Incident Response Roles, Responsibilities, and Notification
The Awareness job, in order
Recognize the hazard, isolate the area and protect people from a distance, notify, and identify from a safe distance. Notification should be concise and complete: what happened, location, material if known, quantity, container type, injuries, wind direction, and your name with a call-back number. Do not attempt rescue, do not cross into the hot zone, and do not take command beyond your training.
Structure and roles
Responses run on an incident management system. Span of control is typically three to seven subordinates, with five as the working optimum. Typical roles include the incident commander, safety officer, hazmat group supervisor, entry team, backup team, decontamination team, research or technical specialist, and medical support. Larger or multi-jurisdictional events use unified command with fire, law enforcement, EMS, environmental, and industry representatives. Command transfers require a formal briefing, not a shout across the street.
Notification chain
A call to 911 starts the chain: dispatch, then fire, EMS, and law enforcement, then a hazmat team and the incident commander. The IC or designated liaison notifies outside parties as required - CHEMTREC for chemical product information and owner/consortium assistance, the National Response Center for CERCLA and EPCRA releases, and state and local emergency planning committees.
Traps
- Reversing the sequence: notification never comes before isolation if the scene is still dangerous to bystanders.
- Assuming Awareness personnel may direct technician-level operations or supervise entry.
- Believing the NRC dispatches a cleanup crew. It receives reports and notifies agencies; it is not a response team.
- Forgetting to report exposures, injuries, and evacuation decisions to command so they are documented.
Rule of thumb
Four words, in order: recognize, isolate, notify, identify.