After Action Report Workplace Down Exercise
ADMINISTRATIVE HANDLING INSTRUCTIONS
1. The title of this document is The "Workplace Down - An Active Shooter Tabletop Exercise" After Action Report.
2. The information gathered in this AAR/IP is classified as For Official Use Only (FOUO) and should be handled as sensitive information not to be disclosed. This document should be safeguarded, handled, transmitted, and stored in accordance with appropriate security directives.
3. At a minimum, the attached materials will be disseminated only on a need-to-know basis and when unattended, will be stored in a locked container or area offering sufficient protection against theft, compromise, inadvertent access, and unauthorized disclosure.
4. Points of Contact:
Emergency Management:
Robby Powers
City of Tallahassee
(Office) 850-891-2536
(E-Mail)
Exercise Director:
Chris Floyd
Disaster Resistant Communities Group LLC
(Office) 850-241-3565
(E-Mail)
CONTENTS
ADMINISTRATIVE HANDLING INSTRUCTIONS 2
CONTENTS 3
EXECUTIVE SUMMARY 4
SECTION 1: EXERCISE OVERVIEW 5
Exercise Details 5
Participant Information 5
SECTION 2: EXERCISE DESIGN SUMMARY 8
Exercise Purpose and Design 8
Exercise Objectives, Capabilities and Activities 8
Scenario Summary 8
SECTION 3: ANALYSIS OF CAPABILITIES 9
SECTION 4: CONCLUSION 10
APPENDIX A: IMPROVEMENT PLAN 11
APPENDIX B: PARTICIPANT FEEDBACK (Strengths – Areas for Improvement) 12
APPENDIX C: ACRONYMS 18
EXECUTIVE SUMMARY
Workplace Down - An Active Shooter Tabletop Exercise was designed and facilitated as an opportunity for the staff and management that make up a workplace to work through scenario information and injects dealing with an active shooter incident occurring within the office.
During the exercise, workplace management and employees had the opportunity to work together as a team as they faced the various challenges associated with responding to a workplace active shooter incident.
The purpose of this report is to analyze exercise results, identify strengths to be maintained and built upon, identify potential areas for further improvement, and support development of corrective actions.
Incorporated in Section 3: Analysis of Capabilities of this After Action Report is a comprehensive listing of each Core Capability with its associated Major Strengths, Primary Areas for Improvement and Improvement Recommendations
SECTION 1: EXERCISE OVERVIEW
Exercise Details
Exercise Name: / Workplace Down - An Active Shooter Tabletop ExerciseType of Exercise: / Tabletop
Exercise Start Date: / September 30, 2015
Duration: / Two Hours
Location: / North Florida / South Georgia
Sponsor: / City of Tallahassee
Purpose: The exercise was designed and facilitated as an opportunity for the staff and management that make up a workplace to work through scenario information and injects dealing with an active shooter incident occurring within the office.
During the exercise, workplace management and employees had the opportunity to work together as a team as they faced the various challenges associated with responding to a workplace active shooter incident.
Scenario Type: Workplace Active Shooting
Participant Information
Participant / Agency / OrganizationCity of Roanoke Fire Department
City of Tallahassee Emergency Management Department
Coeur d'Alene School District
Doctors' Memorial Hospital
FBMC Benefits Management Inc
Florida Department of Revenue
Florida Office of Financial Regulation
FSU Credit Union
Heritage Health
Indiana National Guard
Lauren's Littlest Angels
Medical Reserve Corps
Medical Reserve Corps of North Idaho
Northwest Speciality Hospital
Northwest Specialty Hospital
Panhandle Public Health District
Prince George's County Office of Homeland Security
Salvation Army
Shoshone Medical Center
St Joan of Arc Chapel
State of Florida Office of Financial Regulation
STEM Charter Academy
Tallahassee Pulmonary Clinic
Thomas County Emergency Management Agency
Thomasville City School District
Thomasville City School District - Harper Elementary School
Thomasville City School District - Jerger Elementary School
Thomasville City School District - MacIntyre Park Middle School
Thomasville City School District - Performance Center
Thomasville City School District - Scholars Academy
Thomasville City School District - Scott Elementary School
Thomasville City School District - Thomasville High School
VolunteerLEON
Wildwood Church
Winn-Dixie
Number of Participants / 79
SECTION 2: EXERCISE DESIGN SUMMARY
Exercise Purpose and Design
The exercise was designed and facilitated as an opportunity for the staff and management that make up a workplace to work through scenario information and injects dealing with an active shooter incident occurring within the office.
During the exercise, workplace management and employees had the opportunity to work together as a team as they faced the various challenges associated with responding to a workplace active shooter incident.
Exercise Objectives, Capabilities and Activities
Capabilities-based planning allows for the exercise planning team to develop exercise objectives and observe exercise outcomes through a framework of specific action items that were derived from the Core Capabilities List. The capabilities listed below form the foundation for the organization of all objectives and observations in this exercise. Additionally, each capability is linked to several corresponding activities and tasks to provide additional detail.
Based upon the identified exercise objectives below, the exercise planning team decided to demonstrate the following capabilities during this exercise:
Activity / Core CapabilityNot Applicable / Not Applicable
Scenario Summary
It’s been an extremely challenging time at your workplace and the entire workforce has been under significant stress.
The workplace has recently experienced a number of layoffs.
At 10:42AM, a recently terminated employee walks into the building armed with several guns and begins shooting employees and bystanders.
Your workplace must now deal with an active shooter situation.
SECTION 3: ANALYSIS OF CAPABILITIES
Not Applicable
SECTION 4: CONCLUSION
Exercises such as this one allow personnel to validate training and practice strategic and tactical prevention, protection, response and recovery capabilities in a risk-reduced environment. Exercises are the primary tool for assessing preparedness and identifying areas for improvement, while demonstrating community resolve to prepare for major incidents.
Exercises aim to help entities within the community gain objective assessments of their capabilities so that gaps, deficiencies, and vulnerabilities are addressed prior to a real incident.
Exercises are the most effective (and safer) means to:
· Assess and validate policies, plans, procedures, training, equipment, assumptions, and interagency agreements;
· Clarify roles and responsibilities;
· Improve interagency coordination and communications;
· Identify gaps in resources;
· Measure performance; and
· Identify opportunities for improvement.
This exercise succeeded in addressing all of the above as it provided examples of good to excellent participant knowledge, teamwork, communication and use of plans and procedures while pointing out areas in need of improvement and clarification.
Listed below is a summary of the level of performance the Core Capabilities and Tasks evaluated during the exercise. This summary outlines the areas in which exercise participants are strong as well as identifying areas that the departments should invest future planning, training and exercise funds on.
Activity / Core Capability / PerformanceNot Applicable / Not Applicable / Not Applicable
APPENDIX A: IMPROVEMENT PLAN
This Improvement Plan has been developed specifically for exercise participants based on the results of Workplace Down - An Active Shooter Tabletop Exercise conducted on September 30, 2015. These recommendations draw on both the After Action Report and the After Action Conference.
Capability / Observation / Recommendation / Responsible Agency / Completion DateNot Applicable / Not Applicable / Not Applicable / Not Applicable / Not Applicable
APPENDIX B: PARTICIPANT FEEDBACK(Strengths – Areas for Improvement)
StrengthsAware of what is needed.
Realistic video to get you thinking security.
Need to evaluate our plans.
Had me thinking of the what if's.
Identified weak spots of existing plan.
Coordinated plan with local police department.
Know where we need to enhance safety and security and to incorporate technology.
The ability of employee the find secure hiding places.
The ability to notify law enforcement.
The ability to establish ICS.
Identified weak spots in plans.
Identified communication issues.
Came up with some new ideas.
High participation from attendees and community diversity.
Every facility in attendance has a plan.
Awareness of what is lacking in plans so they can be improved.
Attendee participation.
Every facility has a plan. That plan can be improved.
Relationships.
High participation from attendees and good cross section of facilities.
Every facility in attendance has a plan - will be added to after this exercise.
People with experience to provide input - subject matter experts.
Documentation is available and addresses the process of notification, response and recovery of such an event / incident.
Awareness of roles and responsibilities of each employee at different levels.
Knowledge of options in responding and recovering to / from such an event / incident.
Diverse community representation.
All agencies seem to have a good plan in place.
Agencies worked together very well.
The video scenario backdrop was good. He set some key things to think about, especially the follow through, the time after the incident until the next week worth of impact.
Thinking through the end result was good, especially ICS teams. We practice scenario, but not the long term effects.
Good discussions, a great starting point to make plans for departments.
Good diversity in the group from several agencies.
Group realized this scenario CAN happen in any setting and no one has an actual plan how to deal with this situation.
Active participation to consider the many aspects in any emergency situation.
Review of current safety plan.
Ideas for new technologies to integrate into the plan.
We were made aware of areas needing to improve.
We were able to identify our strengths.
We realize we need to do practice drills.
More extensive planning.
Formulating a plan for communication.
Looking at what is already in place and what needs are not being met.
Lots of Group participation.
Identified areas of improvement.
Added areas that needed further security to safety plan.
Initially staff had many options to exit building.
Key staff members were identified in activating EAP.
I think it was a very realistic scenario and had the attention of my entire group.
The questions for discussion were very good triggers for robust dialogue.
It really made us think differently about the layout and safety plan we currently have in place.
Video presentation by Police Officer from Albuquerque.
Dialog among peers.
Working as a team to talk out the needs our schools have in order to be prepared.
Active simulation allowed us to think about how our facilities would be affected.
We devised a plan for better improving our facilities in the event of a shooter.
Showed our areas of weakness.
Encouraged communication between group to what would you do in that situation.
Develop a better plan.
A lot of community involvement at this exercise.
Networking with other area agencies.
Showed us where to focus our efforts in this type of emergency situation.
Safety plan in place.
Safe locations were identified.
Media Plan.
Identify weaknesses in emergency plans.
Communication weaknesses identify.
Team management roles need to be clarified.
Areas for Improvement
Need more people participating and thinking this through.
Notification plans.
External information dispensing.
Notifying employees thru out the building.
Employee accountability.
An employee support plan..
Need back up communication methods.
Need front desk security.
Improve emergency contact information.
Consequence management in the days that follow the shooting.
Discuss the use of radios, phones or e-mail during the actual incident. Which possess less risk.
Clearly identify who does what aside from administration after the incident is under control.
Retraining.
More detail of incident response team.
Work on MOU.
Work on MOUs with other agencies to provide support to continue operations.
Need to expand existing accountability procedure for agency.
More communication on each step of the process. Notification, Response and Recovery.
The identification of the need to conduct more test exercises of an actual event.
Communication of potential reaction / recovery states for employees (those affect and those who were not in the event), families, visitors; the public and media reactions. And the overall, physical, mental and emotional recovery states of all employees and their families.
Based on the past active shooter Full Scale Exercise we conducted, we have a lot of work to do on the aftermath of an active shooter scenario, the one week period or even longer after the event, getting things back "to normal" whatever that is going to look like.
Outside communication involvement, more outside staff involved with the exercise (which you recommended pre-exercise!) The more the merrier.
Get a general plan in place, responding to incident, etc. Build an ICS team.
Building security and accountability of employees,
Communication and notification of employees, families and general population. HAVING A PLAN IN PLACE
Update new personnel on plan.
Enhance communication with existing / new technologies.
Plan for live practice / drills.
Provide notification to alert / inform when situation arises.
Practice Drills Needed.
Come up with an improved plan following conclusion of shooter activity (dismiss students to parents).
Communication to the public.
Warning system.
Distribution of duties.
Communication to parents in the case there is an active shooter.
Ways to lock down buildings in case of a threat.
Communication between teachers when there is a problem.
Change internal culture to be more aware of threats to our organization.
Initial communication with our members who are in the building.
Adding MANY more procedural details to our overall safety plan.
Communication strategies internal and external have to be addressed in clearer details than what we currently have in place.
We need to develop back-up plans for every school and also get up to speed on how we can better utilize technology in our plans.
Update Go Bags in our school.
Need for being able to do all calls in other places than the receptionist desk.
Meet with staff to make sure everyone knows their rolls in the safety plan.
Communication.
Who is to do what (Central Office / School).
Being prepared.
MOU discussion would be nice.
Create a Go Bag.
Need a second response available if the shooter is an insider and knows the plan.
We were able to see where there are gaps in our plan.
Communication back up when phones are not working.
Evacuation safe place indoors.
Appropriate training opportunities and drills scheduled.
APPENDIX C: ACRONYMS
Acronym / MeaningCOMM / Communications
CONOPS / Concept of Operations
EOC / Emergency Operations Center
ESF / Emergency Support Function
IAP / Incident Action Plan
IC / Incident Command
ICS / Incident Command System
IMT / Incident Management Team
JIC / Joint Information Center
LOFR / Liaison Officer
MOA / Memorandum of Agreement
MOU / Memorandum of Understanding
NIMS / National Incident Management System
OPS / Operations
PIO / Public Information Officer
SitRep / Situation Report
SOG / Standard Operating Guideline
SOP / Standard Operating Procedure
UC / Unified Command
Disaster Resistant Communities Group LLC – www.drc-group.com 1 | Page