ByGeorge!

October 2006

An Exercise in Utility

Tabletop Exercises Help Departments Improve Emergency Plans

By Matt Lindsay

Staff from the University Business and Operations Office hastily gather on the third floor of the Marvin Center. Employees from facilities, parking, dining services, and several other offices are busy reviewing and discussing their emergency plans. A recent bulletin from the National Weather Service has announced a severe thunderstorm warning for the Washington, D.C., area. High winds and several inches of rain are predicted.

But one look outside at the clear blue skies provides an entirely different perspective of the weather. That is because there is no impending storm; there is no National Weather Service bulletin, at least not today. These departments are gathered for a tabletop exercise coordinated by the GW Office of Public Safety and Emergency Management (OPSEM).

OPSEM is involved in 15-20 exercises a year for various constituencies throughout the University, according to John Petrie, assistant vice president
for public safety and emergency management. So far in 2006, OPSEM has conducted or participated in 18 exercises. The exercises provide participants with the opportunity to review and test their resources, planning, and response to emergency situations.

Tabletop exercises “put folks in an environment in which their planning and training is applied to a situation that they did not necessarily anticipate,” explains Petrie. “Exercises tend to be dramatically rewarding for the people who have done the right preparation.”

At the outset of the tabletop exercise, participants are provided with an emergency scenario, such as potential flooding caused by heavy rainfall. Participants share with the group what actions they would take in response. Petrie and his staff facilitate the discussion by inquiring about available resources, necessary actions and precautions, and communication requirements. Exercise participants have a chance to discuss individual roles and responsibilities and ask questions. Each situation is discussed until every issue surrounding it is resolved.

In this way, University staff members learn about the responsibilities of colleagues in different departments during an emergency situation and have an opportunity to consider the precautions that can be taken. Oftentimes departments identify areas of their emergency plans that should be elaborated or improved upon.

“The exercises are a tremendous tool in helping us determine what we do well and what we need to work on,” says Eve Dubrow, associate vice president for operations. “It takes an exercise to truly pinpoint these things—just writing or reviewing plans on paper, while an important part of the overall process, does not fully prepare you for an emergency situation.”

Dubrow added that the exercises illustrate to staff the critical role they play during incidents. Petrie describes tabletop exercises as a positive learning environment that focuses more on the interaction between people and the sharing of information than making quick decisions.

OPSEM also coordinates interactive exercises, which involve decision making and action at both the strategic and tactical levels. Petrie and his team conduct four to six interactive exercises a year with the leadership and selected departments of the University. Participants are presented with a series of disclosures released over time, so that one issue is not resolved before the next one arises. According to Petrie, an interactive exercise “forces decision making and prioritization of actions, which is a really challenging process.”

OPSEM also conducts exercises in the Foggy Bottom neighborhood with local partners, such as the World Bank, International Monetary Fund, U.S. State Department, Red Cross, and property managers. This partnership puts GW “on the leading edge of emergency management in the private/ public context for the nation,” says Petrie.

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