NIMS RECOMMENDED STANDARDS
BACKGROUND
The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) created the National Incident Management System (NIMS) as required under Homeland Security Presidential Directive (HSPD)-5.  NIMS provides the framework for organizations to work together to prepare for, protect against, respond to, and recover from the entire spectrum of all-hazard events. 
To assist jurisdictions with NIMS implementation, the NIMS Integration Center (NIC) is working with the standards community (i.e., Standard Development Organizations (SDO’s), DHS Science and Technology Directorate, National Institute of Science and Technology, etc.) to facilitate, encourage, recommend, and help amend existing standards to be NIMS compliant.
The NIC reviews incident and emergency management related standards for NIMS relevance and recommends standards for adoption to the first responder community in an effort to foster implementation of NIMS. To facilitate this effort, the NIC established a multi-disciplinary Practitioner Working Group (PWG). 
NIMS RECOMMENDED STANDARDS
As a result of this practitioner-driven standards review process conducted in FY 2006, the NIC recommends that State and local governments voluntarily adopt the following standards:
The National Fire Protection Association standards:
* NFPA 1600: Standard on Disaster/Emergency Management and Business Continuity Programs.   
o This standard establishes a common set of criteria for disaster management, emergency management, and business continuity programs. This standard provides those with the responsibility for disaster and emergency management and business continuity programs the criteria to assess current programs or to develop, implement, and maintain a program to mitigate, prepare for, respond to, and recover from disasters and emergencies. This document applies to both public and private programs.
o View this standard, click the link below. Once at the page, navigate to the bottom and click “Preview this document” and follow the instructions to view the standard. http://www.nfpa.org/aboutthecodes/AboutTheCodes.asp?DocNum=1600

* NFPA 1561: Standard on Emergency Services Incident Management System. 
o This standard contains the minimum requirements for an incident management system to be used by emergency services to manage all emergency incidents.
o View this standard, click the link below. Once at the page, navigate to the bottom and click “Preview this document” and follow the instructions to view the standard.   http://www.nfpa.org/aboutthecodes/AboutTheCodes.asp?DocNum=1561


 

NOTE: The adoption of NPFA 1600 and 1561 are not Fiscal Year 2007 NIMS compliance requirements.  Further, the NIC recommendation for jurisdictions to voluntarily adopt these standards as a mechanism to assist in becoming NIMS compliant is not tied to DHS grant funds.  Rather, the elective adoption of NFPA 1600 and 1561 will provide jurisdictions a set of guidelines that, if followed, will assist jurisdictions in becoming NIMS compliant. 
Because the SDO’s regularly review and update their standards to maintain relevance, recommended standards will be reevaluated as revisions or new versions of the standards are released.  The reevaluation of updated NIMS recommended standards will occur during the next NIMS standards review cycle after being released. 
The NIC will continue to review additional programmatic, operational and technical standards as potential recommendations for use in the implementation of NIMS.  Fiscal Year 2007 efforts are currently underway to evaluate additional standards and begin to identify areas of NIMS where there are no current programmatic, technical or operational standards.  Likewise, a review is underway to determine where the existing standards do not meet the intent of NIMS.  
The following table illustrates the links between these two recommended standards and their appropriate NIMS components:

Recommended Standard
NIMS Components
Topics Covered
NFPA 1600
Preparedness
* Preparedness hazard and risk assessment.
* Hazard mitigation strategy.
* Resource management planning and objectives.
* Mutual aid planning.
* Emergency operations and control planning.
* Public awareness and communications planning.
* Financial planning.
NFPA 1561
Communications and Information Management
* Communications systems.
* Management and control of communications systems.
NFPA 1600
Communications and Information Management
* General communications systems procedures.
* Public awareness and communications.
NFPA 1600
Resource Management
* Resource management and mutual aid planning.
* Listing of additional mutual aid resources to consider.
NFPA 1600
Command and Management
* Program management.
* Advisory committee for interagency coordination.
* Program evaluation.
* Essential program elements to command and management. and
* Business continuity issues.
NFPA 1561
Command and Management
* Risk assessment and management in incident command functions.
* Incident action plans.
* Accountability.
* Emergency management and control.
* Span of control.
* Command and general staffing.
* Incident command functions.
* Multi-agency coordination.
* Multi-agency involvement and coordination.









Fact Sheet
NIMS Recommended Standards
	January 4, 2007 
                      FS: Standards 02
	NIMS Integration Center
	202-646-3850


Page 3 of 3	www.fema.gov/emergency/nims
	NIMS-Integration-Center@dhs.gov

Fact Sheet

	January 4, 2007
                      FS: Standards 02
	NIMS Integration Center
	202-646-3850


Page 1 of 3	www.fema.gov/emergency/nims
	NIMS-Integration-Center@dhs.gov