What Changed in AIIMS 2025 and What It Means for Your Gear

Key Takeaways

• AIIMS 2025 replaces the 2017 framework and refines multi-agency incident management across Australia and New Zealand.
• Safety is now a formal principle, strengthening its role in IMT structure and decision-making.
• Recovery is more clearly defined as a distinct phase with dedicated guidance.
• Unity of command remains a core principle, with the 2025 edition providing expanded guidance for complex, multi-agency incidents.
• Information flow and technology use between Planning and Operations have been reinforced.
• The updates increase the importance of clear role identification and functional visibility within IMTs.
• Organisations should review IMT vests, tabards, and kit lists for alignment with AIIMS 2025.
• Outdated or inconsistent labelling can reduce coordination efficiency in active incidents.

In October 2025, AFAC endorsed a new edition of the Australasian Inter-Service Incident Management System (AIIMS), officially replacing AIIMS 2017. The update strengthens guidance around safety, recovery, information management, and multi-agency coordination while maintaining the familiar functional structure used across Australia and New Zealand.

For organisations that manage Incident Management Teams (IMTs), this is more than a procedural update. AIIMS 2025 affects how roles are identified, how functions interact, and how incident management equipment should support clear operational visibility. If your tabards, vests, or role identification systems have not been reviewed since AIIMS 2017, now is a good time to check if they still reflect current practices.

Why AIIMS 2025 Matters Now

AIIMS has provided the foundation for incident management across Australia and New Zealand since the 1980s. It is built around eight functional areas:

• Control
• Intelligence
• Planning
• Public Information
• Operations
• Investigation
• Logistics
• Finance

The five functions most commonly represented through colour-coded tabards and vests are control, planning, operations, logistics, and public information. Intelligence, investigation, and finance remain important functions that may also require clear role identification depending on the incident.

AIIMS 2025 retains this structure but strengthens how these functions operate together during complex incidents involving multiple agencies, jurisdictions, and support organisations. It also formally elevates safety within the framework and provides greater guidance around recovery and information flow.

For organisations specifying incident management equipment, these changes reinforce the importance of accurate role identification, current colour coding, and clearly labelled IMT gear.

What Actually Changed

Safety is now a core principle

This is one of the most significant shifts in the 2025 edition. Safety has been formally elevated to an official principle of AIIMS, sitting alongside management by objectives, functional management, span of control, flexibility, and unity of command. Previously, safety was treated as an outcome of good incident management rather than a named principle in its own right.

Making it explicit changes how safety officers’ functions are expected to be resourced, identified, and integrated into the IMT from the outset of a response, rather than added in as circumstances demand.

Recovery now has its own dedicated chapter

The 2025 edition gives recovery a dedicated chapter with expanded guidance, rather than treating it as a brief extension of the response phase. This reflects a broader shift in emergency management thinking, where recovery is recognised as a distinct phase with its own planning, resourcing, and coordination requirements, not simply the tail end of an incident.

Expanded guidance on unity of command

Unity of command remains one of the core principles of AIIMS and has not changed in the 2025 edition. What has changed is the additional guidance on applying the principle during large, multi-agency incidents.

When emergency services, government agencies, contractors, and private operators work within the same incident structure, maintaining clear reporting relationships becomes increasingly important. AIIMS 2025 provides more detailed guidance on preserving accountability and coordination while multiple organisations operate within a single incident management framework.

Reinforced information flow between Planning and Operations

AFAC’s summary of the 2025 edition confirms that information flow and technology use between functions have been reinforced, with particular attention to how information moves between Planning and Operations during an incident.

The specific operational detail of how this plays out in practice is not something we can independently verify beyond that summary, but the direction is clear enough to matter for IMTs. It places more weight on planning and intelligence functions, having clear visibility and clear identification, since the information they produce is expected to move with more rigour through the command structure.

What This Means for Garment Labelling and IMT Kit Lists

The AIIMS 2025 update is ultimately about operational clarity.

Organisations should review whether their role identification systems accurately reflect the functions and responsibilities used within their incident management structure. Key considerations include:

• Do current tabards and vests cover all functional areas that may be activated during an incident?
• Are colour assignments consistent with current AIIMS guidance and agency practice?
• Is safety clearly identifiable now that it has been elevated to a formal AIIMS principle?
• Have incident management kit lists been reviewed since the release of AIIMS 2025?

The objective is not to update equipment for every wording change. It is to ensure personnel can immediately identify who is responsible for what when operating in high-pressure, multi-agency environments.

Why Getting This Right Matters in the Field

AIIMS succeeds because it creates a shared operating structure that can be understood immediately during an incident.

Clear role identification supports:

• Faster recognition of reporting lines
• Improved coordination between agencies
• Easier identification of decision-makers
• Reduced confusion when multiple organisations use different internal terminology
• Stronger compliance with established incident management procedures

When role identification systems are outdated or inconsistent, communication can slow, and confusion can increase. During audits, exercises, or post-incident reviews, unclear role identification may also highlight gaps in organisational preparedness.

As discussed in our guide to AIIMS colour-coded tabards, role identification should be viewed as an operational requirement rather than simply an equipment choice.

Reviewing Your IMT Gear Against AIIMS 2025

A practical review does not need to be complicated.

Start by comparing your existing incident management kit list against the functional structure and principles outlined in AIIMS 2025. Confirm that all required roles can be clearly identified, colour coding remains current, and safety-related functions are appropriately represented.

This review may identify:

• Missing role identifiers
• Outdated labelling conventions
• Inconsistent colour coding
• Worn or non-compliant garments
• Opportunities to standardise identification across agencies or locations

Reflective Fabrications manufactures incident management vests and tabards in Melbourne, with custom options for functional role labelling, agency branding, colour coding, and reflective compliance. With more than 35 years of manufacturing experience and fully in-house production, we help organisations maintain role identification systems that remain durable, visible, and aligned with operational requirements.

Talk to our team about reviewing your IMT gear against AIIMS 2025 or explore our full incident and emergency management range.