No Ordinary Moments–Improving the Response to Disasters by Enhancing the Incident Command System

Introduction: Disasters have adversely affected human life since the beginning of our existence. In response, societies have attempted to improve disaster response & reduce the consequences of disasters by developing standardized organizational arrangements, often known as Incident Command Systems (ICS). These ICS response systems have a military heritage in hierarchical organizational command & control (C2) that is authoritative by nature and fits well with bureaucratic organization. While emergency service agencies have embraced ICS, other agencies often involved in community-level disaster response, such as public health, non-government organizations and community groups, have not. Although ICS have become the backbone of disaster management (DM) policy in Australia and overseas, worldwide debate over the effectiveness of ICS continues. Therefore, this study investigated ICS systems used worldwide to aid in the development of an improved conceptual framework for managing the response to modern-day disasters, for all agencies, at all levels and across all hazard types. Method: Phase one involved a review and critical analysis of the literature. Phase two used inductive research methods to gain a better understanding of the barriers & facilitators of ICS to the multi-agency disaster response. Two studies were conducted in this phase: Study one used semi-structured interviews with key informants involved in the 2018 Central Queensland Bushfire & 2019 North & Far North Queensland Monsoon Trough Flood & Study two participants from any disaster. Phase three undertook a policy analysis of recent disaster reviews and inquiries. This was triangulated with previous findings and presented to an expert panel by way of a 2-round modified Delphi. Results: The most significant outcome of this research was the improved understanding of the strengths and weaknesses of ICS within the context of multi-agency engagement in disaster management. Conclusion: Development of conceptual framework based on modifications to the ICS principles and includes other phases of the DM continuum with psychological aspects taken into consideration.