In the wake of the 11 September 2001 terrorist attacks in the United States, organizations involved in emergency management at the local, state and federal level were mandated to utilize the Incident Command System (ICS) to structure on‐scene response efforts. The system is currently relied upon as an organizing mechanism for response in the United States, and its widespread use outside of the United States is being advocated. Yet, there is little evidence that the system is consistently used as designed or a salve to common response problems. This paper reviews the evolution of ICS in practice and the available research on its use and effectiveness. The review makes clear that more research on the system is urgently needed.

Given the foundational and the fundamental role that the Incident Command System (ICS) is intended to play in on-scene response efforts across the United States, it is important to determine what is known about the system and how this is known. Accordingly, this study addresses the following research question: 'How has research explored the ICS?'. To probe this question, a methodological review of the scant, but widening, pool of research literature directly related to the ICS was conducted. This paper reports on the findings of the analysis related to the focus, theoretical frameworks, population and sampling, methods, results, and conclusions of the existing research literature. While undertaken using different methodological approaches, the ICS research suggests that the system may be limited in its usefulness. In addition, the paper discusses the implications of the research for the state of knowledge of the system and for the direction of future research.

No abstract

No abstract