Tabards

One of the things that are problematic at scene is who is in charge, identifying them and identifying who are carrying out key roles at the scene. Now, it does not matter which organisation you come from. One of the easiest ways to deal with this is by the use of appropriate tabards. But you also need to think about what the costs of your tabards are because tabards are not cheap, and there are some pitfalls in some of the ways. So, some companies have gone down the line of different coloured tabards for different roles, which is fine, providing that each person is only ever going to carry out one role.

When you do not know which role people are going to carry out, it is far more cost-effective and useful to have one type of tabard where you can change the roles of the individuals. The only role that needs to be a different colour is that of the senior commander. So, as an example, this tabard here is designed to be folded in two directions. So, this way around, it is for the senior commander on the scene. It permanently says, "Tactical Commander." The slides cannot be removed in either the front or the back. However, if we are doing a command support role, we can reverse the tabard. It has now gone from silver to yellow, and actually, the slides are now interchangeable for each of the roles.

Do remember that when you change your role, you need to change the slide both at the back and the front. I have seen, on occasions, people with one role at the front and one role at the back. Also need to make sure that they carry all the appropriate slides that you require. So, if it comes in a pouch and in the side pocket, you will have the small and the large for each of the roles that may be required to carry out. Now, in general terms, you should know most of the roles that you are going to need because they should be part of your plan. So you will know that in advance because you will have an action card for that role, and if you got an action card for it, you should have a slide insert for it.

However, on occasions, there will be times when you are going to create a role that you had never considered before. It is worth considering having a blank slide and a permanent marker that you can mark that role on and slide it in. As an example, in a recent exercise with a football club and a brand new set of Fire and Rescue Service who had never done a marauding terrorist scenario before, the ambulance commander realized quite quickly that if he did not control, have good links with the Fire and Rescue Service, he might lose control of the incident. So one of the first jobs he did is he appointed a Fire and Rescue Service Liaison Officer. Role does not exist in the action cards, role does not exist in the tabards, but was required.

So, you can make roles up, but be sure that you have a way and method of identifying them. Now, the pouch that we showed you just now had the tabards in the side pouch. We found a much better way to go is to have a zip pocket in the tabard itself at the back to insert all the slides because what you will find is your people will take the tabard out of a pouch, they will run off into the scene, they will leave the pouch behind in the car, and then when you change their role, they will not have the slides to insert them. If you put them in the tabard in the first place, then they can not really lose them, and you will get the best flexibility out of the system.