Over the years I had posts which ask the question what type of disaster would we see in the coming year. This time I want to know specific annexes that should be exercised and your rationale why. Exercise objectives can be evaluated using various scenarios to produce a desired action. Changing to a new scenario should not be a big issue if your organization is already leaning in one direction.
Five year exercise plans are great but circumstances and risk can change over night, I am curious what the subject matter experts think should be number one on the list of exercises for 2016. I am particularly interested in what the younger generation of professionals think. Group think can impact a whole generation of emergency managers so please speak up everyone.
It may be useful to offer specific exercises for specific disciplines such as TSA should exercise _______, or hospitals should exercise ________. I am a huge fan of multi-discipline exercises but they do require more effort to plan and facilitate. It seems a shame not to utilize the crowd-sourced expertise of your peers when it comes to enhancing your preparedness in 2016. What say you?
Good post Jan. Simple and to the point. Too many jurisdictions rush in to the process, deciding they will do an active shooter exercise or a mass casualty exercise (both usually full scale), without having addressed any of the foundational issues first. Planning, training, then exercises. If it’s not done in this order it’s a set up for failure.
For anyone who would offer that ____________ needs to be exercised this year, I’ll fully support it, so long as good plans and training are in place first.
TR
I endorse exercising (major exercise at least every 2-3 years that are risk-based). I do agree with strengthening key barriers before conducting major exercise, i.e. planning (Committee, Terms of Reference, clear objectives and engagement of key stakeholders), training which includes the application of the ICS tools (or using other equivalent relevant standards/guidelines). Very often organizations/agencies conduct major exercises with the full knowledge based on gap assessments that systems would fail, i.e. communication, deficiencies in roles and responsibilities etc.). If these are not done expect failure. If you do not prepare, prepare to fail.
It is not just about writing a report with findings.
Good post. Too many agencies just run to get a drill done to simply “check of a box” so to speak. THIRA or HVA, AAR from previous drills or actual incidents should be referred to, to see what should be looked at and exercised. Additionally, regulatory agencies have requirements here. Fro example, here at my hospital not only do I need to have two exercises annually one with an influx of patients and one with community involvement per Joint Commission, but the State and CMS also has regulations that there needs to be one drill/exercise per shift per quarter. We are a CARF facility and they require annual bomb threat and evacuation exercises as well. So, for here based on requirements we do quarterly external hazmat exercises (chemical or radiological terrorism scenario), quarterly internal hazmat exercises (day/night) annual Explosive Device/Bomb threat exercises (day/night), annual Active Shooter/Hostage Exercise (day/night), annual Evacuation Exercise (day/night), annual infant abduction exercises (day/night). We also participate in at least two exercises hosted by our City emergency Management Team and/or County OES. So that takes us to at least 16 exercises annually. Some hospitals try to get away with using real incidents then panning them off as drills/exercises. Inspectors are starting to get wise to this though. Next year we are doing an Oil by Rail accident with Mass Casualties exercise with the county and an active shooter AND explosive device exercise with SWAT and EOD. This year we did a massive exercise with the National Guard with a Blackhawk Simulation crash onto our helipad. Over 300 participants. (Not too shabby I would say for a hospital to coordinate that exercise!)
Your post and previous comments touch on exactly what I believe needs to be exercised the most, regardless of scenario (Threat/ Hazard). Frequently we stay in our comfort zones or rush to check boxes. We don’t take the time to Plan an exercise or develop a series, as a progressive product, i.e. plan review, workshops, training, table tops, drill. There is something significant lost in not choosing a progressive path, it is what is most critical on scene as well: Coordination!
You point to multi-discipline is dead on, in my opinion. Testing in a full scale, what a specific discipline does as their meat and potatoes, is not always where the critical points of failure may lie. They most often lie in the coordination, concept of operations and command/ control areas. So my response to your post, is a progressive program, supported and collaboratively built by a multi-disciplined team that focuses heavily on these 4: Command, Control, Communication & Coordination!
Good thinking Jan – it’s always a good idea to involve others in exercises. I’ve found more value in being part of the planning team although it is more fun being a participant! You may find you engage more people if you can find scenarios that are plausible but out of the usual. Everyone has done active shooter, mass casualties, fires, etc. If you can find something that involves all agencies but in a novel way, you may get better involvement. Perhaps an outbreak of an animal disease, a marine disaster or cyber event.
I’m chiming into this conversation late, but one of the single biggest challenges I have seen during any event (real or practice) is there are too many people who have no idea that a DR plan exists, let alone what the plan is. The problem is exacerbated by the continual departmental reorganizations and also by newer staff who are not trained or familiar with the plan. I have seen some departments go wildly off track to the plan because of a new manager/executive with good intentions who, unaware of any plan, think they know better and start giving orders to that are counterproductive. Train and practice often is the best solution, and do so often enough to keep up with organization churn.