|
Tabletop
Exercises
The
National Incident Management System (NIMS)
defines the preparedness cycle as "planning,
training, equipping, exercising, evaluating,
and taking action to correct and mitigate."
Exercises play an important role in this
broad preparedness cycle.
Exercises provide opportunities for Federal,
State, local, and tribal leaders; department
and agency officials; private sector
partners; and emergency responders to
practice and test capabilities that have
been built up through a coordinated process
of planning, training, and making equipment
purchases.
Plans, training, and equipment, and the
capabilities they represent, are validated
through exercises. Exercise evaluation
informs preparedness priorities by
highlighting potential preparedness
shortfalls in the areas of planning,
organization, training, and equipment prior
to real-world incidents. Subsequently, these
priorities inform resource allocation,
including training and equipment purchases,
which enhance readiness, influence policy or
program decisions, and become the basis for
future exercises.
 The
tabletop exercise (TTX) is an affordable,
high-payoff platform for municipalities,
departments, jurisdictions, schools and
organizations.
TTXs involve key personnel discussing
hypothetical scenarios in an informal
setting. This type of exercise can be used
to assess plans, policies, and procedures or
to assess the systems needed to guide the
prevention of, response to, and recovery
from a defined incident. TTXs typically are
aimed at facilitating understanding of
concepts, identifying strengths and
shortfalls, and achieving changes in the
approach to a particular situation.
Participants are encouraged to discuss
issues in depth and develop decisions
through
slow-paced problem solving, rather than the
rapid, spontaneous decision making that
occurs under actual or simulated emergency
conditions. The effectiveness of a TTX is
derived from the energetic involvement of
participants and their assessment of
recommended revisions to current policies,
procedures, and plans.
The Command School TTX program is a tabletop
exercise with the added dimension of the
functional drill. As your critical incident
management teams assume their real, or
practice/exercise roles, they'll actually
play-act planning, response and/or recovery
roles as the scenario progresses. The
Command School TTX tabletop exercise
incorporates your municipality's,
department's or organization's emergency
plans into your identified and designated
risks/threats/vulnerabilities.
|
Sample
Scenario
(Natural Disaster)
Sample
Situation Manual
The ICS Structure
 |
