Talking Stick - November/December 2011 - 49

cOntInueD

TRAINING DAY

need wake-up calls as well, sometimes literally. At UC-Riverside, the residence hall fire drills were being seen as unimportant and a hassle to students. In response, extra-loud sirens were installed for quarterly evacuation fire drills on campus. Students no longer hide in the closet to avoid evacuating. The students also received information in advance explaining the importance of the drill. Since most people are not constantly emergency-minded, Plumley emphasized the importance of awareness. He tells students, “Here’s why we are doing it. This is for your safety. We’re going to treat it like a real fire. And, hey, we’ve had real fires.” At Harvard University in Cambridge, Massachusetts, participants completed a tabletop exercise in 2002 of a hypothetical situation in which a student died from an unknown flu-like illness after a trip abroad. Other students were suddenly being hospitalized. Media crews were appearing left and right, and the disease needed to be contained. All of the university’s 10 colleges were involved, communicating via computer while in separate rooms. Updates with new events and information were emailed every 15 minutes, and each group had to submit a response to the core Incident Management Team facilitating the exercise. Wilson commented on the Harvard example, explaining how she might have contributed in her position. Though her skills related to a medical emergency may not be extensive, specific training would prepare her for managing communication with students and parents, arranging a memorial service, and providing transportation to the funeral. Another component, like the medical team, would be able to assess other questions concerning how the student died, the severity of the illness, and the potential risk for other students. Like Harvard, Florida State uses technology in carrying out tabletop exercises. They employ Microsoft Sharepoint as a collaboration tool

among members of their incident management system. In building a tabletop exercise, Bujak says he can upload pictures, scenarios, and open-ended questions. The exercise is virtually sent to 120 different individuals, and each can respond at his or her own convenience over a two-week period. This eliminates the need to find a time when 50 different individuals can convene for a fourhour period. This method retains core attributes of a traditional tabletop exercise but is also focused to create a detailed crisis management plan. The timeframe allows officials to research a specific policy if needed and prevents them from making haphazard decisions. The incident management team then collects all the responses and holds a small, short meeting to solve conflicts, determine the need for more training, fill gaps, and create an improvement plan. These evaluation steps are critical in making the most of the exercise. Finally, it is important to assess the results of the tabletop exercise and have a clear understanding of what success or failure looks like in that situation. “The main purpose of a tabletop simulation is not to fully resolve the situation presented,” Buck comments. “Instead, a tabletop scenario should have the goals of identifying gaps and weaknesses in the overall response process so that it can be improved.” As an example, during a disaster, communication and participation can be muddled with redundancies, gaps, and misinformation. Tabletop exercises allow for the emergency management team to detect these gaps and problems in their response plans. In fact, it is one of the main results. The strategy fosters a cycle of continual improvement, because exercises are not designed to be identical and repetitive. At UC-Riverside, the emergency management team focuses more on evaluation after a crisis actually occurs. After truly testing the communication system, distributing resources, and making executive decisions, the

university understands how each individual and involved entity would react. Of course, there are some events – like the loss of life – that staff cannot truly prepare for during practice. Police are trained to eliminate the major threat in an active shooter crisis, and bystanders are sometimes harmed in the process. “If there’s someone hurt along the way, they are still focused on the target. You can’t prepare for that with a tabletop,” Plumley says.

Working in concert ensures success
Tabletop exercises may not solve every problem during an actual emergency, but careful practice and preparation can save lives and mitigate risk. Bujak describes the staff’s response to a disaster as being like the orchestra performance of a symphony. Each musician is first chair, the individual expert of their instrument. The trumpet is the fire department, best at producing bright brass sounds. The violin is campus housing, making quick bow strokes to ensure a seamless melody. When first brought together and told to make music, the performers create a jumbled chaos of noise. Each musician needs sheet music – the emergency plan – to guide them. Each unique component follows the plan, but the trumpets are sounding too late, and the violins are playing too softly. The conductor – the emergency manager – steps to the podium and begins to guide each musician through the symphony. The conductor does not speak or play but knows each talent intricately. He or she knows when to call upon them and tells them how loudly to play, facilitating coordination to create beautiful music. With a plan, collaboration, practice, and guidance, the orchestra can produce a phenomenal performance. ts

Kristen Lott

is the editorial intern for the Talking Stick.

November + December 2011

Talking Stick - November/December 2011

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of Talking Stick - November/December 2011