We regularly take part in training
exercises, often with our emergency service colleagues, to test our
plans for handling a major incident.
Some of these exercises are carried out as
live exercises—where staff attend a set-up scene and deal with
‘real’ patients, played by volunteers
Others take the form of tabletop exercises
which test our staff in their strategic management of an
incident.
Recent live exercises include:
-
Exercise to test the ability of
the emergency services to deal with a major chemical
incident
Organised by the Health Protection
Agency, the scenario was centred around a large sporting event for
disabled athletes. The ‘incident’ involved two minibuses carrying
athletes crashing into a lorry full of chemicals. The
decontamination team worked closely with the hazardous area
response team (HART) to clean the patients of any chemicals. The
patients were initially assessed and transported to decontamination
tents using a Polaris - a newly acquired vehicle
allowing staff to drive into a hazardous scene wearing protective
clothing.
-
An exercise to test our response to a
chemical incident at a water treatment
We worked with
other organisations to test what would happen if there was a
chlorine spillage at a water treatment plant. During the exercise
staff wore gas-tight suits and used the specialist chemical
detection equipment they would use in a real incident.
- A combined airport and chemical
incident exercise
This live exercise involved a
scenario where a plane crashed into a gas works and volunteers
acted as real patients. We used this as an opportunity to look at
how we would respond if this type incident became a reality. Over
the course of the day the plans of all of the emergency services
were tested.
- An exercise on London Underground to
test the radio system
Teams from each of the
emergency services went down to an underground setting to test the
radio system. We were able to trial the use of one radio channel to
communicate between different emergency services, so that if there
was a major incident we would be able to communicate with each
other more easily and quickly.
- An evacuation at Royal Brompton
Hospital
This exercise tested how we would work with
the local hospital to evacuate patients from one of their
wards.
- A crash in the Rotherhithe
Tunnel
This exercise, arranged by Transport for
London, tested the plans of all the emergency services in
responding to a crash involving a large number of vehicles.
Together we had to carry out a rescue operation in a cramped and
noisy environment, where communication was extremely
difficult.
Recent tabletop exercises include:
- Major incident exercise to test our
ability to respond to a multi-site terrorist attack on London with
mass casualties
The scenarios included reports of
gunfire at train stations, a hijacked ambulance and boat and
suspect abandoned vehicles in locations across London. More than 70
senior staff took part in the tabletop event, working with police,
fire and local councils to coordinate the response to the
attacks.
- Terrorist attack in a crowded
area
Our staff attended an interactive tabletop
exercise where they were put through a realistic simulation of a
terrorist attack in a crowded urban environment. This exercise
looked at how different London agencies would work together in the
event of a terrorist attack.
- Serious incident in a
prison
During this exercise we worked with the prison
service to show how we would respond to a serious incident within a
prison. This is part of a series of exercises promoting better
working practices between the services.
- Pandemic flu
preparations
As part of our preparations for a
potential pandemic flu outbreak, our staff attended a training
exercise with Westminster Primary Care Trust, and other agencies,
to show how we would respond. This exercise was part of an ongoing
national strategy to help strengthen communication and working
relationships during an outbreak situation.
- Flooding in
London
This exercise tested
how we, and other agencies, would manage a situation where parts of
London were severely flooded.