-Written by David Whittier
Operating an EOC can be a complicated task, and it is made even more complicated because most agencies cannot afford to have an EOC fully staffed and operating 24/7, just in case. Many of the members are volunteers (or ‘voluntolds’) who carry on with their normal duties most of the time and only work in the EOC when it has been activated for an emergency.
Don’t make these folks go in there cold, or you are setting yourself up for failure. The two best ways to help make sure your people are ready are through training and exercising.
Training. Training builds up people’s skills and understanding of Emergency Management and is focused on the individual. Training can be done in a classroom setting, or by oneself using a distributed model. Training topics for EOC staff could include:
Orientation to the Incident Command System.
Setup and operation of an EOC.
EOC operating essentials.
Emergency Management principles
Coordination with First Responders
Your organization’s Emergency Plan
Exercises. Once people are trained up, exercises are an effective way to ensure they understand their roles in an emergency and how they work with the rest of the team, especially if there are multiple agencies who must coordinate their efforts to successfully manage the emergency. Exercises can be conducted at varying levels, and should follow the “crawl, walk, run” approach:
Workshop. Although not an exercise per se, a workshop can be used to build specific products, such as a draft plan or policy, or familiarize the training audience with that product. The workshop format could be used to build or refine your emergency plans.
Tabletop Exercise (TTX). A TTX involves key personnel discussing simulated scenarios in an informal setting. TTXs can be used to allow staff to discuss their roles in an emergency and to assess plans, policies and procedures.
Functional Exercise. A functional exercise focuses on coordination, command and control between various agencies and coordination centres (e.g. EOCs and Incident Commanders). A functional exercise does not involve responders or officials responding to an incident in real time.
Full-Scale Exercise. Much like a Functional Exercise, except that individual actions on site are exercised as well, which adds the “time and space” dimension to the exercise. A Full-Scale Exercise is as close to the real thing as possible.
Training and Exercising may cost a bit in terms of time and resources to set up and maintain, but if you are serious about having an Emergency Response ability that works, it’s vital.
