Electronic ICS Forms

To prevent confusion and ensure clear communication during emergency response, people responding to oil spills or hazardous chemical accidents (as well as other kinds of emergencies) use the Incident Command System (ICS). (See the link below for more information about the ICS.) Under this system, the roles of different people working on the response, their lines of command, and the tasks each must complete are carefully specified. Another important aspect of the ICS system is that people working on specific response tasks complete standard ICS Forms. For example, early in a response, the people responsible for planning the response complete a Response Objectives Form. Responders then can refer to this form whenever they need to review the objectives of the response.

You can download electronic versions of the ICS forms to use on a Macintosh or Windows PC. You can choose either (1) a database containing the ICS forms, or (2) a set of all the ICS forms in PDF format. You can use either version to complete ICS forms and then print them out from your computer. The latest versions were posted on June 26, 2007.

Note: The electronic ICS Forms do not run on Macintosh computers with Intel microprocessors. The development team is researching this problem and hopes to identify a solution.

About the Electronic ICS Forms

The California Standard Oil Spill Response Management System (STORMS) Task Force has developed guidance and forms for implementing a National Interagency Incident Management System Incident Command System (ICS) for oil spills. They published their guidance document as the STORMS Field Operations Guide.

The ICS Forms Database is an electronic catalog containing the ICS forms included in the Field Operations Guide. We also have created a set of the same ICS forms in PDF format. Versions for both Macintosh computers and Microsoft Windows are available. The electronic ICS Forms can be distributed freely.

The electronic ICS forms were developed by the Office of Response and Restoration (OR&R), National Ocean Service, NOAA. We cannot provide any support for them, and NOAA cannot warrant accuracy or completeness. We appreciate your suggestions for changes or reports on program bugs. To make comments or to report bugs, email our Spill Tools Specialist (link at page bottom).

Version History

We've made the following changes to the ICS Forms:

• June 2007: The database versions of the ICS Forms were updated to correct a printing problem in the older version.
• April 2007: The database versions of the ICS Forms were moved from FileMaker 6 to FileMaker 8 databases. The PDF versions were not changed.
• December 2003: We posted new versions of the ICS Forms Database and the PDF set (Windows and Mac). In the database version, we pre-loaded into ICS202 the common Unified Command objectives listed in the 2000 version of the Field Operations Guide; we added ICS215A, which is used by the Safety Officer to identify and mitigate safety issues associated with divisions listed in the ICS215 form; and we updated the Navigate file to allow users to navigate to the ICS215A form. In the PDF version, we updated ICS202 and added the new ICS215A form.
  
• April 2003: We posted a new version of the ICS Forms Database (Windows) to correct a problem that was occurring with certain combinations of Windows and sound cards.
  
• November 2002: We posted new versions of the ICS Forms Database (Windows and Mac), after correcting problems with the 207 and 209 forms. Both forms required additional data fields to be added.
  
• March 2001: We posted new versions of the ICS Forms Database (Windows and Mac), after correcting a Windows printing problem with the 201 form and a malfunction with the Operational Period in the 217 form.
  
• June 2000: We now offer the electronic ICS forms in two formats: a database, much like the previous version, and a set of all the ICS forms in PDF format.
  

For more information

Incident Command System (ICS) To access this U.S. Coast Guard page, click the Library tab at the top of the page, then click "Incident Command System ICS" in the left column. [leaves OR&R site]

Coast Guard ICS Forms Learn about some of the different versions of the ICS forms.

Spill Tools Specialist Contact us with problems or suggestions.

Other Pages in this Series

Downloading, Installing, and Using the ICS Forms Instructions for downloading, installing, and using the Windows or Macintosh versions of the ICS forms (database or PDF set).