Please remember, when practicing for an emergency... simpler is better. Conducting a worthwhile exercise does not require hours of preparation and time to roll out a practice session. Many colleges and units have shared that their best practice sessions last only 1-2 hours.
Most sessions are organized by the emergency coordinator and include key members of staff and/or department leaders who would be responsible for making decisions and managing through an emergency (emergency response team). Exercises start with a single "what if" question. The discussion that follows from this simple question will raise additional questions, identified gaps in emergency plans that need to be worked on, and lead to a better understanding of college/unit procedures. At the end of an exercise, your goal would be to have complete answers to the following questions:
- Who and how will people respond to situation(s) within the first minutes/hours
- Who will make college/unit level decisions
- Who will coordinate with University Incident Commander on-scene
- Who will communicate with college/unit staff
- Who will communicate with college/unit students
- Who will communicate with the University EOC, if activated
- Who oversees the continuity of mission-critical functions
In most instances, if you spend a lot of time developing an intricate scenario, you will find that most groups won't get much further than the first one or two nuances of the scenario in the allotted time. It is best to begin with a single situation. As the group advances, you can add complexity.
The Office of Emergency Planning and Recovery has developed a sample : "Tabletop Scenario" that is the product of several successful exercises used by some of the units on campus. You can use this template as a guide for developing your exercise.
Key thoughts to consider when planning an exercise are
Keep the scenarios simple (at least until your group has advanced in their planning capabilities)
Review the objectives, the schedule, the "ground rules" and the roles
Remember that the exercise is about learning, not about process. If good, healthy discussion is happening let it continue
Always leave the last 30 minutes for debriefing even if it means that you do not complete all the scenarios steps. This gives participants a chance to share how they feel the session went; a time to capture gaps that need further work, and next steps for further training and exercises.
It is strongly recommended that you practice your plan at least four times each year after the initial development. This helps staff to keep current with roles and expectations, and will identify gaps that can arise from changing conditions and environment.
If you need assistance with development, facilitation, or observation of your unit during the scenario, please let us know. We are here to help!