Emergency preparationHow U.K. can better prepare for emergencies

Well designed and planned exercises are essential to ensure that the United Kingdom can respond effectively to emergencies of all kinds, according to research funded by the Economic and Social Research Council (ESRC).

The emergencies may take the form of a terrorist attack, flooding, pandemic flu, rail or air disaster — or any major disruptive event requiring an emergency response.

The number of such exercises taking place across the United Kingdom each year within what the researchers call the “resilience community” — including emergency services, local authorities, central government departments and agencies, and many large commercial organizations — is probably in the thousands, according to Dr. Ben Anderson from Durham University and Dr. Peter Adey of Royal Holloway. Each exercise varies in scale, duration, and complexity depending on its design and purpose.

An ESRC release reports that the aim of the research was to generate new knowledge about how exercises are planned, designed, and undertaken, particularly following the 2004 Civil Contingencies Act, and to learn from practitioners about how the planning and design of exercises might be improved.

Researchers interviewed emergency services nationwide and observed exercises directly and have subsequently created white papers and user guides indicating good practice in exercise design. These underline the importance of pre-exercise briefing to communicate the purpose, activities, roles and responsibilities of an exercise. They explain the value of focusing on the role of the key responders and those in leading positions in a multi-agency scenario.

They also highlight how thought cards, task cards and aide memoirs for key individuals will instill confidence and knowledge. Equally, the research suggests the effectiveness of the surprise element by introducing a ‘no notice’ exercise to test capabilities and they stress the use of realism, plausibility and building up a sense of excitement.

The research demonstrates that exercises have a number of valuable functions. They develop, test, and validate plans, protocols, and procedures, such as those involved when an emergency situation moves from the immediate response to the recovery phase. They test organizational forms and systematic routines, such as how to set up strategic coordinating groups providing leadership. They check the workability of communications networks and practices. Not least, they develop staff competences to have the ability to use a tactical plan and to make judgments under pressure.

Says Anderson: “The learning and capabilities deriving from all forms of exercise make a massive but largely hidden contribution to the ability of the UK