tabletop exercise hazardous materials

Texas School Safety Center www.txssc.txstate.edu

Tabletop ExerciseHazardous Materials

Division for Law Enforcement, Homeland Security, and Institutional Research


Rules of the Road

Creativity/Group Problem Solving Use the knowledge and information

available in the room Active Thinking Active Listening Active Participation Respect – challenge ideas, not people Reality Check – make the exercise real for

you.


Agenda

Introductions Scenario Description Hot Wash (Debrief) Action Planning


Introductions


The Exercise Continuum

Drills Tabletop Exercises Functional Exercises Full-Scale Exercises


How does a tabletop exercise work?

Scenario-based discussion, guided by a facilitator

Problems talked through without stress Evaluators selected to observe and offer

feedback on the proceedings Policies, plans, and guidelines are

updated


What is a tabletop exercise?

Simulates an emergency situation in an informal, stress-free environment

Initiates discussion of emergency guidelines

Focuses on training and familiarization with roles, guidelines, and responsibilities


What determines the success of a tabletop?

A successful tabletop leaves participants with: A positive learning experience Organizational learning Improvement Action Planning More effective policies, plans, and guidelines Improved preparedness


Exercise Guidelines

This exercise is designed to test the preparedness of the _____ to respond to a multi-agency, multi-site emergency event

Following the exercise, there will be a debriefing time or “Hot Wash”

Each participant will be given the opportunity to share his/her views on what worked well and what needs to be addressed in additional planning, training and/or drilling


Exercise Guidelines (Continued)

_____ISD/college policy shall govern all activities relating to the emergency event.

The facilitator shall serve as the exercise referee and will provide any official interpretation of the exercise rules.

Although we will not actually be contacting them, ISD/college and outside resources are available to assist you.


Exercise Guidelines (Continued)

From time to time, there will be injections to the scenario. These are intended to further assess response to the exercise scenario.

This is a learning experience.


Purpose

To examine current policies, procedures, resources and actions in the context to a response to HAZMATs in a school/college setting

To promote greater understanding and ability to apply NIMS/ICS principles in a college setting

To make improvements as identified as an outcome of the exercise


Objectives

To evaluate policies and procedures To evaluate command and control

including communications procedures To identify resources needed vs. available To identify training needs To identify needed improvements and

create an action plan to address those needs


Demographic Overview

On this slide, add bullets of information about the demographics of your school/college, including but not limited to: Number of schools/facilities Types of schools/facilities Athletic facilities Student population Employee population


First Responder Resource Overview

On this slide, add bullets of information about the first responder resources immediately available to your school/college, including but not limited to: Police Fire EMS


Threat Assessment

On this slide, add bullets of information about the known threats to your school/college, including but not limited to: Internal threats External threats


Scenario The second Thursday of November is a big day at

____________________ School. This year marks the third annual Turkey Trot Race. The fun-filled day of student and parent activities includes a ½-mile run for each class. Parent and teacher events are also scheduled.

It is a perfect day for the festivities, with clear skies, moderate temperatures, and winds from the southwest at 3 miles per hour.

At 11:30 a.m., first-grade students, together with 15 parents and 10 teachers, have returned to the cafeteria for lunch. The kindergarten class, along with 25 parents and 10 teachers, have just arrived in the race area, which is located southwest of the third grade classrooms and east of the basketball courts. At 11:40 a.m., one of the teachers at the race area notifies the principal that a strong ammonia odor is present and that she has heard police or fire sirens in the vicinity. The parents and other teachers present are quite concerned.


Questions

What do you need to know? How do you find the information? What does your EOP direct? What are you going to do?


Questions

What actions will you take? Do you activate your school/college

incident command? What is your ICS structure?


ICS Structure Questions

Who is the Incident Commander? Who is the Public Information Officer? Who is the Liaison Officer? Who is the Operations Chief? What other ICS positions will you activate

and who will fill them?


Scenario Questions

Based on the information available at this time, what are your immediate concerns?

What initial actions should you take?

What should you do next?


SCENARIO Inject #1

The principal has ordered that everyone at the race event report to the cafeteria and remain there until the situation is resolved. As the children head back to the school, several start pushing and shoving in their rush to “get away from the smell.” One little girl has fallen and banged her head on the sidewalk. A parent has carried her to the nurse’s office, but she is bleeding heavily from a laceration just above her right eye.

The school nurse has sent a parent to report that five students and two parents have come to her office complaining of difficulty breathing. One of the students is asthmatic but the nurse does not know whether or not to allow the student to use his inhaler.


Questions

What actions should you take based on this new information?

How will you notify parents? What will you tell them?

For what contingencies should you plan?


SCENARIO Inject #2

It is 11:45 am. A fire department official has called the school to notify the principal of an anhydrous ammonia leak at an adjacent warehouse immediately south of the school. The fire department recommends an immediate evacuation of the school and surrounding neighborhoods and instructs the principal to evacuate from the parking lot at the southeast corner of the school facility.

Teachers at the cafeteria report that parents indicate that they want to leave immediately and take their children with them. Parents’ vehicles are parked on the streets surrounding the school and in the school parking lot.


Questions

What actions should school personnel take based on the directions received from the fire department?

How many buses are required to accomplish a complete evacuation? How long will it take them to arrive? What is your estimated time requirement for completing the evacuation?

Will you need to make additional ICS assignments to accomplish the evacuation?


Questions

What will you tell the parents who want to take their children and leave?

For what contingencies must you plan?


Scenario Inject #3(15 minutes later)

As evacuation efforts are being coordinated, 20 additional children complain of feeling sick. The teachers are voicing their reluctance to permit the children to leave the school. They feel it is much safer to stay inside.

One parent who has decided to leave wants to take other children who live in the same neighborhood.


Questions

What should you do about the children who are feeling sick?

What should you do about the parent who wants to take additional children home?

How will you ensure that the entire school facility is evacuated and that everyone (including students, parents, and staff) is accounted for?


Hot Wash


Hot Wash

How well did your EOP operate and what actions will you take toward improvement?

How well did your ICS Team operate and what actions will you take toward improvement?

How well did your Communications Plan operate and what actions will you take toward improvement?


Hot Wash

What can be done to improve campus police/security operations?

What internal divisions were required to work together in this scenario?

What external agencies did the Liaison Officer need to work with in this scenario?

Are all necessary agreements in place to facilitate cooperation among agencies?


Action Plan

The lessons learned during this table top exercise will lead to a college action plan to: Keep Doing ______ Stop Doing ______ Start Doing ______


Conclusion

The Texas School Safety Center, Division for Law Enforcement, Homeland Security, and Institutional Research is available for: Training/Facilitation Technical Assistance Information


Contact Us

Web:

www.txssc.txstate.edu

Phone:

877-304-2727

tabletop exercise hazardous materials

Documents

exercise scenario

exercise referee

exercise rules

tabletop exercise work

emergency situation

current policies

training needsto

debriefing time