Incident Action Plan (IAP) & Section Action Plan (SAP)
Examples
In the event of a measles outbreak, the chief health official might appoint an individual from the disease control division to serve as the Agency Incident Commander (AIC). The AIC would decide which Command Staff positions and sections of the ICS would be needed. Once all of the Command Staff and Section Chiefs are appointed, these staff would meet and agree upon an Incident Action Plan (IAP). Theoretically, the main goal for the DOH may be to prevent a measles epidemic. Objectives to achieve this goal may be surveillance to identify new cases and case investigation to identify unvaccinated children. The goal and objectives constitute the IAP. Then, each of the sections develops an SAP. The SAP for the Operations Section may be to complete contact investigation and immunization histories for all children of the day care center, while the Finance/Administration Section may track personnel hours and overtime used for all activities.
In a weather event, the IAP may be evacuation of the population for the community. In this scenario, each agency would have a key responsibility that would support the evacuation of the community. While public health may focus on safe relocation of hospital and nursing home patients, the department of transportation may focus on mass transit and traffic control, while the utility company may focus on providing utility service to shelters. Each agency’s work may be different, but it is directed towards achieving a common goal.
There may be two levels of IAPs: Interagency and DOH-specific. When multiple agencies respond to an event, they work together to develop an overall inter-agency IAP for the incident. Each agency in turn develops its own agency-specific IAP that sets the goals and objectives for its response activities. It is important to keep in mind that for some public health events, the DOH is the sole responder to the event and only has to develop an IAP for its own response. An IAP is made for a defined period of time, which depends upon the nature and volatility of the incident. For some incidents, the IAP may be for a 4-hour period, while for others it may be for a 12- or 24-hour period (this is referred to as the operational period). After the DOH establishes the goals of its IAP, each of the sections that have been activated will establish a Section Action Plan (SAP). This is a specific plan for the section which identifies what needs to be achieved and how it will be accomplished. The SAP always supports the mission of the DOH’s IAP, (and if the DOH is involved in an inter-agency response, then the DOH IAP always supports the overall goal of the inter-agency IAP.) Use of IAPs and SAPs puts all responders on the intra-agency as well as inter-agency levels on the same page, with all working towards the same objective.