Beyond the hit-and-run tabletop exercise
Abstract
Post-disaster is not the time to discover whether one’s business continuity and emergency plans work. To assess effectiveness, many organisations and businesses conduct exercises on a regular basis. A cycle of plan, train, exercise, repeat is a reliable method of continuously improving an organisation’s ability to survive a threatening man-made or natural event. For organisations that exercise their plans on a regular basis, interjecting a novel approach into this cycle is often a welcome change of pace. Long-term tabletops offer this change of pace and a number of other benefits such as time to formulate well thought-out responses, allowing ‘play’ from secondary and tertiary responders, and the flexibility to adapt the exercise in mid-stream. While no method of exercising is without flaws, long-term tabletops maintain the strengths of traditional tabletops while adding additional benefits.
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Author's Biography
Keith Hansen is Coordinator for Pandemic Influenza Education and Outreach with the Center for Biopreparedness Education, a collaborative effort between the University of Nebraska Medical Center and Creighton University. He is also a member of the Nebraska State Emergency Response Commission. His responsibilities have included the creation and implementation of the state’s strategic national stockpile plan, exercise development and implementation, and coordination of the public health and medical disaster responses in conjunction with the Nebraska Emergency Management Agency. He has extensive experience in public health education, public health and disaster response training, and exercising disaster plans.
Lea Pounds is the Marketing Director for the Center for Biopreparedness Education and also performs a programme coordination role. She holds a designation as a Master Exercise Practitioner from the Federal Emergency Management Agency/US Department of Homeland Security. She has worked in exercising healthcare and business disaster response for the past two years. Lea’s area of expertise includes helping service and non-profit organisations develop effective communications programmes.
Citation
Hansen, Keith and Pounds, Lea (2009, February 1). Beyond the hit-and-run tabletop exercise. In the Journal of Business Continuity & Emergency Planning, Volume 3, Issue 2. https://doi.org/10.69554/WHGP7589.
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