Australasian Inter-Service Incident Management System

In Australia, the Australasian Inter-Service Incident Management System (AIIMS) is the nationally recognised system of incident management for the nation's fire and emergency service agencies. organizational principles and structure used to manage bushfires and other large emergencies (e.g. floods, storms, cyclones etc.) utilizing the all agencies approach. AIIMS was first developed in the 1980s as a derivative of the United States’ NIIMS, and is based on the principles of management by objectives, functional management and span of control. AIIMS is a trademark of AFAC and the material in the AIIMS manual and training materials is copyright of AFAC.

AIIMS is based on three key principles:

To ensure all incident personnel are working towards one set of objectives, the Incident Controller, in consultation with the Incident Management Team, determines the desired outcomes of the incident. These are communicated to all involved. At any point in time, an incident can have only one set of objectives and one Incident Action Plan for achieving objectives.

The control system of AIIMS is based on a structure of delegation with five functional areas: Control, Planning, Public Information, Operations and Logistics. This guarantees that all vital management and information functions are performed.

For every incident, an Incident Controller is appointed who is ultimately responsible and accountable for all of the five functions. Depending on the size and complexity of an incident, the Incident Controller may elect to delegate one or more of the functions of planning, public information, operations and logistics.

Functional management dictates that there can only be one Incident Controller managing an incident at any one time. Delegation of the functions results in an Incident Management Team of up to five people and enables span of control to be maintained.

The Public Information Unit was added the AIIMS 3rd edition (2011) as a result of recommendations from the 2009 Black Saturday Bushfires Royal Commission.

Span of control is a concept that relates to the number of groups or individuals that can be successfully supervised by one person. During emergency incidents, the environment in which supervision is required can rapidly change and become dangerous if not managed effectively. Up to five reporting groups or individuals is considered to be desirable, as this maintains a supervisor’s ability to effectively task, monitor and evaluate performance.

Where span of control is exceeded, the supervising officer should consider delegating responsibility to others. Conversely, where the span of control is lower or the tasks are fewer (for example in a de-escalating incident), the supervisor may reassume responsibility or reorganise delegation to contract the structure to fit the tasks required.

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