanted or escaped fugitive
• Trafficking or other illegal operations for humans, drugs, or weapons
• Organized or ring activities for theft (vehicles, burglaries, scams, or cybercrimes)
• Select a fictitious agency or real agency in your local area that would be responsible for responding to the type of incident that you selected.

Assessment Deliverable

Using the example incident that you selected, create a reference guide as if you were a supervisor at the agency who is making a resource for responders at partner organizations to reference. Your reference guide will help them understand how your agency facilitates interagency communication among various components during such incidents.

Include the following information in your reference guide:

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• Identify the components of government agencies that facilitate communication, such as people, technology, and organizational structures. Explain what they do. Describe at least one way that agencies facilitate effective communication among their components.
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• Identify the components of the NIMS protocols and ICS protocols, specifically the ones that affect interagency communication and collaboration. Explain their importance to an organization's emergency management structure. Explain how they make collaboration more effective within agencies during emergency situations.
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• Describe the impact of a presidential declaration of a disaster in the U.S. regarding an organization's ability to initiate NIMS and ICS protocols. Explain how such declarations can affect interagency communication and collaboration during an emergency.
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