Testing, Training & Exercises

Exercises are a key component of preparedness; they provide the opportunity to shape planning, assess and validate capabilities, and address areas for improvement. 

Seminars are designed to orient participants to new or updated plans, policies, or procedures in a structured training environment.

 Workshops are discussion-based exercises used as a means of developing specific products, such as a draft plan or policy. 

A tabletop exercise is a facilitated analysis of an emergency situation conducted in an informal, stress-free environment. Tabletops are designed to elicit constructive discussion as participants examine and resolve problems based on existing operational plans and identify areas requiring refinement. The success of the exercise is largely determined by group participation in identifying problem areas.

A drill is a coordinated, supervised exercise activity, normally used to test a single specific operation or function. It can also be used to provide training with new equipment or to practice and maintain current skills. Its role in your exercise program is to practice and perfect one small part of your damage assessment program and help prepare for more extensive exercises, in which several functions will be coordinated and tested. 

A functional exercise is a fully simulated interactive exercise that tests the capability of an organization to respond to a simulated event. It is similar to a full-scale exercise, but does not include equipment or deployment of actual field resources. It simulates an incident in the most realistic manner possible short of moving resources to an actual site. The exercise tests multiple functions of your damage assessment plan.

A functional exercise focuses on the coordination, integration, and interaction of an organization’s policies, procedures, roles, and responsibilities before, during, or after the simulated event. Functional exercises make it possible to examine and/or validate the coordination, command, and control between various multi-agency coordination centers without incurring the cost of a full-scale exercise. A functional exercise is a prerequisite to a full-scale exercise.

A full-scale exercise simulates a real event as closely as possible. It is multi-agency, multi-jurisdictional, multi-discipline exercise designed to evaluate the operational capability of emergency management systems in a highly stressful environment that simulates actual response conditions. To accomplish this realism, it requires the mobilization and actual movement of emergency personnel, equipment, and resources. Ideally, the full-scale exercise should test and evaluate most functions of your damage assessment plan on a regular basis.

Full-scale exercises are the ultimate in the testing of functions. Because these “trial by fire” exercises are expensive and time consuming, it is important that they be reserved for the highest priority hazards and functions.