URS Report - Incident Management Study
4. Review of Incident Management Experiences in the USA
4.1 Introduction
At this point, it is worth describing the incident management experiences in the United States of America. A review of 'Best Practice' is identified as one of the key study objectives and it is clear that in terms of demonstrating an understanding of the issues raised in the workshops the US experience comes closest.
4.2 The case for more formal IM procedures
The case for incident management in the US has for some time been presented by a variety of State authorities. There is some form of incident management activity in most areas which typically involves each agency carrying out its own responsibilities, with primarily working-level and middle management administrative teams to provide co-ordination with the other agencies who are involved in their own aspects of managing incidents. Such a situation may however achieve less than the full potential benefit, and also leave open risks for failure within individual agencies and on a broad scale.
The IM (Incident Management) programme therefore seeks to promote the development of a framework for more formal multiagency traffic incident management programmes, with endorsement by, participation from, and co-ordination by senior management which includes all of the participating agencies. The formalising of IM procedures therefore involves a transition from reliance on co-operative relationships existing between responders and between middle management of agencies to an official recognition and endorsement of incident management as a core activity at a senior level. IM is then recognised as an overall initiative and purpose within and across agencies, significantly increasing the likelihood that its influence will be recognised when policies and other programmes, which may impact upon it, are discussed. When IM reaches programme status it becomes an integral part of the planning process within each agency, including planning of Information technology needs, or defining the types of vehicles required on patrol.
Similarly, such focus demonstrates a long-term commitment to incident management. Formalisation moves IM from "special programme" status, subject to budget availability of resources from outside to the mainstream where its existence is not questioned at each budget and staffing cycle. It has a clearly defined strategy, linked to the regional and state-wide strategies guiding such major areas as law enforcement and transportation. The strategy sets the direction for IM, supporting the policy and resource, which increase its impact and effectiveness.
This programme then also becomes a component in the budget process of each participating agency to obtain resources to implement and sustain the programme. This executive endorsement, as well as the infiltration of IM into every major aspect of each agency, provides a foundation that sustains IM from year to year across personnel changes and even political changes. Furthermore, it creates conditions where agencies support one another's requests for the resources necessary to carry out their respective incident management duties and for resources to expand programme scope and coverage.
The primary goals of incident management are to minimise the impact of incidents and reduce the probability of secondary incidents. Six measurable objectives of IM are:
- Reduce the time for incident detection and verification.
- Reduce response time (the time for response personnel and equipment to arrive at the scene).
- Exercising proper and safe on-scene management of personnel and equipment, while keeping as many lanes open to traffic as possible.
- Enable expeditious investigation and evidence collection.
- Reducing clearance time (the time required for the incident to be removed from the roadway).
- Providing timely, accurate information to the public that enables them to make informed choices.
The steps for implementing and sustaining a regional IM programme involve:
Phase 1 - Programme Concept
- Describe the current state of incident management efforts
- Describe and justify formalising IM
- Identify stakeholders involved
- Develop programme goals and objectives
- Identify institutional and jurisdictional challenges.
Phase 2 - Programme development
- Obtain buy-in from stakeholders
- Develop performance measures for objectives
- Develop IM programme strategy and plan.
Phase 3 - Programme Maintenance and sustainability
- Solidify relationships with stakeholders
- Evaluate performance against every objective
- Modify strategy and plan based on evaluation
- Leverage public support.
These stages are identified in Figure 4.
Figure 4: A Framework for Organising and Sustaining Incident Management Programmes
The organisations typically involved in IM are:
- Transportation agencies
- Law enforcement agencies
- Fire and rescue services (including emergency medical services)
- Hazardous materials (HAZMAT) cleanup services
- Towing and recovery companies
- Public and private traveller information providers
- Other public and private entities on an as-needed basis.
Results of effective IM
The following performance data has not been verified and the data underpinning such estimated savings has not been checked.
- On the Gowanus/Prospect Expressway in Brooklyn, NY, the average time to clear up all types of incidents was reduced 66 % from 1½ hours to 31 minutes.
- Philadelphia's Traffic and Incident Management System (TIMS) has decreased freeway incidents by 40% and reduced freeway closure time by 55 %.
- San Antonoio's TransGuide management programme reduced crashes by 35% and secondary crashes by 30% on its urban freeways.
- Maryland reports a benefit/cost ratio of 5.6:1 for its Chesapeake Highway Advisories Routing Traffic management programme with a saving of 2 million vehicle hours of delay per year from incident-related congestion.
- In Atlanta, the maximum time from incident verification to lane clearance was cut from 6 ¼ hours to 1 ½ hours in an estimated decrease of 2 million veh-hours of delay per year.
Safety benefits are clearly of equal importance but were not quantified. Benefits would accrue through lower exposure to risk and shorter periods of exposure for incident responders and victims, and fewer injuries to motorists resulting from the reduced number and severity of secondary incidents.
4.3 Lessons Learnt
The diagram in Figure 5 below is often used to describe the congestion costs/benefits associated with incident clearance. Accident benefits in terms of reduced exposure to risk are less well quantified.
The US examples point to the phased activity of incident management as defined previously i.e. detection, verification, response, site management, traffic management, clearance and recovery.
Figure 5: Illustration of Congestion Benefits / Costs
Some of the lessons learnt according to the different organisations are described below:
- Transportation Agencies
- Traffic operations centres can function as information management centres in support of multi-agency operations.
- Because route diversion has been proven to be an effective incident management tool, state and local transportation agencies should develop a combined strategy and implementation plan for co-ordinated arterial signal control during incidents.
- Using changeable message signs to provide additional incident information to motorists, such as estimated travel times, improves the value of the information and motorist compliance.
- Law Enforcement
- Law enforcement and traffic management centre personnel must be co-ordinated, not simply collocated. In some places, patrol officers are rotated to work in the TMC (Transportation Management Centre) and to experience the technology firsthand. This means that they are more likely to radio the TMC for more detailed information on the location and severity of the incident.
- Law enforcement resources will be available to respond to more urgent concerns by drawing on resources, such as close-circuit television for incident verification and service patrols to respond to disabled vehicles.
- By closely co-ordinating with traffic management centre personnel after arriving at the scene of an incident, law enforcement personnel can improve on-scene command and control.
- Use of law enforcement personnel on motorcycles for incidents occurring during peak travel periods can improve response times.
- Service patrols
- To be fully effective, service patrols must communicate and co-ordinate other activities with responding agencies, and should have access to the proper radio frequencies.
- Outsourcing of patrol operations is beneficial because it: - Is easier to allocate and adjust resources according to needs - Minimises unit costs due to competition among providers.
- Service patrols on bridges and in tunnels (where access is severely constrained) are critical to restoring the normal traffic flow.
The IM literature points to an impressive array of average response times, typically in the range 8 10 minutes. Again, these figures have not been checked.
- Fire and Rescue
- Fire and rescue are critical to the development of a cross-functional operations plan.
- Fire and rescue agencies have considered modification of their operations procedures to better accommodate traffic management during incidents.
- Aggressively seeking and maintaining the involvement of fire and rescue in multiagency planning and co-ordination will help ensure full co-operation in traffic incident management activities and programmes.
- HAZMAT
- Service patrol vehicles equipped with basic HAZMAT response equipment can more effectively manage the containment of minor spills and protect the incident scene.
- Standard incident management procedures may need to be modified in order to accommodate the risks involved in working with and around HAZMAT incidents. Specialised techniques and specially qualified personnel are often necessary for safe and effective HAZMAT incident management.
- Providing incentives for HAZMAT contractors based on timeliness and efficiency of speed of response and cleanup can minimise costs while maintaining performance.
- Towing and Recovery
- Because they are critical to rapidly restoring normal traffic flow, towing operators should be involved in interagency incident management training.
- A hybrid of traditional and performance based contracting that requires operators to meet specific requirements (e.g. number of vehicles, response and times, storage space, insurance and licensing) can improve responsiveness and reduce cost.