This summer, EMSI will be working with the City of Boston Office of Emergency Management (OEM) to develop citywide Joint Information Center (JIC) and Joint Information System (JIS) plans, policies, and procedures.
OEM’s goal is to have all Boston Public Information Officers from across the city government available to staff and manage a JIC. In support of this goal, EMSI will provide public information and joint information subject matter experts to assist in developing a flexible and adaptable plan that can be incorporated into the existing Boston Emergency Public Information Annex.
In conjunction with the JIC serving as the Public Information focal point for gathering, verifying, coordinating, and disseminating timely information, the plan will be used to organize, integrate, and coordinate information and public information actions to ensure timely, accurate, accessible, and consistent messaging concerning Boston’s incident preparedness, response, and recovery. The plan will include policies, protocols, procedures, and structures to provide information to various stakeholders, including:
- Disaster Victims and General Public
- Media
- Elected Officials and Community Leaders
- Private Sector and Non-Governmental Organizations (NGOs)
The plan will also account for a central location to establish a JIC to facilitate effective coordination and management of the JIS. This will include flexible and adaptable Standard Operating Procedures (SOPs) for JIC management that address various types of JIC models, including not only a single JIC but virtual or multiple JICs. Emphasis will be placed on establishing a JIC organizational structure with clearly defined roles and responsibilities of various JIC functions and positions. Additionally, various checklists, templates, and tools to aid in operating a JIC will be established.
EMSI is excited to support Boston OEM with this project. The JIS is a critical component of the National Incident Management System (NIMS) and together with the Incident Command System (ICS) and Multiagency Coordination System (MACS), constitutes NIMS Command and Management. With evolving technology, the use of social media, and public interest in emergency response, public information and the JIS have never been more important for successful emergency management and incident response.
In addition to this project with Boston, EMSI has recently released some new and updated tools related to Public and Joint Information including: