Curious About Table Top Mock Drills? Let's Explore Their Purpose and Benefits Together

Table Top Mock Drill (TTMD) Guidance

Please guide on Table Top mock drill (TTMD) with the following points:

1. What is meant by TTMD?
2. Who is required to attend?
3. How is it conducted?
4. What are the benefits of TTMD over a regular mock drill?
5. Provide a sample to learn and implement TTMD.
6. Where is the requirement to conduct TTMD mentioned in the Factory Act-1948?

Regards,
Abhay

Dear Abhay,

Understanding Table Top Exercises (TTE)

TTMD or TTE is an established mode of emergency preparedness evaluation. Basically, what we do in a TTE is similar to a regular mock drill except that field actions are not taken.

Procedure for Conducting a TTE

The procedure usually followed is: The initiator of the exercise identifies the scenario, develops action cards for the expected actions by all the members of the incident control team (Operations, Fire, HSE, Security, Maintenance), selects and notifies the observers, and a convenient time and meeting place is fixed.

At the selected time, the drill is initiated, usually from the field by means of communication from the field operator. All the members of ICT then complete their set of actions by way of communicating the same to the incident controller.

Post-Drill Debriefing

Post-drill, a debrief session for the participants is conducted. The scenario, its impact, and the mitigation efforts are discussed. Feedback from the observers is discussed, and actions are noted for completion along with target date and responsibility.

Benefits of a Table Top Exercise

The benefits of a TTE are the logistics and time duration. My personal experience is that management is quite receptive to a TTE being conducted rather than a full-fledged mock drill due to the fact that it reduces the time spent by Operations personnel. As a Safety professional, I schedule both the drills.

As usual, feedback from forum members is welcome.

Thank you and best regards,

Thanks a lot for the great explanation. The term Table Top Mock Drill was very new to me, and thanks to Abhay for starting such a thread. I am looking forward to hearing the views on the topic from other members too. Please do participate, and let's try to make each and every discussion a healthy one.

Regards,
Dipil Kumar V

Dear All,

This is really a good topic to discuss. It is also called a Tabletop Exercise, which we are conducting at our plant. It is a type of Mock Drill held at a table in the conference room. During this exercise, all Emergency Team Members gather around one table. A scenario is presented, and everyone is given two minutes to think and decide on the actions to take.

Once the mock drill commences, the Tabletop Exercise begins. Each team member takes turns describing their role in the scenario to address the emergency. If any mistakes or observations are noted, they are addressed to the respective person to clarify any doubts in the scenario.

We conduct this exercise weekly. When the actual mock drill takes place, it will be based on the conducted Tabletop Exercise. This practice helps all individuals to successfully participate in the mock drill. Please share your comments.

Regards,
Shailesh

Table Top Mock Drill is a planning tool used as the first step in developing and testing contingency plans for emergencies, business recovery, crisis management, mission planning, etc. It is a suggested methodology used in the US Government's National Incident Management System (NIMS).

Basically, participants selected according to resource criteria in NIMS are gathered together to take a scenario (possible situation) and work through the response to and management of that scenario in a conference room or seminar (classroom) setting. The TTMD follows the process flow of incident management, and preliminary assessments of needs and bottlenecks are identified. Secondly, it acts as a training tool for the participants to get them used to working with each other and dealing with the incident or mission as a team working within the system.

Participants are those individuals, organizations, and/or agencies who may be expected to manage the incident or mission. These are selected by the IC (Incident Commander) and Planner.

There are several ways to conduct it. The most common method is to gather the participants in a room at a specified time, review the basics of the NIMS, and present the scenario. Notes are kept of responses to the scenario, areas needing improvement, and lessons learned in conducting the TTMD.

The TTMD benefits are in pre-planning and resolving issues before an active drill and in providing training to the participants.

Unfortunately, I do not have my NIMS training examples here at this site. You may want to "Google" the following topics:

- Incident Command System
- National Incident Management System
- Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA)
- Scenario-based training, Scenario-based testing
- Crisis Management

Hope that this information helps...

Thanks & Be safe,

Regards,
Raghu

Guidance on Conducting a Mock Drill

Please guide me on how to conduct a mock drill:

1. What is meant by a mock drill?
2. Who is required to attend?
3. How is it conducted?
4. What are the benefits of it over regular mock drills?
5. Can I have a sample to learn from and implement?
6. In the Factory Act of 1948, where is it mentioned to conduct a mock drill?
7. Please provide me with document formats as soon as possible.

Regards,
Tushar
[Phone Number Removed For Privacy Reasons]

Thank you all for your inputs, as this was a new term for me as well. Now, I am clear on it and will discuss at the corporate level to conduct such TTMD in our plants also.

Regards,
Inderjeet Singh
"Born to lead."

The TTMD or TTE is not encouraged by the Factory Inspectors in India. It can be useful to design the system, but once done, a complete mock drill is necessary. There are various disadvantages to these.

Thanks & Regards,
Sudhir

Understanding Tabletop Discussions and Mock Drills

Tabletop discussion means pre-planning for the mock drill. It is possible to conduct only before conducting the announced mock drills (not before surprise mock drills). Normally, announced mock drills will be conducted in the initial stage for proper coordination amongst all team members. A tabletop exercise should always be followed by a drill.

Clarifications on Mock Drills

Dear Mr. Tushar, you asked many questions. Please search on this site, and you will find clarifications for them.

1. What is meant by a mock drill?
A. A mock drill is a practice or trial to evaluate emergency preparedness and response.

2. Who is required to attend?
A. Every person in the organization/firm/company.

3. How is it conducted?
A. Refer to this site for more information.

4. What are the benefits?
A. To control emergencies without or as low as reasonably practicable (ALARP) losses.

5. Where is it mentioned?
A. See Rule no. 13 of MSIHC Rules 1989.

Regards

Dear all,

Thank you for the discussion in TTE and for providing valuable information. Could you please send the procedures and PowerPoint presentation for the tabletop mock drill exercise?

Thank you.