In 2014 the AFAC Council endorsed the establishment of a national certification scheme for incident managers. This has been proposed as an important element of the professional journey for those involved in incident management and indeed, broader emergency management.  It is consistent with many other professional bodies establishing formal certification schemes to accredit individuals nationally.  With fire and emergency services regularly deploying interstate to support other jurisdictions and AIIMS increasingly being used by those outside emergency services in areas such as health, local government, mining, education, infrastructure and transport, there is a clear need to ensure emergency managers remain well informed regarding their profession and maintain professional standards.

This scheme is one significant element towards developing fire and emergency services into a formal profession.