This 4-day course provides participants course work and hands-on training for the position of Public Information Officer (PIO) on a Type 2 Incident Management Team. It covers the role and responsibilities of a PIO, duties required of the PIO in all types of incidents, how to establish and organize an Information Office appropriate for the incident, and discusses key functions of the Information Office. Instructional methods include lectures, class discussions, graded evaluations, and group exercises. A certificate of course completion will be awarded to those students who have 100% attendance and who obtain a total course score of 70% or higher.

Target Group
This course is intended for U.S. EPA and U.S. Coast Guard personnel who have completed Incident Command System courses I-100, 200, 300, and 400, and IS-700b and IS-800d, and who have been identified to be a part of an Incident Management Team.

Objectives
After completing this course, participants will be able to:

• Define the role and responsibilities of the Public Information Officer (PIO) within the Incident Command System (ICS) structure.
• Identify the major functions of the PIO and their specific responsibilities.
• Describe the duties and assignments of PIO assistants.
• Be able to correctly apply the Crisis Communication plan during a Nationally Significant Incident (NSI).
• Describe the U.S. EPA structure for managing data during a NSI.
• Explain how the PIO interacts, within the ICS structure, with EPA Regional Offices and EPA Headquarters.
• Describe the approval process for communication products.
• Understand the roles and responsibility of the PIO to community relations.

In compliance with Executive Order 13589 - Promoting Efficient Spending, Section 5; the ERTP will not be regularly printing or providing students hard copies of the course manual. Students may obtain an electronic copy of the student manual for personal printing or e-reading at:

https://ertpvu.org/ClassroomCourseDetail.aspx?id=35 

Continuing Education Units: 3.2

Unless otherwise specified, THIS COURSE, AND OTHER ERTP COURSES, IS NOT OPEN TO CONSULTANTS, CONTRACTORS, OR ANY PRIVATE ENTITIES.
*This course is offered free of charge to all registrants who are confirmed to attend.*

IMPORTANT NOTICES – Applicable to all ERTP courses :

1. ERTP’s receipt of a Trainex course registration is a Registration Request, it is not a Guaranteed Enrollment in the Course. All ERTP training courses require applicant registration thru the Trainex system. Last minute course arrivals without prior ERTP Trainex course registration approval is not permitted. Before ERTP issues final approval to deliver any course and/or any EPA offices incurring expenses for the training event (including but not limited to EPA staff travel TA’s and/or ERTP training contractor expenses incurred), all EPA mandatory pre-approvals must all be met. The pre-approvals include (but are not limited to) the following:
   
   • Training location’s availability;
   • COVID status and/or other COVID Guidelines in effect for the location, as well as staff;
   • Agency limitations, scrutiny, and approvals of ‘Conference Spending Requirements (known as the “5170”)’ for the specific training course(s) scheduled delivery timeframe;
   • Weather (blizzard, hurricane, etc);
   • Contractual number of available course training slots;
   • EPA training location staff having priority registration over all other registrations; and/or
   • Hosting site Training Coordinator approval.
   
   In the event a course is subsequently postponed or canceled, or notification of registration cancellation is received, all EPA travel arrangements (airline/car rental/hotel) should be canceled in a timely manner. Registered students will receive a notification via email if/when a course is postponed and/or cancelled.
    
2. For in-person course deliveries, confirmed course registered participants must abide by all facility physical access requirements for the location (examples: check-in at the security gate, Federal ID, Government PIV/CAC cards, photo id’s, etc.). If applicable for the course or location, restrictions may apply to non-citizens and acceptable identification may be required for facility entry.

Course Dates are 12/10 - 12/13/2024 - 8:00 am to 5:00 pm (Tuesday - Friday)

EPA HQ STAFF HAVE PRIORITY REGISTRATION FOR THIS COURSE.
 

Once a registration is approved, the applicant will receive a confirmed enrollment email notification (usually in the form of a confirmed Outlook email calendar event (that is not identified as “Hold the Date”).

Unless otherwise specified, THIS COURSE, AND OTHER ERTP COURSES, IS NOT OPEN TO CONSULTANTS, CONTRACTORS, OR ANY PRIVATE ENTITIES.

*This course is offered free of charge to all registrants who are confirmed to attend.*

IMPORTANT NOTICES - :  

Conference Spending Requirements (known as the “5170”) -Applicable to all ERTP in-person courses & training dates– All EPA staff travel spending will be closely monitored/scrutinized for 5170 cost-monitoring requirements.  All EPA staff registering for the above course registration links are requested to notify the EPA/Region staff identified at the bottom of this webpage in advance and provide the preliminary cost estimate details in writing via email.  The Region POC and/or other EPA staff are responsible for tracking EPA 5170 spending for this training event.  Travel spending includes all funds to be paid for by EPA.  The 5170 conference spending requirement is not applicable to participants external to EPA, where EPA is not funding travel.

EPA travel spending “Project Code for this training event:  The unique project code for this training event is TBD.****

****Participants are responsible for ensuring this code, once it is assigned, is used in the Site Project field under the Accounting tab in Concur.  This code must be used for all travel authorizations, travel vouchers, and local travel vouchers related to this specific training course event.  For the code shown as “TBD”, upon receipt of OCFO’s approval this webpage will be updated to add the approved code.  For TA’s approved in advance, it is the traveler’s responsibility to ensure the TA is amended to add the correct project code(s) and/or MUST be added to the final Travel Voucher.  For some back-to-back delivered courses, two different unique travel codes may be required.  If needed, your FCO/Funds Certifying Official can provide assistance to ensure the code is entered correctly in Concur. 

****Note:  ERTP’s training contractors are NOT involved in EPA’s internal 5170 conference spending processes or approvals.  All 5170 related questions are to be forwarded to the Region course POC, or Region Training Coordinator, and/or the EPA ERTP Contracting Officer Representatives (COR’s).

For more information, please contact

Steve Ridenour, U.S. EPA National NIMS Coordinator
202-564-9831
Ridenour.steve@epa.gov