Practise Your Plans
The only way to ensure that your continuity plan will work is to test it with regular exercises and then to update the plans in the light of experience.
Use the links below to browse the different areas of this section:
- Why run exercises?
- What types of exercises are there?
- How do I deal with the media?
- What happens after an exercise?
Why run exercises?
Exercises provide the only way of realistically testing contingency plans. They can establish and reinforce relationships between those taking part and allow a review of their responses under controlled conditions. Testing your emergency strategy will also bring people from different areas together to work as a team, to realise clear goals and to get to know and respect each other's strengths and weaknesses.
They may take some time and organising, but the benefits of regularly testing your continuity plan are clear:
- Significant increase in the likelihood of the business surviving a disaster.
- Preservation and enhancement of public image.
- Ensuring continuity of business operation or service provision.
- Minimising the impact of disaster on the community and environment.
- Minimising the social, political, legal and financial consequences of disaster.
- Identifying areas of an organisation's vulnerability.
- Training those who may be involved with responding to an emergency.
The support and commitment of senior management is crucial to the success of the exercise. Testing must not be seen in isolation but rather as a vital part of the development of your continuity plan.
Types of exercise
The choice of the appropriate test is important; it should provide the most cost effective way of achieving its aim and objectives. There are three main types of exercise:
- Seminar exercises. Seminar exercises are generally low cost activities and are designed to inform participants about the organisation and the procedures for responding to an incident. Those involved can be either new to the job or established personnel. These events may take the form of lectures or panel discussions and should focus on one particular aspect of the response. The emphasis of this type of exercise is on problem identification and solution finding rather than decision making.
- Table-top exercises. Table-top exercises are a cost effective and efficient method of testing plans, procedures and people. Employees involved have the opportunity to interact with and understand the roles and responsibilities of the other people taking part. They can engage players imaginatively and generate high levels of realism. Participants will get to know the people with whom they may be working in responding to an emergency. Those who have worked together and know each other will be a more effective team than those who come together for the first time when a disaster occurs.
- Live exercises. Live exercises range from a small scale test of one aspect of the response, like evacuation, through to a full scale test of the whole organisation to an incident. Live exercises provide the best means of confirming the satisfactory operation of emergency communications, and the use of 'casualties' can add to the realism. This type of drill provide the only means for fully testing the crucial arrangements for handling the media
Dealing with the media
Following a disaster certain sections of the media can attack any organisation or individual they regard as culpable. They will demand instant information and details, and interviews with experts and survivors. They will strive to pin the blame on someone and will focus intensively on the human elements of the story. However, by understanding the media's needs, preparing a proper strategy in association with them and testing it during exercises, the senior managers' and organisation's chances of being sympathetically portrayed are greatly enhanced.
What happens after an exercise?
Whatever type of exercise is chosen it is important to evaluate the event. A report of successes and failures to management and a record of subsequent changes to the plan is a vital part of the overall learning process. In the event of a disaster, previous exercise reports demonstrate to the community, and any subsequent formal enquiry, the commitment of the organisation to the safety of people and its surroundings.
Still need some inspiration? Take a look at some case studies showing how UK businesses have responded to real emergencies.
