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Large Emergency-Response Exercises: Qualitative Characteristics - A Survey

University of London, UK, yang-im.lee{at}rhul.ac.uk

Peter Trim

University of London, UK, p.trim{at}bbk.ac.uk

Julia Upton

SW London St. Georges and Oxleas NHS Trusts, UK,julia{at}upton.cc

David Upton

Stirling Reid Ltd., UK, davidupton{at}stirlingreid.com

Exercises, drills, or simulations are widely used, by governments, agencies and commercial organizations, to simulate serious incidents and train staff how to respond to them. International cooperation has led to increasingly large-scale exercises, often involving hundreds or even thousands of participants in many locations. The difference between ‘large’ and ‘small’ exercises is more than one of size: (a) Large exercises are more ‘experiential’ and more likely to undermine any model of reality that single organizations may create; (b) they create a ‘play space’ in which organizations and individuals act out their own needs and identifications, and a ritual with strong social implications; (c) group-analytic psychotherapy suggests that the emotions aroused in a large group may be stronger and more difficult to control. Feelings are an unacknowledged major factor in the success or failure of exercises; (d) successful large exercises help improve the nature of trust between individuals and the organizations they represent, changing it from a situational trust to a personal trust; (e) it is more difficult to learn from large exercises or to apply the lessons identified; (f) however, large exercises can help develop organizations and individuals. Exercises (and simulation in general) need to be approached from a broader multidisciplinary direction if their full potential is to be realized.

Key Words: agency • bomb threats • crisis • disaster • drill • emergency • emergency response • emotions • exercise • experiential • feelings • fire service • government • group psychotherapy • health agencies • incident • industrial accidents • large group • ‘large’ exercises • large-scale exercises • learning • military • multidisciplinarity • personal trust • play • ‘play space’ • police • psychology • role-play • ritual • simulation • situational trust • situationism • social implications • staff training • trust

This version was published on December 1, 2009

Simulation & Gaming, Vol. 40, No. 6, 726-751 (2009)
DOI: 10.1177/1046878109334006


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