Coordinated Incident Management System

The New Zealand Co-ordinated Incident Management System (CIMS) is New Zealand's system for managing the response to an incident involving multiple responding agencies. Its developers based the system on California's Incident Command System (ICS) - developed in the 1970s - and on other countries' adaptations of ICS, such as Australia's Australasian Inter-Service Incident Management System (AIIMS).

As a generic framework, CIMS can be adapted for each situation that arises. For example, while there are four management functions, the incident itself determines the size of the incident management team. In an isolated incident, a single officer may perform all of functions; in a very complex incident each function could be sub-divided. Instead, CIMS emphasises consistent terminology, a single multi-agency Incident Control Point for each site or, where possible, wider incident, and planning tools across all agencies. For example, the term "Assembly Area" means the same thing in every incident - although there may well be several Assembly Areas in more complex incidents. Likewise, all trained responders know the roles and responsibilities of the Logistics Manager.

CIMS was initially designed in the late 1990s to be applied to all levels of emergency response management, similar to the USA National Incident Management System (NIMS) and to the UK's Gold Silver Bronze command system, however the original CIMS manual clearly articulated only the incident/site level of response co-ordination.

CIMS was fully reviewed in 2014 subsequent to the 2010-2011 Canterbury earthquakes, the 2010 Pike River Mine disaster , and the 2011 MV Rena grounding. The revised 2014 manual incorporates higher levels of incident and emergency-response co-ordination, consistent with the arrangements and responsibilities outlined in the National Civil Defence Emergency Management Plan (the National CDEM Plan). In some senses, the National CDEM Plan resembles the United States Department of Homeland Security's National Response Framework.

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