Integrated Communications Required for Emergency Command System in Oil and Gas Application

In chaotic situations and competing objectives on the scene during the emergency responses, good, and effective communications between incident management teams are highly required. Integrated communications provide and maintain contact among incident responders, enable connectivity between various levels of the organization, achieve situational awareness, and facilitate information sharing and informed decision-making. This paper will elaborate on the major incident command system (ICS) components as a practical tool in managing the emergencies applicable in the oil and gas industries. The emphasis of the analysis is on what are the minimum requirements to be met in the planning of integrated communications used within the Emergency Command Center (ECC). A software application developed through XVR Technology has been utilized to demonstrate how these requirements are implemented and used to simulate an established incident response plan, especially in issues of suitable communication media as vital resources for potential incident commanders. Having communication management integrated at all levels of incident response team members enables making informative decisions on time.