EMSI continues to provide emergency management performance support to responders through the development of Incident Command System (ICS) courses and job aids. We are proud to offer our updated Public Information Officer (PIO) job aid and Public Information Officer course at this time. The job aid and course were recently updated, in consultation with government and industry subject matter experts, to help define what roles and responsibilities were most required by this critical position based upon their experiences in real world response operations.

In today’s fast paced twenty-four hour news cycle and social media environment, the assignment of a Public Information Officer (PIO) can be critical to a response’s communications efforts. Any communications void will be quickly filled with worst case speculations to the determent of incident response, so it’s vital to get ahead of the news cycles to drive the message before someone else does. Being proactive in telling the incident’s story and the command’s actions is essential to any successful response. Some of the most common lessons learned in almost any after action report is that communications needed improvement, whether internally or externally.

Our updated course covers a myriad of relevant topics for the PIO, to include:

• Review of ICS use and the roles and responsibilities during the initial response stage
• Use of APIOs for effective incident or event management
• Roles and responsibilities of the PIOs and their assistants
• Role of the PIO and APIOs in supporting a Unified Command
• Information exchanges between the PIO, APIOs, JIC staff and other IMT members
• Staffing the Public Information organization
• Considerations for determining potentially involved agencies, media, and social media stakeholders
• Integration of other agency/company public information professionals into the organization
• Development of a comprehensive Media Plan
• Development of agendas for media briefings, VIP tours, and an open houses

While our updated PIO course drives students into the useful checklists and references in the job aid, it also teaches prospective ICS PIOs how to think critically as a PIO and adapt to changing situations. The PIO course is an instructor-led training that supports learning through discussion, lecture, and active participation in multiple exercises that provides a realistic, hands-on approach to mastering the skills required of a PIO.

Feel free to contact us regarding our exciting new products. You can order the PIO job aid or any one of our other ICS job aids exclusively at IMTGear.com. We look forward to seeing you at one of our upcoming course offerings, as well as continuing to evolve our products to meet your needs!