Incident Safety Officer: Emergency Scene Safety and Size -up

Size-up is the evaluation of factors that are used in the decision-making process to establish the strategy and tactics to be used at a particular incident. It is the mental process of considering all available factors that will immediately affect the incident during the future course of operation. Size-up is a continuous evaluation. It starts with pre-incident planning, continues when the alarm is received, and goes on throughout the course of the incident. When the first incident commander arrives on the scene, an extensive size-up is conducted. During the course of the operation, periodic size-ups are conducted to make sure that progress is still being made.