Major Incident Response Guide
Last Updated: 3/1/2021 • Public Safety Sensitive
Figure 1: Levels of Response
| ESCALATION | IMPACT | DESCRIPTION | SIGNIFICANCE |
|---|---|---|---|
| LEVEL 0 | MINOR | Serious Incident LEVEL 0 | Routine/none |
| LEVEL 1 | MAJOR | Major Incident LEVEL 1 | Local Level |
| LEVEL 2 | MAJOR | Major Incident LEVEL 2 | National Level |
| LEVEL 3 | MAJOR | Major Incident LEVEL 3 | International Level |
Considerations
- Impact on HMC Ambulance Service resources – what effect will this incident have on overall operational capacity (capacity to cope with total demand).
- Emergency Service Agencies involvement (how many agencies and to what extent).
- Impact on Core Business (how the incident will affect our ability to deal with routine emergencies).
- Frequency of Incidents (how often such incidents are likely to occur).
Complexity of Incident
How complex an incident presents in terms of unfamiliarity; size; technical difficulty, and access/egress difficulties.
To be assessed and considered by the Operations Officer: Communications based upon the METHANE Report.
Figure 2: Complexity Levels
| COMPLEXITY LEVELS | DESCRIPTION |
|---|---|
| High | Not routine or it is an infrequently used procedure (e.g. CBRNe, airport emergency, etc.). |
| Moderate | Multi-agency (e.g. Police, Fire, etc.) or large numbers of personnel are deployed. |
| Low | Access to patients is difficult due to hazards, environmental or security factors. |
| None | Unobstructed access to and egress from patients |
Response Matrix
A scoring matrix used to identify the levels of response required to an incident.
The predominant deciding factors are the number of high acuity patients (‘RED/YELLOW’), the complexity of the incident as well as the duration.
Response Matrix Guide
| Number of High Acuity Patients RED (P1) & YELLOW (P2) |
ESCALATION LEVEL | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| None <1hr |
Low 1-2hrs |
Moderate 2-4hrs |
High 4-8hrs |
High >8hrs |
|
| >100 | LEVEL 3 | LEVEL 3 | LEVEL 3 | LEVEL 3 | LEVEL 3 |
| 51-100 | LEVEL 2 | LEVEL 2 | LEVEL 3 | LEVEL 3 | LEVEL 3 |
| 21-50 | LEVEL 2 | LEVEL 2 | LEVEL 2 | LEVEL 3 | LEVEL 3 |
| 11-20 | LEVEL 1 | LEVEL 1 | LEVEL 2 | LEVEL 2 | LEVEL 2 |
| 6-10 | LEVEL 0 | LEVEL 1 | LEVEL 1 | LEVEL 2 | LEVEL 2 |
| 3-5 | Serious Incident | LEVEL 0 | LEVEL 1 | LEVEL 1 | LEVEL 2 |