Through the application of AIIMS in training, exercising and incident response, people from fire and emergency services, government, not-for-profit agencies and industry have been able to build trust and confidence in each other’s ability to work together and effectively manage the most challenging of incidents.

AIIMS 2017 is the latest edition of the Australasian Inter-service Incident Management System. Endorsed by the AFAC Council, and published in June 2017, it replaces AIIMS-4 as the Incident Control System used by all fire, emergency service and land management agencies within Australia. AIIMS 2017 has been developed following an extensive review of AIIMS doctrine undertaken in 2015, building on the work that produced the 2013 edition.

It captures many insights, both from formal research findings and guidance provided by a number of reviews and inquiries into the management of incidents in recent years. This includes the rapidly growing body of research on incident management and the impact that human psychology and social behaviour has on teams managing incidents.

AIIMS 2017 is the latest step in the evolution of incident management in Australia, and it will certainly not be the last. Our understanding of what makes a team effective, and what tools can be used to support teams to manage incidents, continues to develop. AIIMS will be refined regularly to reflect that growing understanding. The AIIMS Steering Group, custodians of AIIMS, will continue to capture the experience of AIIMS practitioners and insights from research to ensure that the system provides the support that agencies and incident managers need to undertake challenging tasks.