The Exercise Planners Guide - Part 2
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Finance
The amount of expense incurred in planning, running and reviewing an
exercise will be dependent on the type, location, timing and duration.
There are several ways to reduce the costs of exercises. For example,
messages may be passed through internal telephones or by paper feed instead
of by the public telephone system, radio or fax as would happen in a real
emergency.
A model manufactured for floor or table top use may mean an initial expense
but could be used for different scenarios on a number of occasions and by
different organisations.
Some sites, organisations or operators are required by law to hold
exercises to test their emergency plans. It may be possible for the
emergency services and other service providers to work with the site
operator to develop a scenario which would enable a range of plans and
organisations to be tested.
The expense of live exercises may be reduced by limiting the number of
players and by scheduling them to fall within working hours to avoid
overtime payments. It may also be possible to rearrange training to
coincide with the exercise. However, some exercises have to be held outside
normal hours for safety or commercial reasons.
For live exercises which involve large numbers, it may be possible to use
some players to act as evacuees and hold a rest centre exercise thus
providing training for a wider pool of agencies.
Exercise Planning Group
In some areas, a group (i.e. Emergency Planning Liaison Group involving the
emergency services, local authorities etc., or a works safety committee)
might already exist. Such a group would already have been involved in
preparing plans, training and, possibly, arranging other exercises. It
would, therefore, be logical to involve its members in planning your
exercise.
If no such group exists, it is important to establish one involving
representatives of all the principal agencies who have a role in the plan.
This group needs to liaise with all participating agencies in the planning
stage. It needs to decide, as its first task and with regard to the agreed
objectives, whether to test the whole plan or only certain components. All
agencies who have a role to play, either in the whole plan or the
component(s) to be tested, should be invited to take part in the exercise,
including of course the planning stage, and subsequent reviews.
Most exercises are time consuming and cannot be undertaken frequently.
Therefore every opportunity should be given to all appropriate agencies to
take part when a plan is tested. Managers, executives or chief officers
etc. must be kept informed of plans and progress as their support is vital
for success. The group needs to allocate sufficient time (which may mean
several months prior to the event) to plan the exercise thoroughly.
Ideally, those involved in planning the exercise should not participate
directly. They are better used as Umpires or Observers. If possible, and
particularly for small organisations, help should be sought from
neighbouring areas or organisations with similar operations.
Aim/Objectives
The aim and objectives of the exercise, including clear outcomes, need to
be established at the outset and should ideally be the first item on the
planning group's agenda. The overall aim of the exercise should be
agreed by the senior management of all participating agencies and be based
around the question "what are we hoping to achieve by the exercise as
a whole?" Objectives should then be set by individual participating
agencies as targets within and consistent with the overall aim of the
exercise. It is important that each individual agency's objectives are
submitted to the exercise planning group to ensure they do not contradict
or compromise those of another agency.
Scenario
The group needs to develop a realistic scenario to ensure that participants
will take the exercise seriously. The exercise should also have a realistic
timescale.
The scenario should include:
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day, date and time, and
-
nature of incident (consistent with exercise location).
Other considerations might be:
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weather conditions including wind speed and direction,
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visibility,
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traffic conditions,
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progression of incident (e.g. different phases), and
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people involved (e.g. young, elderly etc.).
Always remember, however, that planning based on detailed assumptions
regarding a likely future scenario may be too inflexible to adapt to the
unforeseen. In most exercises the objective will be to test arrangements
and procedures which can be brought into play if needed regardless of the
cause.
Time-Lapse Exercise
A decision to be made at an early stage is whether the exercise will flow
in real time or consist of "snapshots" - i.e. a series of
descriptions of how the scenario has progressed over time. For example,
participants may spend a relatively short time considering the immediate
actions to be taken before moving to a scenario "X hours into the
incident" so that recovery issues can feature. Also consider whether
exercise time will be stopped at any point during the exercise to allow for
review or consideration of variables, e.g. weather, time of day or year.
Controlled or Free Play
In controlled exercises, the scenario and all events or incidents are
pre-scripted. The evolution of the exercise is tightly managed. This can be
a very thorough way of testing specific aspects but may not evaluate
whether a plan is sufficiently flexible to deal with the unexpected.
Free play exercises are much more spontaneous. Once the opening scenario
has been established, the participants' actions dictate subsequent
events. This requires a large directing staff, a comprehensive scenario and
access to much more background information. Although these can be
stimulating in terms of realism and having to cope with the unexpected, it
is possible that whole areas of a plan which require validation may be
by-passed.
It is possible to combine control with free play in order to test both the
degree of flexibility of the plan and the validity of any pre-identified
aspects.
Exercise Location
Whatever type of exercise is to be held the planning group should visit the
location - at a similar time/day as the exercise - to ensure that it is
appropriate. They should also seek written permission from parties which
have a claim to an area and inform any potential users that it may be out
of bounds on a certain date.
Seminar or Table Top
The venue needs to be large enough to accommodate a floor model or table
model. Wall space for maps may be required. Ensure that the necessary
audio/visual training aids, if required, can be used with ample space and
viewing for participants. A lecture theatre or similar tiered venue may be
suitable for certain seminar exercises. If the exercise is to be syndicated
then additional rooms will be required . Separate space for exercise
directors is helpful.
Control Post
The site(s) for these exercises should be self-selecting since
organisations should use their designated control centres.
Live
The selection of a suitable site for an exercise is of crucial importance.
Obviously, in the case of fixed site exercises, such as a site subject to
the Control of Industrial Major Accident Hazard Regulations (CIMAH) or an
airport, there is little scope for choice. However for generic type major
disaster exercises e.g. air or rail crash. selecting a suitable site should
be undertaken in the early stages of exercise planning. As the site needs
to be acceptable to all participating agencies, several options may need to
be explored depending on the scenario. The location must be safe and with a
reasonable access for vehicles and personnel. Owners of the site (for
example, possibly RailTrack or an airport authority) should be fully aware
of and, if possible, participate in the exercise.
Exercise Base
The need for an "exercise base" arises for live exercises,
sometimes for control post exercises, and is particularly helpful for large
scale exercises. A suitable building, preferably in the ownership of one of
the participating agencies, should be selected close to the exercise site.
It can then act as an assembly point for "exercise directors",
observers etc. where briefing can be given and casualties, if used, can be
made up. Ample car parking should be provided.
If the exercise base is further than walking distance from the site then
consider providing minibus transport. Bear in mind that live multi-agency
exercises attract many vehicles and it would be helpful to ensure that non
essential vehicles at the site are kept to a minimum.
