London's Plans
London Exercises

Exercises are an important management tool for informing and motivating personnel and giving confidence to those who may be required to respond in a crisis. They provide the only comprehensive way of realistically evaluating contingency plans.

London Exercises

The Government aims to ensure all organisations are fully prepared for all types of emergencies. Integral to that is the practicing and testing of all the elements of emergency plans.

What is an exercise?

An exercise is a simulation of an emergency situation.

Exercises have three main purposes:

• to validate plans.
• to develop staff competencies and give them practice in carrying out their roles in the plans.
• to test well-established procedures.

Why exercise?

Planning for emergencies cannot be considered reliable until it is exercised and has proved to be workable, especially since false confidence may be placed in the integrity of a written plan.

Generally, participants in exercises should have an awareness of their roles and be reasonably comfortable with them, before they are subject to the stresses of an exercise. Exercising tests procedures, not people. If staff are under-prepared, they may blame the plan, when they should blame their lack of preparation and training. An important aim of an exercise should be to make people feel more comfortable in their roles and to build morale.

Types of exercises

There are three main types of exercise:

• discussion-based;
• table top; and
• live.

Further Information