AMU Emergency Management Opinion Public Safety

We Do Not Have a Plan for Training, Part II

In my [link url=”https://amuedge.com/we-do-not-have-a-plan-for-training/” title=”previous post”], I discussed different levels of training and education needed in EDM and discussed drills in detail. 

While drills are applicable to all levels in an organization, cognitive abilities typically prevail over manipulative abilities as one moves higher in the organization. Moving away from drill, the next step is tabletop exercises, followed by full-scale exercises. While this path follows the FEMA Exercise Course teachings, its best to not forget to intersperse higher education, case study reviews, and literature reviews into the pathways of training.

Tabletop Exercises

Tabletop exercises allow a group of individuals to come together and work through a disaster response at a relaxed pace, contributing to the overall event with your organization’s specialty, while gaining a broader perspective of the other organizations that will be involved in the event.

Due to the technology available, this type of exercise can be conducted at a desk or home location through video conferencing. It’s also possible to enact a lunch and learn event where either participants come to a central location for a lunch and the tabletop exercise or each member brown-bag’s their lunch at their desk and participates on their computer.

Full-Scale Exercises

This is the granddaddy of the exercises and requires a great deal of planning, a full day or more of actual exercising, and numerous days of data analysis to put together an after-action and an improvement plan based on the HSEEP process.

While grants often fund full-scale exercises in hazardous material, it can be hard to conduct a full-scale exercise on other subject matter, such as an active shooter. Creativity in exercise design can help bring the exercise “out of the box” and incorporate other players. 

What about using an active shooter scenario at a chemical facility? Follow the guidance of local EMA grant coordinators, but try something new, as it may reinvigorate younger personnel that may become bored with the same exercise as the last one.

Case Study

One of the prevailing issues recently is the use of [link url=”https://amuedge.com/police-departments-across-the-u-s-adopting-body-cameras/” title=”police body cameras”]. While laws and privacy measures will guide what the video can be utilized for, this can open a completely new door to analyzing atypical events in different areas and throughout the country. 

It is important to not only read about cases that have occurred around the country, but also to to review videos and see the perspectives of the first responder. This will allow for adjustments of policy and practice throughout the discovery of societal changes. 

Many have been told: “You can’t write a policy that allows you to understand our needs, you sit behind a desk.” While this may not be a substitute for actually going out and working with the front line responders, it can bring a more frequent “trip to the streets” on a regular basis.

Next up

In the third post of this series, I will examine higher education and critical thinking derived from higher education. Remember, there is no 912, when someone dials 911, you are it!  Be prepared.

We Do Not Have a Plan for Training: [link url=”https://amuedge.com/we-do-not-have-a-plan-for-training/” title=”Part I”] | Part II | [link url=”https://amuedge.com/we-do-not-have-a-plan-for-training-part-3/” title=”Part III”]

Dr. Randall Hanifen serves as a shift commander at a medium-sized suburban fire department in the northern part of the Cincinnati area. Randall is the CEO/principal consultant of an emergency services consulting firm, providing analysis and solutions related to organizational structuring of fire and EMS organizations. He is the chairperson and operations manager for a county technical rescue team. From a state and national perspective, he serves as a taskforce leader for one of FEMA's urban search and rescue teams, which responds to presidential declared disasters. From an academic standpoint, Randall has a bachelor’s degree in fire administration, a master’s degree in executive fire service leadership, and a doctoral degree in business administration with a specialization in homeland security. He is the associate author of “Disaster Planning and Control” (Penwell, 2009), which provides first responders with guidance through all types of disasters.

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