WHAT IS NIMS

The National Incident Management System was created following September 11, 2001 attacks to establish a common structure for managing incidents across the United States. NIMS established a single, comprehensive approach to domestic incident management to ensure that all levels of government across the nation have the capability to work efficiently and effectively together using a national approach to domestic incident management. NIMS provides a consistent nationwide approach for federal, state and local governments to work together to prepare for, respond to and recover from domestic incidents, regardless of the cause, size or complexity, and provides for interoperability and compatibility among federal, state, and local capabilities and includes a core set of concepts, principles, terminology and technologies covering the Incident Command System, Unified Command, training, management of resources and reporting.

WHAT IS NIMS COMPLIANCE

Federal Homeland Security Presidential Directive (HSPD) 5 established the National Incident Management System (NIMS). The Presidential Directive requires that all Federal departments and agencies shall make adoption of the NIMS a requirement for providing federal preparedness assistance through grants, contracts or other activities to local governments.  Grand Valley State University adopted the NIMS structure and formalized it into its Comprehensive Emergency Management Plan (CEMP) as its system of preparing for and responding to critical incidents. Adopting NIMS requires GVSU personnel who routinely respond to campus emergencies or those who directly or indirectly make incident management decisions, be trained in NIMS concepts.

GVSU TRAINING PLAN

The training plan is outlined in GVSU's Comprehensive Emergency Management Plan (CEMP). The plan outlines campus personnel who must receive NIMS training according to their appropriate response level. The CEMP highlights the specific level of training that each identified GVSU campus representative is required to achieve. 

Training levels were determined by comparing GVSU Emergency Operations Center (EOC) positions to comparable positions in a standard local government structures in order to determine NIMS training levels. The most appropriate level of training was then applied to the GVSU position based on the level of responsibility and management assignment for that position during an emergency or disaster.

WHO IS REQUIRED TO TAKE NIMS TRAINING?

All GVSU staff at the entry level (including entry-level first responders), first-line supervisor level, middle management level, and command and general staff level of the GVSU Emergency Operations Center (EOC) must complete various trainings as further detailed below.

COURSE SUMMARIES

IS-100.c Introduction to Incident Command System (ICS)

This course introduces the Incident Command System (ICS) and provides the foundation for higher level ICS training. This course describes the history, features and principles, and organizational structure of the Incident Command System. It also explains the relationship between ICS and the National Incident Management System (NIMS).

IS-700.b NIMS, An Introduction to National Incident Management System

This course introduces and overviews the National Incident Management System (NIMS). NIMS provides a consistent nationwide template to enable all government, private-sector, and nongovernmental organizations to work together during domestic incident

RECORDKEEPING

The GVPD Emergency Manager will maintain all training records, via a web-based database, as well as hard copies of certificates indicating completion of required NIMS training courses for GVSU personnel. It is the responsibility of each employee to forward a copy of their training certificate(s) to the GVPD Emergency Manager. Certificates may be e-mailed to William O'Donnell   [email protected], sent via campus mail to William O'Donnell, Public Safety, Service Bldg or delivered in person to GVPD located in the Service Building.

WHERE DO I GET THE TRAINING

The basic four NIMS classes are available online form the Emergency Management Institute:

• ICS 100, Introduction to the Incident Command System
• ICS 200, Basic Incident Command System
• IS-700, Introduction to the National Incident Management System
• IS-800, National Response Framework