Why Exercise your disaster Response
"The safety policy and procedures were in place: the practice was
deficient." - extract from Lord Cullen's report into the
Piper Alpha disaster
Introduction
This short document is relevant to Chief Executives and managers from all
organisations, including local and central government departments, whether
delivering a service or goods and whether in private or public ownership or
within the voluntary sector. All organisations are at some form of risk
from the hazards of everyday living. These hazards are either natural in
origin, such as those arising from extreme weather conditions, flooding or
drought, or are man made which includes fire, collision, falling objects,
explosion or pollution, or some other consequence of personal,
organisational or technological failure.
If the organisation is to recover and continue to provide satisfactory
goods and services to its customers or the community it must develop
contingency plans; indeed in many areas there is a legal requirement to do
so. The only way to ensure that these plans can effectively be implemented
is to test them in regular exercises to assess the validity of the
arrangements and then to update the plans in the light of experience.
What is an exercise?
Exercises are an important management tool for informing and motivating
personnel and giving confidence to those who may be required to respond in
a crisis. They provide the only comprehensive way of realistically
evaluating contingency plans. They bring together those who may be involved
with responding to an incident and they allow scrutiny of their responses
under controlled conditions. Thus exercises should reflect reality as far
as is practicable. They can establish and reinforce relationships between
those taking part, often under stressful conditions. They bring people from
different areas together to work as a team, to realise clear goals and to
get to know and respect each other's strengths and weaknesses.
Benefits of exercising
The clear benefits of exercising for any organisation are:
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Significant increase in the likelihood of the organisation or business
surviving a disaster, whatever its cause.
-
Minimising interruption to business operation or service provision.
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Preservation and enhancement of reputation.
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Minimising the impact of disaster on the community and environment.
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Minimising the social, political, legal and financial consequences of
disaster.
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Identifying an organisation's areas of vulnerability.
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Training those who may be involved with responding to an emergency.
The exercise programme
The support and commitment of senior management is crucial to the success
of the exercise programme. Exercises must not be seen in isolation but
rather as part of a programme of learning and validating plans. Exercises
should meet their aims and objectives in the most appropriate manner.
Exercises need not necessarily be major undertakings in size, duration or
involvement, but good exercises, whatever their format, can take a
considerable amount of preparation and follow up assessment.
Types of exercise
There are basically three types of exercise, although there are variations
on the theme of each of them. The choice of the appropriate exercise is
important; it should provide the most cost effective way of achieving its
aim and objectives. The three main types are seminar, table top and live
exercises.
Seminar exercises are generally low cost activities and
are designed to inform participants about the organisation and the
procedures which would be used to respond to an incident. Those involved
can be either new to the job or established personnel. This type of event
will bring staff together in order to inform them of current developments
and thinking. These events may take the form of lectures or panel
discussions and are primarily designed to focus on one particular aspect of
the response. The emphasis of this type of exercise is on problem
identification and solution finding rather than decision making.
Table top exercises are a very cost-effective and
efficient method of testing plans, procedures and people. They provide the
few players involved with an excellent opportunity to interact with and
understand the roles and responsibilities of the other agencies taking
part. They can engage players imaginatively and generate high levels of
realism. Participants will get to know the people with whom they may be
working in responding to an emergency. Those who have worked together and
know each other will provide a much more effective response than those who
come together for the first time when a disaster occurs.
Live exercises range from a small scale test of one
component of the response, like evacuation, through to a full scale test of
the whole organisation to an incident. Live exercises provide the best
means of confirming the satisfactory operation of emergency communications,
and the use of 'casualties' can add to the realism. Live exercises
provide the only means for fully testing the crucial arrangements for
handling the media.
The media
Following a disaster certain sections of the media can and will attack any
organisation or individual they regard as culpable. They will demand
instant information and details, and interviews with experts, survivors and
the distressed. They will strive to pin the blame on someone and will focus
intensively on the human elements of the story. However, by understanding
the media's needs, preparing a proper strategy in association with them
and testing it during exercises, the senior managers' and
organisations' chances of their contributions being accurately
reflected are greatly enhanced.
Post exercise evaluation
Whatever type of exercise is chosen it is important to record and evaluate
the event. Provision of a succinct report of successes and failures to
which management can refer is a vital part of the overall learning process.
In the event of a disaster previous exercise reports demonstrate to the
community, and any subsequent formal enquiry, the commitment of the
organisation to the safety of people and its surroundings.
The next step
It is every manager's ultimate responsibility to demonstrate that
procedures are in place which will ensure that, in the event of any
incident, the organisation will respond effectively, survive and continue
to be welcome within the community. Preparation of contingency plans and
verification of their efficacy are fundamental to achieving this objective.
Coda
"I thought they were marvellous. They seemed to restore order and
provide help. The whole organisation seemed to be very smooth and
efficient." - eye-witness quoted by Anthony Hidden QC in his
report following the Clapham Junction rail disaster.
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