Annex E: Training, Testing, Exercise

Approval and Implementation

Dallas College Support Annex E – Training, Testing, Exercise

This Emergency Operations Plan Annex is hereby approved for Dallas College. This plan annex is effective immediately and supersedes all previous editions.

Authority

See Emergency Operations Plan, Authority.

Introduction

This Support Annex to the Emergency Operations Plan (EOP) provides a comprehensive list of requirements and procedures for the District’s emergency operations training, testing, and exercising.

Purpose

The purpose of this annex is to provide the campus community with an effective and efficient emergency response to real or threatened emergency situations by facilitating trained staff, exercised plans, and tested warning systems to meet the objectives identified in the EOP and its annexes.

Scope

All functions identified in the EOP and its annexes will be subject to tests, training and exercises established under this support annex. In addition, county, state, federal, volunteers, and private sector organizations will be included periodically as each are available to augment district capabilities in actual emergency situations.

Situation

Training and Exercise functions and responsibilities are ongoing and independent of the threat or onset of an emergency or disaster event.
Professional development and specific functional training will be required of those operating in the Emergency Operations Center (EOC), Emergency Support Functions (ESFs), or other identified support roles.
Training on emergency procedures must be provided to faculty, staff, and students.
The testing of emergency notification systems and emergency procedures is performed to ensure the working order of such systems and expose the campus community to their functionality prior to any real emergency.
The emergency notification systems must be tested while members of the campus community are present to expose the public to the functionality of the system. Efforts must be made to minimize impact on instruction during system tests.
The all hazards emergency operations plan utilizes National Incident Management System (NIMS), which accounts for emergency management activities before, during, and after emergency operations.

Assumptions

New students, faculty, and staff may not be familiar with the District’s emergency plan and will require orientation on emergency procedures.
Regular training opportunities will be required for the campus community in order to maintain awareness with newly enrolled students and staff turnover.
Contingencies must be made for all tests and exercises to accommodate for the potential of a real emergency occurring during any scenario.

Concept of Operations

Exercise Methods

Mandatory exercises will be conducted by the District on a regular basis (at least once annually per campus) at times to be determined by the Emergency Management Coordinator (EMC). The following exercise methods may be used to test the EOC; emergency operations plan effectiveness, and practice emergency skills and procedures:

Exercise Methods

Drills	A coordinated, supervised exercise activity normally used to test a single specific operation or function. Drills may be used to practice a trained, manipulative activity used to prove, build or refresh skills and is based on organizational standard operating procedures (i.e. testing of the EOC activation call out procedure and successor list, evacuation or shelter drills in a specific building or residence hall.)
Tabletops	A facilitated, scenario driven exercise, designed to provide an analysis of an emergency situation in an informal and stress-free environment. It is designed to elicit constructive discussion as participants examine and resolve problems based on existing operational plans and identify where those plans need to be refined. Management personnel are provided a written scenario that steps participants through an activity. Participants affirm the process or identify problematic or incorrect assumptions as the scenario is played out. The tabletop exercise is thus used to practice emergency management skills, identify organizational or operational shortfalls, and build confidence in the overall Emergency Operations Center process (i.e. EM, Police, Fire, and EOC Staff gather at the EOC and, based on several escalating scenarios, talk through their operational responsibilities involving HAZMAT events involving airborne toxic releases.)
Functional	A scenario driven, fully simulated interactive exercise, which tests the capability of an organization to respond to a simulated event. This form of exercise tests multiple functions of the organization’s operational plan. It is a coordinated response to a situation in a time-pressured, realistic simulation. The activity allows the organization to practice management or activity skills and to build coordination and teamwork (i.e. EM, Police, Fire, EMS, and EOC Staff gather at the EOC and based on a mass casualty scenario, work through their operational responsibilities involving response and recovery issues.)
Full Scale	This exercise is a simulation of an actual disaster with real time exercise input and messages. Depending on the level of the exercise, it may include the use of props, actors, specialized equipment, and special effects in some instances to maximize realism. A full-scale exercise requires a high degree of training, organization, and planning. It can, however, be invaluable to practice all aspects of the emergency operations plan and to build teamwork and communications between all functional areas and external support elements of a community emergency event (i.e. EMC facilitates the involvement of all those involved in responding to a gas leak and explosion which has resulted in substantial facility damage, trapped victims, and mass casualties. The EOC is fully activated and field personnel are actively involved on scene, at a field command center, at area hospitals, and at a joint information center.)

Dallas College Emergency Notification System Testing

The Dallas College Emergency notification system will be tested in compliance with state and federal laws requiring at least annual tests. A testing schedule will be established to provide guidance for setting test times and mode activations and is designed to exceed legal requirements. Dallas College emergency notification systems will not be tested during or surrounding any known potential event requiring the actual activation of the system. The activation of the system for any real situation will be documented and considered a system test completion in place of any other test for that period only if the annual test has already been met in Clery compliance.

The Dallas College emergency notification system is discussed further in the EOP’s Warning support annex, published under a separate cover.

Clery Compliance for Drills, Exercises, and Tests

The Jeanne Clery Act requires institutions of higher education to test emergency response and evacuation procedures on at least an annual basis. The Clery regulations define a “test” as regularly scheduled drills, exercises, and appropriate follow-through activities, designed for assessment and evaluation of emergency plans and capabilities. To comply with Clery requirements the test must meet all of the criteria in the definition. Tests must:

Be scheduled. An actual emergency situation or a false emergency alarm may not serve as a test of the institution’s procedures. (Note: Scheduled testing that exceeds legal requirements may be cancelled to allow the emergency to be documented in the place of a test, but only if legal minimum requirements have been met.)
Contain drills. A drill is an activity that tests a single procedural operation (e.g., a test of initiating a cell phone alert system or a test of campus personnel conducting a campus lockdown).
Contain exercises. An exercise is a test involving coordination of efforts (e.g., a test of the coordination of first responders, including police, firefighters and emergency medical technicians).
Contain follow-through activities. A follow-through activity is an activity designed to review the test (e.g., a survey or interview to obtain feedback from participants).
Be designed for assessment of emergency plans and capabilities. This means that the test should have measurable goals. For example, “Everyone involved Support Annex A: Warning tasked in emergency response and notification procedures will understand his or her role and responsibility.”
Be designed for evaluation of emergency plans and capabilities. Design the test so that, using the assessments, it may be determined if the test met its goals. For example, “The evacuation process accounted for/did not account for the diverse needs of all members of the campus community.”
Documentation will be maintained for all tests to include:
- A description of the drill or exercise (i.e., the test).
- The date the test was held.
- The time the test started and ended.
- Whether the test was announced or unannounced.

Individual and Cohort Training Requirements

District-Conducted Training for the College Community

Students

All incoming students requiring orientation by the institution shall be provided an All-Hazard training on emergency procedures either in a face-to-face session or online.
Emergency procedures from the District’s Emergency Response Guide, published separately, shall be publicized in conjunction with at least one annual drill, exercise, or test. The publicized section of the procedures will correspond with the test being conducted and be broadcast by email and social media.
See EOP Life/Safety Drills Support Document for frequency of Drills.
Additional situation or incident specific training may be conducted at the discretion of the EMC.

Employees

All new employees shall be familiarized with the District’s emergency procedures during new employee orientation by the EMC.
Emergency procedures from the District’s Emergency Response Guide, published separately, shall be publicized in conjunction with at least one annual drill, exercise, or test. The publicized section of the procedures will correspond with the test being conducted and be broadcast by email and social media.
See EOP Life/Safety Drills Support Document for frequency of Drills.
Additional situation or incident specific training may be conducted at the discretion of the EMC.

District-Required Training for EOP Functions

The District shall require those filling a role, function, or operating within an annex to the EOP to maintain a minimum level of training. The chart below outlines the training required by position. Other than the EMC position, all training is available for free online through the FEMA Emergency Management Institute. Each function must provide a copy of the certificate of completion for each training course to the EMC and Professional Development for record keeping.

Documentation

All training will be documented to include time and date. Rosters will be included with documentation of training topics and schedule.

Responsibilities

All individuals or departments responsible for staffing a position at the EOC during an emergency, operating within an ESF, or providing support to EOC operations, therefore, they are responsible for cooperating and assisting the EMC by making staff available to participate to the fullest extent possible in testing, training, and exercise activities.

Terms and References

Acronyms

EMC	Emergency Management Coordinator
EOC	Emergency Operations or Operating Center
ESF	Emergency Support Function
FEMA	Federal Emergency Management Agency
IS	Independent Study (FEMA)
NIMS	National Incident Management System
PIO	Public Information Officer
SOPs	Standard Operating Procedures

Definitions

Clery Act	The Jeanne Clery Disclosure of Campus Security Policy and Campus Crime Statistics Act or Clery Act, signed in 1990, is a federal statute codified at 20 U.S.C. § 1092(f), with implementing regulations in the U.S. Code of Federal Regulations at 34 C.F.R. 668.46 that includes mandates for emergency notification and emergency procedure testing.
Emergency Operations Center	Specially equipped facilities from which government officials exercise direction and control and coordinate necessary resources in an emergency situation.
Standard Operating Procedures	Approved methods for accomplishing a task or set of tasks. SOPs are typically prepared at the department or agency level. May also be referred to as Standard Operating Guidelines (SOGs).

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