Emergency Plan - Grand Strand Water and Sewer Authority

INCIDENT SUPPORT FUNCTION 1
DIRECTION & CONTROL
(ISF-1)
Direction & Control
PRIMARY:
SUPPORT:
AWARE:
Administration
Senior Staff (Executive Management Staff)
ALL affected departments and designated support personnel
2.1.1. INTRODUCTION
For the purposes of this ISF, Direction & Control refers to an organized and systematic
approach employed prior to and during emergency situations which assigns specific areas of
responsibilities, creates specific levels of authority, and designates very clear lines of
communication. This system GSWSA utilizes is the National Incident Management System
(NIMS) and one of the major components of this approach is the Incident Command System
(ICS).
While it generally makes sense to assign duties and responsibilities during an emergency
incident to the same person or department that handles those responsibilities day-in and dayout,
it’s important to understand this may not always be the case. Utilizing NIMS and ICS
during an emergency incident, employees may find themselves assigned to tasks they don’t
normally perform and may report to a different “supervisor” for the duration of that
emergency assignment.
To minimize confusion and maximize efficiency and effectiveness, considerable thought and
effort has been put into pre-defining and pre-assigning foreseeable emergency duties and
responsibilities. That is the primary purpose for the Incident Support Functions (ISFs)
utilized in this plan.
For a detailed explanation of NIMS and ICS, refer to WWW.FEMA.GOV/NIMS.
2.1.2. MISSION
• To develop and implement an organized and systematic approach to all emergency
management activities and operations.
• To assign specific duties and responsibilities and to create specific lines of
communication and chains-of-command for persons involved with emergency
management activities and operations.
2.1.3. CONCEPT of OPERATIONS
2.1.3.1. KEY COMPONENTS OF ICS
The ICS provides for an orderly and organized Incident MANAGEMENT System, and is
designed to be used for all kinds of emergencies. In the simplest sense, it is a system
which assigns specific areas of responsibility, creates specific levels of authority, and
designates very clear lines of communication. It is applicable to both small day-to-day
Grand Strand Water & Sewer Authority 29 CONFIDENTIAL MATERIALS
Emergency Management Plan SECURITY SENSITIVE
June 7, 2013 NOT FOR PUBLIC DISCLOSURE