MORBID ANATOMY
Exercise Unified Response: victim identification training
Sixteen anatomical pathology technologists were involved recently in the response to the biggest victim identification training exercise seen in the UK. Mike Conway, David Ridgewell and Terry Venn-Adams report.
Exercise Unified Response was a London Fire Brigade/London Resilience Partnership-led major disaster exercise co-funded by the European Union. It was a test of the national and international response to a mass casualty, mass fatality disaster. The scenario was set in Central London, but the exercise site was actually situated at Littlebrook Power Station near Dartford in Kent, and was based on a building collapse over Underground train tunnels. The collapsed building breached the train tunnel while a train comprising eight carriages was travelling through, causing a large-scale transport incident resulting in mass casualties, fatalities and disruption to services and utilities. This tested various aspects of emergency
response and involved the emergency services, local authorities, the National Health Service and many other multi-agency partners. The National Disaster Victim Identification Unit (UK DVI) also secured
European Union funding to run a mass fatality DVI element to the exercise.
Scene element London Police Region DVI teams (Metropolitan, City of London and British Transport Police) worked at the simulated disaster scene alongside Fire Urban Search & Rescue (USAR) and Ambulance Service Hazardous Area Response Teams (HART). The scene consisted of a simulated building and tunnel collapse that was constructed within an old power station building; this included a tube station ticket hall, barriers, stairs, tunnels and platform, as well as the eight carriages derailed and buried in building and tunnel rubble.
Mortuary element: national mutual aid A temporary mortuary was constructed close to the disaster scene. Personnel from all 10 UK police regions supplied national mutual aid to the mortuary operation. In addition,
forensic specialists and contractors contributed to the UK DVI capability and worked to support the mortuary operation. Disaster Victim Identification teams
collected and recorded post-mortem data from role players and mannequins in the temporary mortuary.
International mutual aid International USAR assistance was supplied to London Fire Brigade via the European Union Civil Protection Mechanism. International DVI assistance was coordinated by the INTERPOL DVI Working Group. International mutual aid was supplied by The Netherlands, Belgium, Luxembourg, France and Germany. Also involved were DVI personnel from Denmark, Spain, Italy and Cyprus.
Anatomical pathology technology response Jan Gibson from the Queen’s Hospital in Romford was the nominated lead for the exercise; she enlisted assistance from the UK DVI APT Cadre (Mike Conway and Dave Ridgewell) as they had assisted her with a number of previous exercises. As the exercise was based on an incident in London, the event organisers requested that London- based anatomical pathology technologists (APTs) were targeted and requested to attend.
The exercise was based on a building collapse over Underground train tunnels. 252 MAY 2016 THE BIOMEDICAL SCIENTIST
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