Australasian Inter-Service Incident Management System
Encyclopedia
In Australia
, the Australasian Inter-Service Incident Management System (AIIMS) is the nationally recognised system of organizational principles and structure used to manage wildfires and other large emergencies (eg. Floods, Storms and Cyclones etc) utilizing the All Agencies approach. Although AIIMS was originally an American idea that was introduced by the Australian fire authorities in the mid 1980s it has since been adopted by the various State Emergency Service
s and a number of other public safety
organisations to be the standard in Australian emergency response.
AIIMS is an application of Incident Command System
, which is claimed to be robust, scalable, and a widely applicable system for dealing with all manner of complex incidents and emergencies. It does this by having various 'sectors', 'divisions', and 'commanders' which can be expanded and contracted dependant on the size of the 'emergency'. Each area under the AIIMS structure is colour coded for ease of identification:
Furthermore following on from recent disasters and criticisms of Emergency Services (See: Black Saturday bushfires and current 'Flood Reviews') further areas have been added/promoted in light of the various 'recommendations'
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 a Incident Control Centre (ie. control room) with six people managing the incident, however the 2010–2011 Queensland floods
obviously required all functional areas to be filled by a separate individual as other people filling the other roles which come under each functional area (eg. Welfare, Catering etc) as obviously 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 List of Victorian government agencies
where they state the use of the AIIMS system promotes effective joint operations through the use of common structures and terminology when they collaborate with other agencies using AIIMS to manage public land emergencies (eg. Floods & Fires etc).
Its uses also extended to the management of the locust plague where they used AIIMS to manage the incident. Although of course as with any system it is not without its criticisms, mainly stemming from when people should delegate (ie. 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/has been overcome by the promotion of Intelligence and Public Information although obviously only time will tell and with no major disasters since early 2011 the new system remains largely untested.
Australia
Australia , officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country in the Southern Hemisphere comprising the mainland of the Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous smaller islands in the Indian and Pacific Oceans. It is the world's sixth-largest country by total area...
, the Australasian Inter-Service Incident Management System (AIIMS) is the nationally recognised system of organizational principles and structure used to manage wildfires and other large emergencies (eg. Floods, Storms and Cyclones etc) utilizing the All Agencies approach. Although AIIMS was originally an American idea that was introduced by the Australian fire authorities in the mid 1980s it has since been adopted by the various State Emergency Service
State Emergency Service
A State Emergency Service is an Australian volunteer organisation that provides emergency help during and after declared disasters. The SES is also the primary or secondary agency for emergencies, such as storm damage,flood damage, building damage, traffic hazards and road crash rescue...
s and a number of other public safety
Public Safety
Public safety involves the prevention of and protection from events that could endanger the safety of the general public from significant danger, injury/harm, or damage, such as crimes or disasters .-See also:* By nation...
organisations to be the standard in Australian emergency response.
AIIMS is an application of Incident Command System
Incident Command System
The Incident Command System is "a systematic tool used for the command, control, and coordination of emergency response" according to the United States Federal Highway Administration...
, which is claimed to be robust, scalable, and a widely applicable system for dealing with all manner of complex incidents and emergencies. It does this by having various 'sectors', 'divisions', and 'commanders' which can be expanded and contracted dependant on the size of the 'emergency'. Each area under the AIIMS structure is colour coded for ease of identification:
- Incident Controller - White
- Logistics - Blue
- Operations - Red
- Planning - Yellow
Furthermore following on from recent disasters and criticisms of Emergency Services (See: Black Saturday bushfires and current 'Flood Reviews') further areas have been added/promoted in light of the various 'recommendations'
- Intelligence
- Public Information
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 a Incident Control Centre (ie. control room) with six people managing the incident, however the 2010–2011 Queensland floods
2010–2011 Queensland floods
A series of floods hit Australia, beginning in December 2010, primarily in the state of Queensland including its capital city, Brisbane. The floods forced the evacuation of thousands of people from towns and cities. At least seventy towns and over 200,000 people were affected. Damage initially was...
obviously required all functional areas to be filled by a separate individual as other people filling the other roles which come under each functional area (eg. Welfare, Catering etc) as obviously 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 List of Victorian government agencies
DSE
-Stock exchanges:* Dar-es-Salaam Stock Exchange* Dhaka Stock Exchange, the main Stock Exchange of Dhaka, Bangladesh* Damascus Securities Exchange, the main Stock Exchange of Damascus, Syria-Other:...
where they state the use of the AIIMS system promotes effective joint operations through the use of common structures and terminology when they collaborate with other agencies using AIIMS to manage public land emergencies (eg. Floods & Fires etc).
Its uses also extended to the management of the locust plague where they used AIIMS to manage the incident. Although of course as with any system it is not without its criticisms, mainly stemming from when people should delegate (ie. 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
2010–2011 Queensland floods
A series of floods hit Australia, beginning in December 2010, primarily in the state of Queensland including its capital city, Brisbane. The floods forced the evacuation of thousands of people from towns and cities. At least seventy towns and over 200,000 people were affected. Damage initially was...
who is responsible for intelligence, inter-service communication etc which the government hopes will/has been overcome by the promotion of Intelligence and Public Information although obviously only time will tell and with no major disasters since early 2011 the new system remains largely untested.