What are the key considerations for training your team on emergency preparedness and response?

When conducting your risk assessments, don't ignore certain possibilities because they are too terrifying or seem unlikely. After the bombing attack on the World Trade Center in 1993, which security specialist Richard Rescorla had correctly identified as a potential risk, he then identified deliberate plane impacts as the next most likely scenario, and drilled evacuation of the Morgan Stanley WTC offices religiously. On the day of the September 11th attacks, all Morgan Stanley employees escaped and survived, except for Rescorla and a security guard who went back into the tower to look for other survivors. The tower collapsed with them still inside. Look at ALL potential risks, even the ones you don't want to think about.

In my opinion, the absolute most critical topic for training an emergency response team is the concept of assessment. Assess the incident scene first, THEN respond. Without correct assessment of the emergency, hazards are missed or ignored and that turns responders into additional victims. I am merciless with this concept in training scenarios. If a student forgets to assess the scene and they approach first, I tell them they just stepped on a live power line and they are now dead, or some other relevant cause of death. That might sound harsh, but if responders-in-training do not grasp this concept first and foremost, they will not only become ineffective responders during a real emergency, they will probably also become a casualty.

Training should also include how to respond and improvise if no equipment is available. Yes, it's great if you have an entire locker full of emergency response gear, but suppose a tornado destroys the building and that locker is now gone. How do we respond now? We assess, adapt, and overcome. We don't waste time lamenting the fact that we no longer have our emergency response equipment; we look around to see what materials we *do* have that we can use and we work with that to the best of our ability. Emergencies rarely produce perfect response scenarios. Training needs to take that into account.

If there is one thing I've learned from years of emergency response is that simulations are absolutely critical to the most effective response to any incident. The simulations need to be as realistic and chaotic as possible. Injured people, entrapment, fatalities, screaming, loud noises, fire, smoke... whatever you can do to make the sim as close to the real thing as possible (without putting people in actual danger, of course). Then record the entire response for analysis and additional training.

One final comment on training: Responders need to know how to recognize when they are faced with an injury or situation that is beyond their training or ability and make the decision to move on to help others. Triaging victims during an emergency will involve some of the most difficult decision-making responders will ever face. But spending half an hour attempting to treat a single casualty with a fatal head injury rather than assisting five other casualties with serious but non-fatal injuries is the wrong decision, and some people have a problem with that if they're not properly prepared. The concept that some victims might not be able to be saved also needs to be introduced to responders in training and included in simulations.