COURSE OVERVIEW

This practical and highly-interactive course includes real-life case studies and exercises where participants will be engaged in a series of interactive small groups and class workshops. 

 

This course is designed to provide participants with a detailed and up-to-date overview of Rail Incident Commander. It covers the core principles and structure of rail incident command system (ICS); the ICS terminology and definitions and integration with national incident management system (NIMS); the rail incident commander duties, command staff roles, general staff functions and span of control and delegation; the rail operations and hazardous materials in rail transport and legal and regulatory framework; establishing communication plans and inter-agency coordination mechanisms; and using communication tools and technology and maintaining situational awareness. 

 

Further, the course will also discuss the initial scene assessment techniques, immediate hazards identification, resource needs determination and establishing incident objectives; the rail incident action plan (IAP) and resource typing and categorization; the mobilization and demobilization procedures; tracking and accountability systems and mutual aid agreements and coordination; conducting safety briefings, identifying and mitigating risks and personal protective equipment (PPE) protocols; and the emergency medical considerations. 

 

During this interactive course, participants will learn the public information strategies, media interactions, press releases and statements and social media engagement during incidents; the rail emergency operations center (EOC) integration; the information flow and decision-making processes and EOC activation and deactivation criteria; the multi-agency responses, handling large-scale incidents, unified command structures and resource allocation in complex scenarios; the demobilization plans, restoring services and infrastructure and post-incident evaluations and reporting; the continuous improvement processes and maintaining readiness and proficiency; and the rail’s organizational culture, incorporating cultural sensitivities into incident management, leadership styles and building resilient teams.