Improving the response to disasters by enhancing the incident command system

Abstract

Climate change is having a significant effect on disasters worldwide. In response, societies have attempted to mitigate the consequences by developing standardised arrangements, known as incident command systems. Many of these systems have a military heritage using hierarchical command-and-control principles that are authoritative by nature and fit well within bureaucratic organisations. While emergency services agencies have embraced these incident command systems, other agencies have not, thereby making the multi-agency response to disasters challenging. This research investigated current incident command systems to develop an improved framework that includes all agencies and improves the multi-agency response to emergencies and disasters. A multi-modal qualitative research approach was undertaken using a literature review, semi-structured interviews with informants and a policy analysis of recent disaster reviews and inquires. This combined data informed the development of 4 options for improvements to the multi-agency response and consolidated the issues into 5 domains. These domains and options for improvement were presented to a panel of experts at the strategic level of emergency and disaster management by way of a 2-round modified Delphi study. This paper reports on the final phase of the research; the policy analysis and modified Delphi study. The most significant outcome of this research was a new level of understanding of strengths and weakness of the incident command system. This contributed to the development of a new conceptual framework based on modifications to the incident command system principles.