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What
takes place in the initial UC meeting?
Open and early discussion among
members of the UC is critical to ensuring effective implementation
of the NRS and use of the ICS/UC when an incident occurs
and plans need to be implemented. The establishment of
a UC must begin with an initial meeting of the incident
commanders and their staffs from each of the involved
jurisdictions. During this meeting which should be brief
the incident commanders must come to consensus on priorities,
a collective set of incident objectives, an overall strategy,
and selection of a UC spokesperson before they can effectively
work together to carry out the response.
The initial meeting also will provide an opportunity for
the incident commanders to establish a Joint Information
Center (JIC), as needed.
In addition, if not established in pre-planning activities,
the incident commanders must use the initial meeting as
an opportunity to determine the appropriate roles and
responsibilities of all representatives involved in the
ICS (such as local and state governments, and the RP).
This conversation will help establish the membership of
the UC.
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| Effective
planning can facilitate assembly and conduct of the initial
UC meeting. The responsibilities discussed above should
be preplanned to the greatest extent possible. Although
an initial meeting is critical for ensuring the effective
integration of all responders into the ICS/UC, the steps
involved in the UC meeting (as identified below) may have
to be revisited periodically as information on the incident
or the demands of the incident change. These meetings
will provide a private opportunity for the incident commanders
to speak openly and honestly about their priorities, considerations,
and concerns. However, once participants in the UC leave
this meeting, they must speak with one voice. |
| Step
1 – Set Priorities and Objectives |
 For
the UC to work, each participant must be committed to
working together to solve a common problem. Each responding
agency will have individual objectives to carry out. In
addition, the primary objectives of each responding agency
are established under the NCP as "national response
priorities," which state:
- Preserve the safety of human life;
- Stabilize the situation to prevent the event from
worsening;
- Use all necessary containment and removal tactics
in a coordinated manner to ensure a timely, effective
response that minimizes adverse impacts to the environment;
and
- Address all three of these priorities concurrently.
However, each responding entity
will likely have other significant priorities requiring
consideration, which might include the following factors:
- Maintaining business survival;
- Minimizing response costs;
- Maintaining or improving public image;
- Minimizing economic or tourism impacts;
- Minimizing environmental impacts;
- Evaluating prospects of criminal prosecution; and
- Meeting certain reasonable stakeholder expectations.
Understanding all the issues facing
the UC participants is important in any negotiation. Because
consensus must be reached for the UC to be effective,
it is critical that the UC engage in coordination whenever
necessary. If consensus cannot be reached, the RRT can
be used as a forum for achieving consensus. The incident-specific
RRT provides a mechanism for the OSC to seek assistance
and conflict resolution from the leadership of his or
her own agency, other federal agencies, and local and
state governments. To do this, the RRT can convene either
by telephone or in person.
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| Step
2 – Present Considerations |
 At
the onset of the initial meeting, UC members have an obligation
to raise and discuss honestly what each response organization
can provide in terms of authorities, equipment, skills,
and experience, including their response capabilities.
All incident commanders must be free to speak openly with
the other members of the UC about their constraints or
limitations, whether practical or political in nature,
because these constraints may have an impact on how the
UC’s objectives can best be achieved.
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| Step
3 – Develop a Collective Set of Incident
Objectives |
 The
planning process for the UC is similar to that used for
a single jurisdiction or agency incident. However, because
each agency will bring its own set of objectives and considerations
to the response, the UC must decide upon a collective
set of incident-specific objectives to identify what the
UC as a whole needs to accomplish before an overall response
strategy can be developed. To be effective, these objectives
should be specific, measurable, assignable, reasonable,
and time-related. The UC must come to consensus on a set
of general objectives that can then be documented to provide
focus for the response organization. This process includes
establishing and agreeing upon acceptable priorities.
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| Step
4 – Adopt an Overall Strategy |
 Strategy
is the development of policies and plans to achieve the
objectives for a response. If the UC knows exactly how
to accomplish an objective, it should specify the strategy.
Because there are frequently multiple strategies that
would accomplish the same objective, the UC staff will
often ask the Planning Section to recommend strategies
for later UC approval. This allows for better input and
discussion from the responders, and also reduces meeting
time for the incident commanders.
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| Step
5 – Select a UC Spokesperson |
 Frequently,
the UC will establish a JIC and designate a single spokesperson.
The spokesperson is typically a member of the UC, and
serves as a point of contact and a single voice of the
members of the incident management team at external and
internal briefings. The spokesperson may change during
the course of an incident as the situation develops. For
example, a different agency may designate a spokesperson
if it has more expertise in a particular area at a certain
time. In addition, different departments within the same
agency could designate a spokesperson at different times
during the same incident, as appropriate.
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