Australasian Fire and Emergency Service Authorities Council (AFAC)

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AFAC Knowledge Web > Members area > Projects > Strategic Plan 2010-2012 > Consistent Service > AIIMS Deveopment

AIIMS Professional Development

The Need

The 2009 Victorian fires and the major floods in Northern Queensland clearly demonstrate the complexities of emergency management today. These events saw the deployment of personnel from emergency and non-emergency services, from other states, and in some cases they required international and military assistance. Investigations into these events and others continue to support the argument that there is a need for a common incident management system that is supported and strengthened by nationally-agreed professional development arrangements (e.g. training, assessment, mentoring and coaching, pre-formed Incident Management Teams), and a system for the recognition and accreditation of AIIMS personnel.

Whilst training to the AIIMS roles is occurring, the adoption of the System by many agencies since 2005 means that there are agencies that may have little or no training in place for these roles. The trend by some agencies to adopt a hybrid version of AIIMS also supports the potential for there to be variation in how personnel are trained and deemed competent to perform an AIIMS role. In most cases it would appear that the decision as to who can perform one of these AIIMS roles is dependent on informal agency-specific arrangements. Unless there is national consistency in the application of AIIMS, and personnel with the capability to operate across both jurisdictional and spatial boundaries, the consistent and effective approach to the provision of services will continue to be an issue challenging the AFAC membership.

This project will to scope what is required to develop a nationally consistent approach to the professional development and accreditation of personnel to perform AIIMS roles. The outcome of this scoping exercise will be to develop an industry-owned and agreed strategy.

Benefits and Strategic Alignment

The AFAC Strategic Plan 2010–2012 identifies under Goal 2 the requirement for a ‘Consistent and effective approach to the provision of services’. Achievement of Goal 2 requires AFAC members to employ an approach where service delivery is risk based, adaptable to all hazards and where systems and practices are interoperable.

The Operations Group is seeking a national approach to confirming the requisite skills and knowledge of their incident management personnel. Recent events continue to highlight the need to deploy resources (physical and human) across both jurisdictional and spatial boundaries. Determining personnel with the requisite incident management capability requires the establishment of arrangements (i.e. criteria) to determine who can perform these roles.

Stakeholders that will benefit from this work are:

AFAC member agencies
Incident managers
Other public safety agencies
Government and non-government agencies
Communities at risk.

They will benefit by:

The creation of a professional development framework that is developed by the industry and which provides a blueprint for developing incident managers
Alignment of the professional development framework to the AIIMS 3rd Edition, or its successor, and the work to be undertaken by the AFAC Project on operational doctrine
The sharing of knowledge and expertise acquired by AFAC members and other organisations that are in the business of developing incident managers.

Proposal

This project will produce a report with recommendations that are informed by the following questions:

What is the current approach to developing incident managers?
Are the current strategies producing proficient incident managers?
What evidence do we have these strategies are effective?
What lessons can be learned from the BCRC research and recent coronial inquests and inquiries?
What are identified gaps in professional development?
How are incident managers determined as capable to fulfil an AIIMS role?
Is this process sufficiently robust?
What can be learned from ‘like’ organisations, e.g. Defence?
What do the AFAC members mean by an accreditation system?
What do the AFAC members want in terms of ‘standardisation’?
Is there support for this concept and what would it comprise?

Those who will own and use the end product are:

AFAC members
Police jurisdictions
Ambulance
Government and non-government agencies that use AIIMS.

The project would be scheduled to commence immediately following the AFAC Council meeting in April 2010, and present the report to the Council meeting in April 2011.

The approach that will be taken will include a variety of events, but focus on interviews with senior operational personnel from all AFAC member agencies, followed by consultation at selected group meetings and a workshop. The project will also use the Executive Command Forum for consultation and a workshop if needed. It seems logical for this work to be undertaken parallel to the project on Operational Doctrine as they are interrelated.