Book It!
“Emergency Management Exercises” Written by Regina Phelps
Reviewed by James J. Leflar, Jr., MA, CPP, CBCP, MBCI
Most of us became familiar with emergency exercises when we entered primary school or pre-school. We learned to queue up and march outside when the fire alarm went off – the classic fire drill. The simple routine of getting up and leaving a building in an orderly fashion has become ingrained in our memories. Practicing what to do during an emergency is of such importance we continue to view emergency drills as fundamental to foster a safe work environment. Exercise planners must understand what is necessary to
develop an effective exercise to achieve the level of response performance expected during an emergency. Emergency Management Exercises, written by Regina Phelps, provides the necessary information and is an exceptional reference source that should be on the required reading list for all emergency management practitioners.
Phelps has provided a well-crafted book with considerable practical value to professionals involved in planning, implementing, and evaluating exercises. The author has communicated her many years of experience and considerable knowledge in a format that builds in a progressive manner from the most basic exercises to the more complex. The six types of exercises (orientation, drill, tabletop, functional, full-scale, and multi-site) are discussed in sufficient detail to ensure the reader will be able to develop and implement an appropriate exercise. Phelps decided not to expound upon the multi-site exercise because of the level of complexity involved in that specific type of exercise, but provides a great deal of information about the other five types. The decision to limit the information on the multi-site type is not a detriment to the book or the message conveyed; the multi-site is the least used type of exercise. The five detailed types of exercises are presented in a straight-forward approach taking the reader from initial selection of an exercise type through full development, implementation, and evaluation. This approach should not be viewed as simplistic, but rather as a good author taking a complex subject and making the material interesting, readable and highly informative to a diverse audience.
Phelps knows that readers come from many fields (crisis management, business continuity, security management, first responder, disaster recovery, emergency management, etc.) and her approach to communicating the material contained in this book is independent of a specific field. She focuses on the exercise, which allows the discipline-specific professional to use the information for his or her particular needs. The discipline neutral approach is wise and effective because the actual exercise discussion is generic and allows the reader to apply an individual customized exercise event summary to the specific needs of the organization. There are clear explanations for the aforementioned exercise types along with a plethora of examples that can be immediately used. The components for each exercise type are provided with helpful advice such as the length of preparation time, examples of injects for events to challenge the participants, and how to evaluate each exercise. Phelps has done an excellent job of providing a useful book for practitioners to immediately begin developing and implementing exercises. This is a must have book for practitioners.
About the Reviewer: James J. Leflar, Jr., MA, CPP, CBCP, MBCI
Mr. Leflar is the Principal Consultant for Fleur de Lis Consultancy Group LLC. He has extensive experience in organizational resilience, crisis management, business continuity, security, and law enforcement operations. He was active in the development of five ANSI/ASIS Standards addressing Organizational Resilience and Business Continuity. He is also an active member of the ISO U.S. Technical Advisory Group (TAG) 223 for Societal Security, Working Group 4 – Preparedness and Continuity. He co- authored Organizational Resilience: Managing the Risks of Disruptive Events - A Practitioner's Guide.
Published by CRC Press in May, 2013.,. In addition, he is an active member and former Chair of the ASIS International Crisis Management and Business Continuity Council.
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