UK Resilience
Last updated: 27 October 2008
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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.
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.
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.
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:
Other considerations might be:
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
The site(s) for these exercises should be self-selecting since organisations should use their designated control centres.
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.
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.
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