Incident Response and Emergency Operations Flashcards

What is the MOST critical element of an effective incident response team structure?

Answer: Clear roles, responsibilities, and decision-making authority established and trained before an incident occurs

Clear, pre-established roles, responsibilities, and decision-making authority—trained before incidents occur—are the most critical structural element, enabling rapid, coordinated response without confusion about who does what or who can authorize which actions.

In emergency operations, what does 'unified command' mean in the Incident Command System?

Answer: A structure where multiple agencies or jurisdictions with authority over an incident share command responsibility through a collaborative decision-making process

Unified command is an ICS structure for incidents where multiple agencies or jurisdictions have authority—they share command responsibility while maintaining their individual agency authority, enabling coordinated response without one agency subordinating to another.

What is the purpose of a 'decision log' during incident response, separate from the general incident log?

Answer: To capture who made significant decisions, the information available at the time, the options considered, and the rationale for the chosen course of action

A decision log captures the key decision points, decision-makers, available information, options considered, and rationale for each significant choice—providing a defensible record of decision-making quality and enabling honest after-action analysis.

When should an organization activate its Crisis Management Team (CMT) versus its local Incident Response Team (IRT)?

Answer: The IRT manages operational-level response; the CMT is activated when incidents threaten strategic business objectives, executive decision-making, or cross-organizational coordination

Local IRTs manage operational incident response within their scope. The CMT is activated for incidents that escalate to strategic significance—threatening major business objectives, requiring executive decisions, necessitating cross-organizational coordination, or creating significant external stakeholder impact.

What is an 'after-action review (AAR)' in emergency operations and what should it accomplish?

Answer: A structured, objective review of the incident response—what was planned, what happened, why differences occurred, and what improvements should be made

An AAR is a structured post-incident review that objectively compares planned response against actual performance, identifies root causes of successes and failures, and produces prioritized improvement recommendations to prevent recurrence and enhance future response.

What is the 'Golden Hour' principle in emergency response?

Answer: The critical first hour after an incident when initial response actions disproportionately determine the ultimate outcome

The 'Golden Hour' principle holds that actions taken in the first hour after an incident—notification, initial containment, EOC activation, resource mobilization—disproportionately determine whether the incident escalates or is controlled, making rapid initial response critical.