Building a National Coalition for Traffic Incident Management
National Traffic Incident Management Coalition
Meeting Summary – February 9, 2005
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Welcome and Introductions
John Corbin (Acting Chair)
Mr. Corbin welcomed all members to the third meeting of the National Traffic Incident Management Coalition and thanked AASHTO for providing the facility and refreshments. Mr. Corbin reviewed the agenda and requested additional items that members wish to discuss. Mr. Corbin emphasized the exciting spirit of the agenda, and continued progress forward with NTIMC products and activities.
Coalition Business
Valerie Kalhammer (AASHTO)
1. Motion to approve the nominations for the Steering Committee proposed during the October 27 Coalition meeting. (Kalhammer) The motion was seconded by Kevin McGinnis. By voice vote all steering committee members were unanimously approved.
Chair – John Corbin
Vice Chair – TJ Nedrow
Member – Harriet Cooley
Member – Jim Goerke
Member – Steve Austin
2. Motion to adopt the Bylaws as written. Valerie Kalhammer reviewed the changes to the Bylaws implemented by the Organizational Task Force:
• Revised the Organizational Chart and text in Article III.
• Added membership criteria to Article IV.
• Added I-95 Coalition to member list in Article IV.
• Revised voting procedures to require 2/3 vote for those in attendance for advocacy/policy statements; and 2/3 vote of full coalition for changes to the Bylaws.
Comments:
• The designated voting member may not be the best representative to provide input on technical issues. (McEwen)
• Suggested language for Bylaws Article IV (Sec. 3) “Organizations that are represented indirectly (or at a higher level) will not be offered membership.” The bylaws should specify that potential members who’s “interest” are represented within the NTIMC, will not be invited to participate. (Goerke)
• A distinction should be made in Article IV “current coalition member” should be changed to “organizational member.” (McGinnis)
• Motion that a moratorium be placed on soliciting/accepting new members until the Bylaws and coalition member processes are refined. (McGinnis)
• Adoption of the Bylaws does not prohibit future amendments to clarify language. (Austin)
• Resolved that the language in Article 4 (Sec. 3) will be clarified. (Corbin)
• Motioned that we develop a letter to describe the coalition and explain the request to identify a representative. (McEwen)
Results:
• Jim Goerke voted to adopt the Bylaws on behalf of NENA. Bylaws are adopted based on 2/3 majority vote.
Action items:
• Each NTIMC member organization will identify who has the ability to vote on issues in representation of their organization and notify the Coalition support team.
• Coalition support team will draft a letter of invitation to each organizational member to participate in the NTIMC. Will also use the letter of invitation to educate senior executives on products and activities of the NTIMC.
3. V. Kalhammer reviewed both coalition products: 9 Keys to Success, and the Coalition brochure.
Action items:
• Coalition members should contact Brett Graves to request copies of the either product. Brett.o.graves@.
Communications and Outreach Planning
Karen Haas (Manifest Inc.)
Karen Haas presented the ideas and issues relevant to developing the NTIMC communication and outreach plan. The goal of this effort is to develop an approach for the outreach plan. The goal is to encourage co-sponsorship among coalition members, to help get the word out. The NTIMC is a young coalition therefore we need to determine how to leverage all available resources to accomplish our common goals. It is critical for organizations to actively participate and support the outreach and communication plan. We want to earn recognition for the coalition based on its merits and ability. Key messages include promoting a structure and regional approach to incident management and sustainable incident management programs. As part of the outreach plan we want to pick a few realistic short and long term goals to accomplish with existing resources.
Short term objectives
• Raise awareness about the need for more effective traffic incident management operations.
• Promote formation of regional traffic incident management coalitions.
• Provide input to DHS to encourage them to develop programs and guidance to support emergency transportation operations.
The communication plan will include proposed outreach activities, communication tools, plan implementation and update process, budget, work plan and schedule. Priority outreach activities include communications workshop, webinars, regional workshops, and a national executive summit. Karen Hass asked that a task force be formed with balanced representation to provide input on the plan and participate in a May workshop.
Comments:
• This presentation is intended to encourage a reaction, comments, and participation in development of the plan. The coalition should focus on their constituencies, proper investment in communication and outreach to achieve the maximum benefit. (Corbin)
• The plan should distinguish between an “executive” committee and a “policy” committee. (Goerke)
• This coalition is a partnership to enhance public safety and better utilize the transportation system, emphasize “partnership” rather than a “relationship.” (Ake )
• Currently the NTIMC represents about 95% of the opinion leaders that can impact incident management activities. The coalition will determine in the future how much to expand or contract membership. The short-term goal is to get the communication plan on the right track, and achieve buy-in. (Austin)
• Important to have the right interest (from organizations) and levels (of participants, not too high or too low) to allow support of the NTIMC. (Pearce)
• We need to establish a frame work to encourage development of regional organizations. Need to think about outreach in terms of how our national strategy would function. (Zezeski)
• A fine line needs to be drawn between consensus models for regional traffic incident management and appearing to DHS or other organizations that we will be implementing ideas (heavy handed) need to encourage change but not appear heavy handed. Therefore we will choose our words carefully (i.e. “raise awareness” rather than “define practices”). (Corbin)
• Change begins with stakeholder recognition of different approaches. The word “regional” is a term not to be defined by jurisdictional boundaries, rather unlimited based on the impacts of incidents. (Pearce)
• This coalition should encourage regional coordination and partnership. We as a Coalition could provide white papers based on Coalition constituents perspectives. (Kalhammer)
• Notion of regional summits for incident management has value, and should continue to be considered. (Corbin)
• Recognition of the need to identify communication points of contact from each coalition organization has value. Would be good to get involvement to publications and outreach from each member organizations personnel. (Austin)
• NTIMC should develop a canned presentation with talking points that members can use at meetings to describe the NTIMC. An alternate presentation should be developed that describes technical traffic incident management issues and solutions. The presentations should be made available on the Coalition website, along with the Brochure and tri-fold documents. (DeVries)
Action items:
• Steering committee and Communications task force volunteers will meet to consider and discuss ideas. The task force will consider ideas, details, and locations for potential summits and have briefing prepared by the June NTIMC meeting.
• NTIMC members will send Karen Haas contact information for communications point of contact.
New Members Presentation
Jim Goerke (National Emergency Number Association)
A list of new members for consideration was distributed to the NTIMC. The Organizational task force has developed the list of potential candidates based on suggestions from the Coalition during the October 2004 meeting. Mr. Goerke emphasized the need to distinguish between three types of member interests categories:
1. Functionally vested interests – Organizations that directly deal with traffic incident management operations such as law enforcement, fire and safety communities, transportation agencies, and towing and recovery personnel.
2. Administratively vested interests – Organizations that represent groups that deal directly with traffic incident management operations. Several current members of the NTIMC could be considered administratively vested interests.
3. Politically vested interests – Organizations that are involved in incident management activities from a political perspective. These groups would include state and local elected and appointed officials.
For example the International City/County Management Association would be interested at the administrative level as opposed to functional interest (incident management operations and response).
Comments:
• The membership effort initiated from the last meeting and the impending need for further representation from the law enforcement community. (Corbin)
• Deciding on new members is an important issue for the Coalition. Given that the Coalition attempts to build consensus among stakeholders on various issues and aspects of incident management, inviting politically vested groups like the NGA or ICMA could slow or block consensus building. Their expertise does not lie directly in incident management, which would potentially distract to the Coalition. It is difficult to invite selected political groups without inviting all organizations that represent state, local, county, cities, and town governments. You either have to be all inclusive or not invite them at all. (McEwen)
• A coalition of more than 20 or so members becomes difficult to sustain logistically and financially. (Baker)
• The Coalition should consider a moratorium on accepting or pursuing new members. Suggest we assign a task force to plan how we should expand our membership. (McGinnis)
• If the Coalition wants input from political or administrative interests on a particular issue we invite them to speak. (Ake)
• Regardless of the number of members there will be issues that require reaching out to other groups for input. For example the Alliance for Vehicle and Highway Safety can provide good input to this organization. We need to develop an outreach strategy that will create buy-in on critical issues. The communication plan should help create mechanisms to reach out to various groups. (Austin)
• Suggest a moratorium on new members until a plan is developed. (McGinnis)
• Fire representative organizations are different than law enforcement representative. For example, the Fraternal Order of Police is a labor organizations representing the benefits of police not involved in “operations” activities. They are interested in the safety of members, but could not provide input on incident management practices. Suggest we move slowly in accepting new members. (McEwen)
• Suggest the Coalition develop an electronic news letter after each meeting for outreach. (Ake)
Actions items:
• The Membership task force will convene to consider a comprehensive membership strategy that identifies and stratifies organizations by potential member and friend of the coalition.
• The support team will develop meeting summaries in newsletter format for members to distribute.
• Coalition members will identify points of internal contact/current member representatives to reach out to potential new members in near term.
Calendar of Related Events
John Corbin (Chair)
• ITE Spring Meeting – Las Vegas NV February 27 – March 2.
o During a panel discussion on emergency management and response John Corbin will give a presentation on the status of the NTIMC.
• International Scanning Tour (April 2005)
o Several members of the Coalition will be participating in a European scanning tour on incident management. Participants include Mike Zezeski, David Helman, John Corbin, and Henry DeVries. Initial results will be shared with the Coalition. A final report will be developed based on the findings.
o The FHWA has a “Focused State Initiative” which addresses performance measurement, between the incident management scanning tour, the previous operations performance measures scanning tour, and FHWA focused state initiative there will be a lot of material for the NTIMC to consider.
• IAFC Fire-Rescue International Annual Conference – Denver CO August 11-15
o Contact Steve Austin for event tickets.
Comments:
• There might be overlap between the Operations Performance Measurement scan and the pending Incident Management scanning tours and results. (Sorrell)
• Suggest we create a summary presentation of coalition progress to date. Slides should be developed to allow for members to choose slides al la cart. Summary of information during each meeting should be captured in newsletter format to facilitate sharing among senior leadership and coalition member constituents. (McEwen)
• Include more public safety and law enforcement events in the calendar of related events. All the events are listed on the agenda are transportation. (McEwen)
Action items:
• All Coalition members, particularly safety, law enforcement and towing representatives will send events to update the shared calendar.
• The support team will include an agenda at future meetings to summarize and discuss the PSAG, as well as recently held events and conferences.
• The support team will revise the shared calendar to reflect that the date of the TRAA conference is March 4 and 5. Add Coalition web address to signature block of all correspondence. (Support team)
Research Activities
Rebecca Brewster (American Transportation Research Institute)
Since the last meeting the research task force has assembled a compendium of research and documents related to incident management. The compendium (handout) captures all informational and research type documents that relate to traffic incident management. Documents date back to 1990. Each entry includes project title, principle investigator, completion date, project purpose, and relevant findings. The compendium is envisioned as a living document, to be updated continually. A gap analysis will be performed at some point to identify areas for further research. The ultimate goal of the compendium is to serve as a tool for the Coalition to help identify research opportunities.
Comments:
• As part of a current research effort an FHWA contractor is performing a literature search. The ITS to enhance incident response documentation will yield a literature compendium that will be shared with the group. (Pearce)
• The I-95 Corridor Coalition is in the early stages of a project to research and publications on law enforcement issues including incident management. (DeVries)
• If we use a “flexible” definition of research we can include many types of documents. (Pearce)
• There is a lot of overlap between special event management and incident management. Our implicit focus is on the unplanned event. Need to address the planned / unplanned component as part of the communication outreach plan. (Corbin)
Action items:
• Rebecca Brewster will provide an electronic link to compendium for Coalition members. The Coalition and task force will continue to identify resources for inclusion in the compendium.
• Rebecca Brewster will request an additional round of input from Coalition members.
• A teleconference for discussion of an incident management community of practice will be held the week of February 14 through 18. Volunteers to participate include the steering committee, Rebecca Brewster, Virginia Dick, Vince Pearce, Henry DeVries, and Karen Hass. The group will consider drafting a proposal of the contents of an incident management community of practice. (completed)
American National Standard for High-Visibility Safety Apparel and Headwear
Donna Clark (American Traffic Safety Services Association)
Donna Clark presented preliminary findings of the effort to capture issues and challenges associated with the ANSI/ISEA 107-2004 standard for high visibility apparel. ISEA 107-2004 is a volunteer industry consensus standard that identifies specifications for personal protective equipment (PPE) that visually signals the user’s presence. Broadly the standard specifies the minimum amounts of retro-reflective materials, colors and placement of materials, for items used to enhance visibility of safety and workers. The new standard is based on revisions to the first ever standard for high-visibility apparel: ANSI/ISEA 107-1999. The 1999 standard is recognized by various federal, state, and local authorities as well as private industry. The updated standard further defines headwear as high visibility products, distinguishes between woven and knitted background fabrics, and requires sleeves on class 3 garments. The Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) relevant policy (29 CFR 1926.651(d)) reference is made to the ANSI/ISEA 107-1999 standard as a way for employees to comply with enhanced visibility standards. The National Fire Protection Agency (NFPA) relevant policies do not specify what type or classification of reflective apparel, beyond normal turn-out gear, should be worn during emergency incident management operations. The Manual for Uniform Traffic Control Devices (MUTCD) identifies the requirement for flaggers and law enforcement officers to use high-visibility apparel meeting the requirements defined in ANSI 107-1999. It is proposed that the Coalition develop a position and response to the new standard to differentiate between long term traffic control visibility requirements and short-term visibility requirements for incident management.
Comments:
• The definition of the word “employees” is critical to the OSHA standards for visibility. (Nedrow)
• There is no one size fits all garment or visibility requirements to meet the needs for police, fire, EMS, and transportation incident responders. There is a vast difference between fire service and police officers, not many police officers will wear reflective hats much less vests. (McEwen)
• Law enforcement may wear reflectivity during an accident scene investigation or traffic control, but they are not likely to wear reflective gear during a routine traffic stop. (Ake)
• Suggest that we define vests that with appropriate cut outs (fire arm access) for law enforcements, and pocket access for EMTs. In order to encourage a revised standard it may be necessary to define emergency responder’s jacket with appropriate visibility. NFPA 1971 Committee addresses fire fighters PPE the Coalition should encourage ISEA to revise the standard. This could be an early win for NTIMC to effect change with reflective standards for incident management. (Austin)
• There seems to be intent for OSHA and the NFPA to work together PPE initiatives. (McEwen)
• Prior to 9/11 OSHA standards were out of date. OSHA is currently in the process of updating all standard, with the DHS adopting these standards. Updating standards is an open process that develops consensus among practitioners and manufacturers. (Ross)
• The new requirements may cause too much “visible noise” distracting motorists. (Einreinhofer)
• Police in London, England have incorporated retro-reflective trim into the normal uniform, eliminating the need for vests. (Troup)
• At issue is traffic incident management scene visibility. The broader issue that is being defined is the immediate need to define retro-reflective clothing for incident responders. The Coalition needs to determine who is in position to influence revisions to the existing standards. (Corbin)
• Currently the NFPA accepts proposals from individual on standards and issues. Based on the issues raised the NFPA solicits interest in further research on the topic. With interest a committee is selected to examine the issues and revise and/or develop a new standard. (Austin)
• Suggest an educational document be developed to raise awareness on the issues/challenges associated with the new standard. (Clark)
• Suggest we offer that the NTIMC could facilitate identifying the issues associated with visibility among our constituents. There are a lot of disciplines that need further standards. There is likely a need for someone to facilitate meetings to determine the needs of all stakeholders. (Zezeski)
Results:
Motion that the chair communicate with ANSI/ISEA that this Coalition has had two presentations on the subject, has reviewed relevant documents, has concerns with the new standards, and offers its assistance in redrafting new standards. The motion was seconded by Steve Austin. By verbal vote the motion was approved. Federal agencies (FHWA and USFA) abstained from voting.
Action:
• Coalition support will develop a letter that highlights NTIMC Concerns with ANSI/ISEA 107-2004.
National Incident Management System
Henry DeVries (I-95 Corridor Coalition)
Develop by the Department of Homeland Security the National Incident Management System (NIMS) is a standardized management approach that unifies federal, state, and local lines of government for incident response. NIMS establishes standardized incident management processes, protocols, and procedures that all responders will use to coordinate and conduct response actions. While primarily focused on homeland security incidents (terrorism or natural disaster) NIMS has implications for first responders to highway incidents as well. Key components of NIMS include the Incident Command System (ICS), Communication and Information Management, Preparedness Measures, Joint Information System (JIS), NIMS Integration Center. NIMS incorporates incident management best practices developed in coordination with responders. These practices, coupled with consistency and national standardization, will be carried forward throughout all incident management processes: exercises, qualification and certification, communications interoperability, doctrinal changes, training and publications, public affairs, equipping, evaluating, and incident management. The intent of these measures is to coordinate local, regional, state, and federal response to all types of incidents.
Comments:
• The NIMS uses a broad definition of “responder” (Pearce)
• Need to define how the NIMS impacts States. (i.e. response plans that cross jurisdictional boundaries, methods of training, exercises, communication technologies etc) The NIMS will have a significant impact on law enforcement. (DeVries)
• Suggest we examine the wild fire community and how those [regional] incidents are dealt with. (Nedrow)
• The communication requirements (ICS) will be a big issue within the incident management community. (DeVries)
• The Coalition has the opportunity to set a president by identifying issues associated with NIMS implementation. (Ake)
• Based on an inquiry of 20 transportation agencies the needs for implementation of NIMS include adequate training of personnel, coordinated resource typing, rewriting operating manuals revising reporting requirements, incorporating intelligence. Several resources are available at the NIMS Integration Center. Need to work with NIMS Integration Center to validate any documents developed. (Pearce)
• The Role of this Coalition could be assisting with updating the guidance to better clarify implementation requirements for State DOTs to comply with NIMS. (Corbin)
• Suggest the Coalition ensure that the project is not limited to law enforcement transportation incident management, but look for issues that affect all incident management responders. (Einreinhofer)
Results:
Motion that the Coalition co-sponsors the study and analysis of NIMS as relates to traffic incident management. (DeVries) The motion was seconded by AASHTO. By verbal vote the motion was approved. FHWA and USFA abstained from voting.
Action:
• The support team will send Henry DeVries an email to determine next steps in developing the document.
• The Coalition will discuss progress on analysis of NIMS during the next full coalition meeting.
FHWA/USFA Activities
Vince Pearce (FHWA)
Bill Troup (USFA)
• DHS (USFA) Traffic control and Training for Incidents
o Joint USDOT/USFA funding
o Applicability for all incident management responders
o Looking for law enforcement representative for project panel, contact Bill Troup
• TIM Performance Measures Focus State Initiative
o To advance the state-of-the-practice within state DOTs, but in partnership with law enforcement
o 2 ½ day workshop resulting in action plans for each state to advance the state-of-the-practice
• TRAA/FHWA/IACP – Outreach and Communications Programs for Towing and Law Enforcement
o Train the trainer packages developed by practitioners for practitioners
▪ Includes basic awareness and advanced TIM operations training
o Distribution of Towing Outreach Package to 17,000 LE agencies
• ICS Training and Simplified Guide
o Targets transportation agencies and practitioners
o ICS Training in context of DHS National Incident Management System (NIMS)
o References to the Model Procedures Guide for Highway Incidents (National fire Service Incident Management System Consortium)
• TIM Community of Practice (CoP)
o Framework concepts explored and developed
o Considering CoP (two-way peer exchange) versus a clearinghouse approach (one-way one-stop location for information)
o Request NITMC help to define functionality and volunteer for peer exchange program
• New FHWA incident management website:
• USFA Emergency Vehicle Safety Research web page:
Action:
• Add an ongoing agenda item to future coalition meetings relates to PSAG and ITS with is a bridging piece into PSAG, continue to work with PSAG to do that. PSAG and NTIMC debrief.
Conclusion
The meeting was closed with a review of the action items captured (these are listed under each agenda topic). The next meeting will take place in June 2005, depending on the PSAG schedule. Mr. Corbin thanked all speakers, participants, and AASHTO for providing the meeting facility.
Participant List
Steve Austin, Cumberland Valley Volunteer Firemen’s Association
George Ake, Capital Area Wireless Network
Bill Anderson, ITS America
Bill Baker, ITS America
Katie Belmore, Institute for Transportation Engineers
Rebecca Brewster, American Transportation Research Institute
Donna Clark, American Traffic Safety Services Association
Harriet Cooley, Towing and Recovery Association of America
John Corbin, Wisconsin State Department of Transportation
Henry deVries, I-95 Corridor Coalition
Virginia Dick, American Transportation Research Institute
Linda Dodge, Federal Highway Administration
Paul Einreinhofer, APCO
Jim Goerke, National Emergency Number Association
Brett Graves, Science Applications International Corporation
Karen Haas, Editors Inc.
Valerie Kalhammer, American Association of State Highway & Transportation Officials
Carl Main, American Association of State Highway & Transportation Officials
Harlin McEwen, International Association of Chiefs of Police
Kevin McGinnis, National Association of State Emergency Medical Service Directors
TJ Nedrow, National Volunteer Fire Council
Stephan Parker, Transportation Research Board
Vince Pearce, Federal Highway Administration
Laurie Radow, Federal Highway Administration
Jerry Ross, National Fire Protection Association
Connie Sorrell, American Association of State Highway & Transportation Officials
Bill Troup, US Fire Administration
Mike Zezeski, Maryland State Highway Administration
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