Introduction to the Incident Command System for Schools

Training Strengths

Olivia Marques

Anastasiya Belyaeva

Michael Itzla

Cara Hamel

• Topics are discussed and then reiterated with quizzes or activities.
• Interactive activities keep you focused and put you in real-life situations
• Each lesson is broken into shorter sections, making it easier to follow
• An approximate time to complete each lesson is given, along with a progress bar
• Videos are used with closed captioning
• There are printable transcripts for each lesson
• Focused on defining acronyms and terminology

Lesson 3: ICS Features and Principles

Lesson 4: Incident Commander & Command Staff Functions

Training Weaknesses

• Every incident must have an Incident Action Plan
• Specifies the incident objectives
• States the activities to be completed
• Covers a specified time frame (operational period)
• Chain of Command/ Unity of Command
• Incident facilities
• Incident command post - Incident Commander oversees all incident operations
• Staging areas - personnel and equipment are gathered
• Base camps - primary logistics and administrative functions are coordinated and administered
• Integrated communications - radio frequency
• Personal accountability - following directions

• 5 Major management functions
• Incident command
• Sets the incident objectives, strategies, and priorities
• Operations
• Conducts operations to reach the incident objectives
• Planning
• Supports the incident action planning process
• Logistics
• Provides resources and services to achieve goals
• Finance and Administration
• Monitors costs

Lesson 2: ICS Overview

Lesson 5: General Staff Functions

• ICS is a standardized on-scene, all-hazard management approach
• Procedures are used to manage personnel, facilities, equipment, and communications
• Used during the entirety of an event
• ICS has been tested in more than 30 years of emergency applications
• ICS is used for:
• Natural disasters
• Break-ins or hostile situations
• Hazardous materials accidents
• Planned events

• Defines the terminology and structure of the general staff during an emergency situation
• Describes the functions of each group within the general staff
• The Incident Command is broken into four sections: Operations, Planning, Logistics, and Finance/Administration
• Each section is broken into smaller branches, groups and divisions

Lesson 1: Course Welcome

Lesson 6: Unified Command

• ICS: Incident Command System
• Introduction to ICS for Schools was created by the Emergency Management Institute
• Follows the National Incident Management System guidelines

• Unified command allows schools and other agencies with different responsibilities to coordinate, plan and act effectively
• Agencies with different legal, geographic and functional responsibilities are able to interact smoothly
• All act under one operations chief

Lesson 7: Putting It All Together

• Assume accountability -abide by school policies
• Mobilization and check in - must be assigned to a specific role
• Initial briefing - assessment of situation, location of work area, safety procedures
• Record keeping
• Lengthy assignments - travel kit
• Demobilization -once incident is resolved, complete all forms

• Technical issues disrupted completion of the training- submissions were not recognized
• A new window was opened each time an activity was completed - unnecessary and took tome to load
• Information was repeated between lessons
• Some activities do not check answers or give a score

Lesson 8: Course Summary

• ICS - Incident Command System
• Standardized incident management
• Overview of key features:
• Incident Action plan
• Management by Objectives
• Chain and Unity of Command
• Integrated communications
• Resource management
• Accountability

Major Principles and Procedures, and Facts

• Broken into eight lessons
• Each lesson focuses on a particular issue addressed in the Incident Command System (ICS) for schools

Overview

• Discuss course details and learning outcomes
• Describe contents of course lessons
• Give analysis of training course

Methods of Assessing Student Learning and Visual Design

Lessons Learned and Best Practices of Training

Have option of printing out final score and incorrect answers

• User-friendly and interactive
• Making both a printable and interactive version of the course is appealing
• Include closed-caption with videos and provide transcripts of the script
• Make sure to define terminology that a lay person may not know
• Include a glossary if necessary
• Check for technical bugs before making training available to the public

Intended Training Audience and Learning Outcomes

Intended Audience

Learning Outcomes

• By the end of this course, users should be able to apply the ICS principles in school-based situations
• This includes learning how to interact with emergency response units

Introduction to the Incident Command System (ICS) for Schools

• The primary audience of the ICS training course is school personnel (kindergarten through high school)
• This includes administrators, teachers, and staff members

An Emergency Management Institute Course provided by FEMA