ICS

Incident Command System Manual

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Cover Letter

Org Chart
linked to position descriptions
Process, Organization, Language, and Forms for Oil Spill Response Management

Initial Response

Command

Planning

Operations

Logistics

Finance

Meetings

Glossary

Index

July 2015 Edition ICS Forms

Updated to Reflect Designed and Prepared By:
NIMS – 2008 &
USCG 2014 IMH
Background… The NIMS document describes and requires the use of
a standard Incident Command System (ICS) for all
This newest edition of the Genwest ICS Manual federally managed responses and recommends the
updates previous versions of our manual going back adoption of this standard at all levels of government
to the 2000 edition, which was based on the first and in the private sector. It is this federal ICS
versions of the Oil Spill Field Operations Guide requirement that necessitates that local, regional and
(FOG). Genwest staff contributed to both the corporate responders be familiar with the use of ICS
original STORMS version and the 2000 Oil Spill for all emergency response contingencies. This all-
FOG developed by the Western States / BC Task hazard approach is reflected in the USCG 2014
Force. Incident Management Handbook, which first covers
the generic ICS positions and processes, and then
This 2015 version reflects updated material from the details situation-specific variations for different types
National Response Framework (NRF), May 2013 of incidents.
version, the National Incident Management System
(NIMS), December 2008 version, and the 2014 US About this manual…
Coast Gusrd Incident Management Handbook. Unlike other all-hazard ICS documents, this manual is
designed to focus on oil spill response, and making the
While the NRF and NIMS are both designed to ICS accessible to professionally knowledgeable
address incidents of national significance, the individuals for whom oil spill response is an infrequent
principles, policies and standards are applicable to collateral duty. The position-specific descriptions in
incidents at the local, state and regional levels the first part of this manual are designed to allow a
as well. As stated in the 2013 document, “The NRF user to quickly find the critical information needed to
describes the principles, roles and responsibilities, function effectively as part of an Incident Management
and coordinating structures for delivering the core Team. Also, while retaining the focus on oil-spill
capabilities required to respond to an incident and response incident management, an understanding of
further describes how response efforts integrate with the standard ICS organization, processes and
those of the other mission areas.” nomenclature can be useful in any community
emergency response environment.
From the 2008 document, “NIMS provides a
systematic, proactive approach to guide departments Genwest Systems Inc.:
and agencies at all levels of government, Working with Federal, State, and corporate clients,
nongovernmental organizations, and the private Genwest personnel have provided on-scene emergency
sector to work seamlessly to prevent, protect response information management support for over
against, respond to, recover from, and mitigate the thirty years. We offer comprehensive responder
effects of incidents, regardless of cause, size, training and develop and implement effective incident
location, or complexity, in order to reduce the loss management and support tools. To download our latest
of life and property and harm to the environment.” response tools visit our web site at:
http://www.genwest.com

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 COMMAND STAFF
FOSC
Public Information Officer (pg. 14)
IC/UC
(pg. 10) Safety Officer (pg. 16)
SOSC RPIC
Liaison Officer (pg. 18)

Investigators (pg. 20) NRDA Reps (pg. 20) Agency Reps (pg. 20)

Planning Section Operations Section Logistics Section Finance/Admin

Chief Chief Chief Section Chief
(pg. 22) (pg. 54) (pg. 84) (pg. 104)

Source Control Staging Area Service Branch Support Branch

Cost Unit Leader
Support Coordinator Manager Director Director
Situation Unit (pg. 106)
(pg. 71) (pg. 56) (pg. 86) (pg. 95)
Leader
(pg. 26)
Food Unit Leader
Display Recovery & Protection Source Control Air Operations Wildlife Branch (pg. 87) Supply Unit Leader Time Unit Leader
Processor Branch Director Branch Director Branch Director Director (pg. 96) (pg. 107)
(pg. 30) (pg. 57) (pg. 67) (pg. 72) (pg. 78)
Communications
Field Observer Ordering
Protection Group Unit Leader Equipment Time
(pg. 31) Wildlife Recovery & Manager
Supervisor Source Control Air Tactical Group (pg. 88) Recorder
Transport Group (pg. 97)
(pg. 58) Containment Group Supervisor (pg. 108)
ICC Manager
Supervisor (pg. 68) (pg. 74) Supervisor (pg. 79) Receiving & Dist.
Resources Unit (pg. 91)
Leader On-Water Recovery Manager
Helicopter Info Tech Service (pg. 98)
(pg. 32) Group Supervisor Wildlife Recon.
Subsea Dispersant Coordinator (pg. 75) Manager Personnel Time
(pg. 59) Group Supervisor
Group Supervisor (pg. 92) Recorder
Check-In/ (pg. 80) Facilities Unit
(pg. 69) Fixed-Wing (pg. 109)
Status Recorder Info Tech Help (pg. 99)
Shoreside Recovery Coordinator (pg. 76)
(pg. 35) Group Supervisor Wildlife Hazing Desk Manager
(pg. 60) Flow Modeling Air Support Group Group Supervisor (pg. 93)
Volunteer Supervisor (pg. 81) Procurement Unit
Group Supervisor Medical Unit Security
Coordinator (pg. 77) Manager Leader
(pg. 70) Leader
(pg. 36) Disposal Group (pg. 100) (pg. 110)
Wildlife Care (pg. 94)
Supervisor Processing Group
(pg. 61) Salvage Group
Supervisor (pg. 82) Vessel Support
Documentation Supervisor
Unit Leader Compensation/
Unit Leader (pg. 66)
Decon Group (pg. 101) Claims Unit Leader
(pg. 38)
Supervisor (pg. 111)
(pg. 62)
Demobilization Ground Support
Unit Leader Unit Leader Property
Dispersants (pg. 102)
(pg. 40) Management Unit
Operations Group
Leader (pg. 112)
Supervisor (pg. 63)
Environmental Technical Specialists (THSP)
Unit Leader
(pg. 41) In-Situ Burn Scientific Support Coordinator......................(pg. 44)
Operations Group Sampling Specialist......................................(pg. 45)
Supervisor (pg. 64) Resources at Risk Specialist........................(pg. 46)
Volunteer Unit
Leader Trajectory Analysis Specialist.......................(pg. 47)
(pg. 37) Oil Spill Aerial Weather Forecast Specialist.........................(pg. 48)
Observer
(pg. 65) Shoreline Cleanup Assessment Specialist...(pg. 49)
Disposal (Waste Management) Specialist....(pg. 50)
Historical/Cultural Resources Specialist.......(pg. 51)

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 Initial Response Phase (continued)

Underlined items should be

Initial Response Check Lists frequently reassessed during the
Initial Response
P e rs o n d is c o v e rin g in c id e n t
q Safety first - evaluate situation, the feasibility of a safe response, and Frequently Reassess:
actions needed § Safety: Public & Responders
§ Response effectiveness
q Call for help (if necessary)
§ Needed resources
q Make needed notifications as per approved plan § Staffing
§ Equipment
q Control the source
§ Record Keeping
q Evaluate situation, actions taken, and potential need for § Costs
additional response resources § Document actions &
decisions
q Brief Initial Incident Commander § Delegation of responsibility
In itia l In c id e n t C o m m a n d e r
q Receive briefing from initial person discovering incident
q Evaluate the safety of the situation
q Identify Initial Safety Officer
q Evaluate the response situation
q Evaluate need for additional response resources
q Activate additional resources, as necessary
Typical Response Objectives:
q Set typical initial objectives: § Ensure safety of citizens and
§ Evaluate all proposed actions for safety first response personnel
§ Control the source of the spill
§ Control source and contain spill § Manage a coordinated response
§ Protect the environment (implement ACP/GRP) effort
§ Maximize protection of
§ Clean up impacted areas environmentally-sensitive areas
q Designate a Command Post - Clearly define: § Contain and recover spilled material
§ Recover and rehabilitate injured
§ Location wildlife
§ Communications methods § Remove oil from impacted areas
§ Minimize economic impacts
§ Person to maintain § Keep stakeholders informed of
§ Situation display area response activities
§ Keep public informed of response
q Document actions and decisions, using ICS-201, or other activities
forms as appropriate
q Manage the response, evaluating the need for delegation
of responsibilities
§ Suggested initial delegation of responsibility:
o Management of overall site safety
o Management of response operations (Operations)
o Equipment and personnel ordering (Logistics)
o Situation and response tracking (Planning)

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(continued) Initial Response Phase

Initial Incident Briefing

ICS-201 Form
Flow into the ICS

Initial
Notifica-
tion
Initial Response Phase
Form

Page 1 Page 2 Page 3 Page 4

201 Map Objectives Org Resource

& Actions Tracking
Incident
Briefing
= Log
Chart

201 203 219’s

Situation
Map
207

ICS 201 Page 2

Situation Unit “Objectives & Actions”
is reviewed and edited Resources Unit
by IC/UC and maintained
on ICS-201 as part of
IAP for the first OP Logistics Section - Order Tracking

ICS-201: The End, or just the End of the Beginning

The majority of spills are small enough to be handled by a few local responders without the need for setting
up an ICS organization. In these cases, the ICS-201 form can be used for recording the actions taken and the
final resolution of the incident. Used in this way, the ICS-201 form can be a convenient formatting tool for a
final incident report.
If a larger response is required, then the ICS-201 Briefing (see Meetings tab page 114) ends the Initial
Response phase and starts the first ICS planning cycle. As shown in the diagram above, the ICS-201 form
can be used to feed critical response information into the ICS organization to jump-start the various ICS
tracking and monitoring processes. After the ICS-201 Briefing, pages 1, 3 and 4 of this form become static
documents, showing a time-slice of the response at the launch of the ICS. The information from these pages
can flow into the standard ICS tracking processes as follows: the Situation Map and the Current Situation
summary shift to, and are maintained by, the Situation Unit; the Current Organization are used by the
Resources Unit to begin tracking on the ICS-203 and ICS-207 form; the Resources Summary information is
transferred to the Resources Unit and Logistics Section to begin tracking ordered and assigned resources on
the selected resources tracking system. The Initial Response Objectives and Current Actions can continue to
be updated on page 2 of the ICS-201. These pieces combined with the initial Safety, Comms and Medical
Plans, can serve as a very basic initial Incident Action Plan during the first Operational Period while the IAP
for the next Operational Period is developed.

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Planning Section Chief Planning

Primary Duty: Coordinate response planning and monitoring, including the development of the IAP, the
collection, evaluation, dissemination, and use of incident information and maintaining status of assigned and
demobilized resources
Supervises: SITL, RESL, ENVL, DOCL, DMOB, Tech. Specialist and other assigned staff

Reports To: Incident Commander and Unified Command

Tasks & Responsibilities

q Upon assignment, review responsibilities and check in at § Assign field observer(s) (FOBS)
designated check-in locations to the spill location as soon as
safely possible to begin relaying
q Receive briefing from immediate supervisor and organize, on-site spill and climatological
assign, and brief subordinates information for trajectory
q Collect, process, display, and disseminate incident information analysis. Observer(s) should also
report location of response
q Assist OSC in the development of response strategies resources if possible
§ ACPs - GRPs Protection
q Upon start-up, assign available personnel already on-site to
Strategies. Use Area
ICS organizational positions as appropriate
Contingency Plans (ACPs), and
q Ensure the accuracy of all information being produced by Geographic Response Plans
Planning Section Units with special attention to the IC/UC (GRPs) to determine location and
CIRs and their reporting requirements protection priority of potentially
impacted sensitive areas
q Establish and support information collection activities and
§ Planning Section Recorder.
reporting schedules for Planning Section Units
Keep at least one person at the
q Evaluate the need for additional Planning Section personnel section desk at all times and
and order/request as required assign that person to maintain the
Unit Log (ICS-214)
q Direct surveillance and trajectory modeling efforts to provide
§ Establish naming. Meet with the
periodic predictions and incident status updates for the IMT on
OSC, ENVL and RESL to
incident potential, oil movement, environmental resources at
establish coordinated division and
risk, weather and tides, and shoreline impacts
shoreline segment identifiers and
q Assemble and present information on alternative strategies boundaries.
§ Divisions vs Groups and
Establish information requirements and reporting schedules Branches. Remember that
for all ICS organizational elements for use in preparing the divisions are always geographic
IAP. distinctions, groups are always
q Oversee the development and incorporation into the IAP of functional, and branches may be
appropriate incident supporting plans, including the traffic, geographic, functional, or both.
vessel routing, medical, communications, site safety and other § Assist the IC/UC.
supporting plans as needed Develop drafts of ICS-202
Incident Objectives , ICS-202b
q Oversee preparation and implementation of the Incident Critical Information
Demobilization Plan Requirements, ICS-230 Daily
q Supervise the preparation and compilation of the IAP Meeting Schedule (identifying
proposed Operational Period,
q Establish and develop the Planning Cycle and meeting objectives, CIRs, and meeting
schedule and communicate to all ICS Sections. schedule) for IC/UC review and
Communicate the meeting schedule to the Situation Unit approval in the Unified
Leader so the Situation Unit Leader can complete the ICS-230 Command Objectives Meeting.
q Supervise the tracking of incident personnel and resources Objectives and CIRs developed
through the Resources Unit by the IC/UC, provide the
framework for developing
q Facilitate or attend planning meetings and briefings as incident tactics
required

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Planning Situation Unit Information Flow

Situation Unit Information

Flow

A.C.P./ 201
G.R.P. Incident
Area Contingency Plan Initial Response Phase
Briefing
and/or Geographic
Response Plan

Page 1 Page 2
Protection Sensitive Situation Objctvs
& Area Map
Graphic &
Recovery or Map Actions
Strategies
Log

232 214 201

Resources From Env. Wildlife Recovery Unit Log Initial
at Risk Unit Statistics Statistics Objectives
Summary from Env. from Ops for
Unit st
1 OP

232a 209
ACP Site Incident Response
index Situation Map/Graphic Status Resource
Summary Statistics
(includes Spill status,
response resources,
trajectory, and ACP sites) From
Resources
Response
Currents Unit
Resource
Tracking
Locations
Tides
Spill Overflight 230 207
Weather Trajectory Maps Daily Org.
& oil Meeting Chart Response
weathering Schedule Personnel
models Assgnmnts

Situation Display

Field
Observations

The Situation Unit is responsible for generating the underlined pieces of these ICS products

Incident Action Plan (IAP): Cover, 202, 203, Situation Map, 204, (204a(s)), 205, 206
(See the IAP Information Flow diagram in Meetings section)

Operations Briefing Packages: 202, 206, 204, (204a(s)), Site Map(s)

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 Meetings Command & General Staff Meeting

Purpose
§ Presents the IC/UC decisions and management direction to the Command and General Staff members
§ Clarifies and helps to ensure understanding among the core IMT members on the decisions, objectives,
priorities, procedures, and tasks discussed and agreed to by the UC

When
§ Prior to the Tactics Meeting

Facilitator
§ Planning Section Chief

Attendees
q IC/UC Members
q Command and General Staff
q Situation Unit Leader
q Documentation Unit Leader

Preparation (Responsible Person)

q Review and make copies of ICS-202, 202a, and 202b, as appropriate (Planning Section Chief)
q Review ICS-230 Meeting Schedule, make a poster-sized copy for the wall display (Situation Unit Leader)

Agenda
q PSC brings meeting to order, conducts roll call, covers ground rules and reviews agenda
q SITL conducts Situation Status Briefing
q SOFR provides safety status briefing
q IC/UC provides comments, review key decisions, priorities, constraints and limitations
q IC/UC discusses incident objectives, reviews key procedures and CIRs, and assigns or reviews functional
tasks/open actions (may use ICS-233)
q PSC facilitates open discussion to clarify priorities, objectives, assignments, issues, concerns, and open
actions/tasks
q IC/UC provides closing comments
q PSC covers next meeting and planning process assignments

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Between the Meetings Meetings

To Do Between the:

Command and General Staff Meeting & Tactics Meeting

q Check the Situation and Resource displays to verify the status of current field efforts,
recent observations, resource utilization and updated forecasts, noting any changes in
the current operations or situation that need to be reviewed and any potential impacts on
the planning for the next Operational Period
q PSC should assign staff to prepare ICS-234 Work Analysis Matrix followed by a draft
ICS-215 Operational Planning Worksheet based on already deployed or planned
operations, and confirm these with Operations
q SOFR should begin to develop the Incident Action Plan Safety Analysis ICS-215a
q Thirty minutes before the Tactics Meeting the PSC should confirm with RESL, ENVL,
and OSC that they are ready to lay out the proposed tactical deployments for the next
Operational Period based on requested forecasts and trajectories
q PSC should remind the SITL, Trajectory Specialist, and other needed staff to prepare
brief (1 to 3 minute) presentations focused on the next Operational Period
q If a delay is necessary, the PSC should determine the new time, confirm with key staff,
notify all potential participants and update the posted ICS-230 Meeting Schedule to
reflect the change(s)
q Confer with field personnel to determine the status of planned actions and any necessary
changes to operational plans which will impact planning for the next OP
q The SITL ensures that maps are updated based on recent overflights and trajectories
q The RESL, after working with the Ops staff and Logistics staff on the draft ICS-215
verifies resource availability with OSC and confirms with the LSC that all required
resources can be ordered and available and the start of the next operational period
q DOCL should verify that all personnel are tracking actions on an ICS-214a, ICS-214 or
equivalent media

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 Meetings IAP Information Flow

IAP Information Flow

Unified Environmental Situation

Command Unit Unit Resources Unit

UC 232 Sit.
Resources Map(s) & Response
Objectives at Risk Reports Resource
Meeting Summary Status

202 234 Tactics Finalize

Incident Work
215 completed
Objectives Analysis
Draft Meeting 215 by RESL, OSC,
202b Matrix 215(s) Operational and ENVL
CIRs Planning
Worksheet
Logistics reviews
resource allocation
on 215 for feasibility
Incident Action Plan Development
Planning
IAP 202 Sit. 203 Meeting
Cover Incident Map Org.
Objectives Assign.
List

Operations
204 206 Other Briefing(s)
205 Incident Medical
Assignmt Radio plans/
List Communication
Plan docs.
Plan

Site
Specific Documentation
Maps Unit
Unified Safety Officer &
IAP duplication,
Command IAP Environmental Unit
204a separation, and
approval provide site-specific or
Assignment consolidation for
task-specific input List Ops. Briefing(s)
Attachment

The IAP
The purpose of the Incident Action Plan (IAP) is to lie out the response strategy and tactics for the next
Operational Period and to give specific direction to responders. The IC/UC will generally want to
approve the planned activities at the Division/Group level indicated on the ICS-204 Assignment List
forms. Once the IAP is approved, any site-specific or task-specific maps and/or directions given on
ICS-204a forms can be added to, and any extraneous material removed from, the appropriate
Operational Briefing packets for each activity.

The IAP is a plan of actions. It is not a summary document or a status report, and should only contain
information needed by the responders to safely conduct the assigned action. The DIVS may make last
minute adjustments to tactics under their purview. Similarly, a supervisor may reallocate resources
within that Division/Group to adapt to changing conditions.

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