Exercises
We cannot wait for an actual critical incident to test how well a plan is going to work. Exercises can simulate a real life event, allowing emergency managers and responders to test their skills, and planners to evaluate the effectiveness of their plans.
Facilitating an exercise will allow you to:
- evaluate contingency plans
- develop or assess your staff
- examine risk treatment strategies
- validate other training
- evaluate structures and processes.
ESMC is able to build progressive exercise programs or use different styles.
Discussion exercises provide a chance to explore issues in some depth and provide verbal responses to situations. There are four common types of discussion exercise: Orientation, Agency Presentation, Hypothetical and Syndicate Exercise.
Functional exercises take place in an operational environment and require participants to actually perform the functions of their roles.
Field exercises involve deployment of staff to a simulated incident or emergency.
ESMC will prepare the documentation, conduct the event, facilitate a debrief and compile a validation report.
Validation completes the exercise cycle. This process determines if the exercise has addressed the identified needs. ESMC will ask the questions:
Did the exercise provide an opportunity for participants to perform as should be expected in a real event?
Did the exercise lead to improvements in policies, plans and procedures, or individual performance?
Continuity Central is a UK based publication sharing information from internationally recognised business continuity specialists. Link to ESMC article
Examples
A large entertainment centre sought to examine security and emergency processes following major renovations. A field exercise involving staff and emergency services was conducted inside the venue. The escalating scenario within the building structure resulted in improved security protocols, respnse procedures and communication structures.
An association of forensic experts sought to examine capabilities in a remote arena. An extensive combination of orientation exercises, agency presentations and a hypothetical discussion was conducted during a corporate conference. The variety of representatives and the peculiar scenario contributed to national and international agreements being established when the limit of local capabilities was identified.
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