Human Decontamination - Decontamination Exercises

Decontamination Exercises

Decontamination Exercises are frequently used to test the preparedness of emergency plans and personnel.

Exercises are of three types:

• Tabletop - An exercise held with responsible personnel in which a facilitator relays information about a scenario to the group. The group then discusses the actions they each would take in the given situation. There is no "live response" or use of assets. The table top is a low impact, low stress method to review emergency plans.
• Functional - A functional exercise involves the agencies involved in an Emergency Operations Center, a scenario is presented and the players go through the actions they would if it were a real incident. The exercise tests the technical resources and plans of the Emergency Operations Center. There is no "live response" outside of the Emergency Operations Center.
• Full Scale - A full scale exercise is the most involved type of exercise and the most difficult to plan and execute. Full scale exercises can vary in size from one agency or municipality to multinational exercises such as the US Government lead annual TOPOFF exercise. In a full scale exercise a scenario is created and acted out in a real world manner. Responders are expected to act in accordance with established plans and as they would in a real incident. At times certain parts of the exercise have to be simulated due to equipment, financial, or safety reasons, sometimes making the scenario confusing. Full scale exercises are often used as a chance to test and rate an agencies true level of preparedness.