HSE HUB › Question of the Day archive › 31 October 2026
CSP practice question: Incident command: establishing command at the start
Question of the Day for Saturday, 31 October 2026
CSP · Emergency Management
A warehouse's emergency plan names the EHS manager as incident commander. At 03:00 a battery charging room catches fire, and the EHS manager lives 40 minutes away. For the first half hour two shift supervisors give conflicting orders, and no one meets the arriving fire department. Under NIMS, which plan revision BEST fixes how command is established?
Explanation
NIMS says the incident commander should clearly establish command at the beginning of an incident, and that the organization with primary responsibility designates the individual at the scene responsible for establishing command and the protocol for transferring it. Naming a position that is always present on shift gives immediate command, with transfer to the EHS manager or the fire department by briefing. Command by phone leaves no one in charge at the scene, two supervisors of one organization are not a unified command, which is for multiple organizations with authority, and the employer's own command is what meets the arriving fire department. Source: FEMA, National Incident Management System, Third Edition (October 2017), Establishment and Transfer of Command; Chain of Command and Unity of Command.Practise more questions like this
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