C. EOC Staffing and Work Schedules 1. The Incident Commander appoints the EOC Supervisor. The Supervisor is not part of the ICS staff but is primarily responsible for the staffing and operation of the EOC. 2. The IC determines the EOC work schedules since the primary purpose of the EOC is to support incident operations.
D. Normal EOC staff positions, as needed: 1. EOC Manager (See checklist page 40) 2. Administrative Assistants 3. Telephone operators 4. Message clerks/runners
5. Data entry clerks 6. Technical support
E. EOC Organization Since the primary purpose for the EOC is to support incident operations, it must be organized in the most efficient manner possible. The following guidelines address some of the most problematic areas. 1. Security and access control a. The EOC manager, in coordination with the IC, should establish a system to ensure the security of the EOC, and to limit access to authorized persons only. Some events may involve criminal investigations and/or the handling of other sensitive information. b. Building security may be managed by locking discipline and key control, and by posting security personnel, if necessary. c. Access control becomes more complicated, especially if outside resources are involved. At a minimum there should be a reception area with a list of staff personnel. Other persons wishing to enter the EOC should be admitted by appointment only, or received and escorted by EOC or ICS staff. All persons must have a photo ID and must sign in and sign out of the EOC. 2. Internal Traffic Flow and Noise Control a. EOC operations can be chaotic at times. The thoughtful use of dividers and placement of functions can help relieve some of the chaos. For example, command staff should be as isolated as possible from the main floor. b. The message center, with its ringing telephones and constant foot traffic, should be isolated from individual workstations. The same is true for radio communications. Private rooms need to be available for conferences and interviews. 3. Communications a. The ability for the incident staff to communicate both internally and externally is absolutely critical to effective and efficient emergency operations. EOC communications should use the systems approach, rather than just considering the individual components. b. Telephone System (1) The EOC phone system should be pre-planned for the designated facility. If the larger phone system is not disabled by the event, other campus resources may be used to take some of the pressure off of the EOC system. However, minimum requirements are usually one private line telephone per workstation, and at least four incoming lines to the message center. Anything less is likely to be inadequate, especially for a large event. (2) Depending on the phone company to install additional lines into the EOC is not advised. Any changes to the EOC telephone system should be done with existing university resources. c. Computer Systems (1) Internal communications can be managed by messaging software that also stores message traffic. (2) This type of system creates a quick reference log that helps ensure that messages are sent, received and acted upon and provides a permanent record of all internal incident traffic. d. Radio Communications (1) The university has an internal radio communications system that can be used for emergency operations. The Police Department is dispatched through Kittitas County. A mobile command post (MCP) is maintained by Kittitas County Emergency Management and has public safety communications capabilities.
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