Geoscience Reference
In-Depth Information
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Clarify roles and responsibilities
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Improve individual and team performances
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Include drills and both functional and full-scale exercises
There are three types of operations-based exercises:
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Drill:
A coordinated, supervised activity that tests a single, specific, opera-
tion or function within a single entity (e.g., evacuation drill, drill to set up a
hospital decontamination tent, drill to test how quickly air or water samples
can be collected, drill to identify how quickly backup power systems or IT
backup records can be launched, or how quickly can a school go into lock-
down). This is the only type of exercise where the word “test” is used.
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Functional Exercise:
Examines and/or validates the coordination, com-
mand, and control between various multiagency coordination centers (e.g.,
emergency operation center to the joint field office, region to region, labora-
tory to laboratory, hospital to hospital). Field staff are not utilized in this type
of exercise, for example, first responders or emergency officials responding in
real time.
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Full-Scale Exercises:
A full-scale exercise is a multiagency, multijurisdic-
tional, multidiscipline exercise involving functional (e.g., joint field office,
emergency operation centers) and real-time response activities (activation of
equipment and resources, first response to mock victims, hospital triage of
mock victims, laboratory testing of spiked samples, mock IT intrusion attack
and response).
Exercise Documentation for Discussion-Based Exercises
Exercise documents are developed by the Exercise Planning Team and serve as tools
to guide and capture information during the exercise process. Some documents
that you may need to develop are obvious; they include sign in sheets and invitation
letters or emails. The following documents are specific to the type of exercise that
you elect to develop.
Situation Manual
A Situation Manual (SITMAN) is the handbook for discussion-based exercises and
is provided to
all
participants. It provides background information on the scope,
schedule, and objectives for the exercise. The SITMAN will also contain the sce-
nario and typically includes the questions or issues that the presenter or Exercise
Director will be asking. Ideally, the participants will receive this in advance of the
exercise so that they can read the material and become familiar and comfortable
with the topics and questions.
