Life Link III, a nonprofit organisation that has been in operation for 30 years, operates five helicopter bases located throughout Minnesota and western Wisconsin. Rotor wing and fixed wing services are available 24/7, providing on-scene emergency response and inter-facility transport. Historically, Life Link III depended on a paper-based incident response system to maintain their Post-Accident/Incident Plans, which outlines its response to a crisis situation, such as an overdue aircraft or one that is known or likely to have crashed. Given Life Link III’s multi-state operations, the paper-based incident response system was difficult to implement, track and test.

The paper-based incident response system:

• Created unnecessary distractions that delayed response to emergencies

• Complicated the ability to deploy a coordinated response effort

• Required leadership team members to carry a heavy load of essential paperwork with them at all times in case an incident occurred

• Required frequent revisions to the paper copies of the extensive emergency plan to ensure all staff has access to it in an emergency

• Limited updates and changes during an incident, resulting in many phone calls being fielded by their Communication Centre

• Lacked in providing incident response visibility and accurate information to all levels of the organisation

Solution

Life Link III replaced the paper-based incident response system with eICS, which offered solutions that streamlined planning, communication, response, visibility and recovery. The solution modernised preparedness efforts through a centralised operational tool. Features within the tool that assist with the efficiency and accuracy of daily operations include:

• Customisable IC Plans & Charts

• Incident Response Guide Builder

• Multimodal Alerting

• Incident Dashboard 

• Electronic Event Log

• Document Management

• Contact Management

• After action tracking log

Additionally, Incident Response Guides (IRG) were built into the solution that assisted Communication Specialists in notifying leadership team members and assisting in conducting a thorough, organised response to the incident at-hand.

Results

eICS effectively maintains Life Link III’s PAIPs. After replacing the paper-based system, the implementation of eICS coordinated a systematic response that improved speed, organisation and accuracy regarding operations for Post-Accident/Incident Plans and related processes. Preparedness efforts were streamlined in a centralised operation tool.