The Government aims to ensure all organisations are fully prepared for all types of emergencies.
Integral to that is the practicing and testing of all the elements of emergency plans.
An exercise is a simulation of an emergency situation.
Exercises have three main purposes:
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to validate plans (validation)
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to develop staff competencies and give them practice in carrying out their roles in the plans (training)
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to test well-established procedures (testing)
Planning for emergencies cannot be considered reliable until it is exercised and has proved to be workable, especially since false confidence may be placed in the integrity of a written plan.
Generally, participants in exercises should have an awareness of their roles and be reasonably comfortable with them, before they are subject to the stresses of an exercise.
Exercising is not to catch people out. It tests procedures, not people. An important aim of an exercise should be to make people feel more comfortable in their roles and to build morale.
There are three main types of exercise:
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discussion based
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table top
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live
These methods provide an effective means of both testing and validating our plans, while affording all those with key roles to play in an emergency, a meaningful training opportunity.
Planning documents must contain a statement about the nature of the training and exercising to be provided and its frequency.