With a mix of government clients preparing for all-hazards incident management and private sector clients preparing for oil spill response on a worldwide basis, EMSI often gets questions about the relationship between the International Petroleum Industry Environmental Conservation Association (IPIECA) tiered response concept and National Incident Management System (NIMS) Incident Command System (ICS) incident complexity typing. This article intends to distill the concepts of each and compare the two for responders. In short, both are tools to measure and communicate the complexity of an incident. TiersTiers are commonly used by members of the oil industry to describe the size and scope of an oil spill response. The oil spill response industry’s Tiered Response Concept was first developed by the IPIECA in the 1980’s, before the oil spill response community implemented ICS, as a means to ensure that appropriate capabilities were available to respond and manage oil spills. The tiered approach to oil spill planning and preparedness, similar to NIMS ICS incident typing, is used by organizations worldwide in developing oil spill response strategies, response team structures, and training and exercise programs. Tiers can also used to describe the complexity of an exercise scenario. The use of Tiers provides a standard structure from which oil response capabilities can be identified to mitigate any potential spill scenario. There are three components that collectively define the response capability:
This three-tiered structure enables emergency management planners to describe what an effective response to any oil spill, regardless of size or complexity, on land or at sea, would look like. In addition, response resources required are dictated by numerous factors, to include location, oil type, season, and volume. It is the overall impact of the spill, not the quantity of product alone, which dictates the types and amounts of resources required and the duration of cleanup operations. The original concept looked like the graphic to the right.
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