An important question for organisations operating incident management teams (IMTs) is the frequency and type of exercising required to maintain suitably skilled performance. In Australia, the endorsement period for accredited level 3 roles typically varies between three and five years, subject to some exercise and refresher training.

Unfortunately, only limited research on skill retention and atrophy has been undertaken in the emergency services. Drawing on military and healthcare research, this paper describes how IMT members’ knowledge, skills, and abilities (KSAs) may decline over time. Four factors appear to be central to this phenomenon. First, the time elapsed since the KSAs were last used; most of the deterioration in KSAs occurs during the first year away from the activity. Second, the complexity of the KSAs; complex KSAs tend to decline more quickly than basic KSAs. Third, the type of KSA is important; performance on cognitively demanding tasks tend to decline more quickly than performance on physical tasks. Finally, the level of expertise that the IMT member has developed is positively related to the retention of higher levels of expertise over the first year.

There are a variety of training approaches that organisations may take to improve the retention of KSAs. The use and limitations of overtraining to support KSA retention is described. Distributed rather than block-based training tends to be more effective for maintaining KSAs. Individual differences may also account for differences in skill decay following training. Trainees who demonstrate higher levels of mastery orientation of self-efficacy are more likely to undertake voluntary training activities to maintain their KSAs. This paper will review the applicability of these training approaches for mitigating the effects of skill atrophy in IMT personnel.