Even an “award winning” plan does not guarantee an effective response unless there is a full understanding of the plan’s “concept of operations” and the CEO’s role in it. If all of your agency's top administrators have not been trained to the plan, all you really have is a document holding down the shelf.

Many administrators privately question whether their plans will work in an emergency. Hopefully, police, fire and emergency medical services have been fully trained to respond in a coordinated manner, but what about the top levels of your organization. Do your department heads, directors and other administrators understand “Incident Command” and “Multi-Agency Coordination” concepts?

BowMac offers a number of formats from executive briefings to simulation exercises to address these critical issues.

Operational Training

Your Incident Management Team Members need to be practiced in their role

Personnel who find themselves in positions from the Emergency Operations Center (EOC) to supervision on the front lines of the incident need to understand the overall concept of operations and their role in it. Effective management and response demands complete knowledge of and experience in the National Incident Command System (NIMS).

These presentations overview a methodology for translating your emergency plans into real performance during an emergency by articulating the linkage between planning activities, policy setting, establishing procedures, training and performance measurement. Most recognize the liability for failing to plan, train and supervise. Administrators and managers have the responsibility and duty to put systems in place to insure “they are ready”. This due diligence will need to be demonstrated in court if the worst should occur.

Does quality emergency response and management just happen? No. Just like any effort that is worth engaging in, it takes commitment, time and effort to “do it right”. Given the increased threat of terrorism, technological emergencies, and health/disease emergencies, organizations need to re-examine their state of “readiness” for these situations.

Leader in Simulation Based Training

Simulations and exercising skills based upon the information learned in the class are at the heart of what we do at BowMac. Individuals do not go to class notes at the point of performance, especially when it involves response to a Critical Incident. They go deep inside and search for the most similar situations they have experienced and draw from them, good or bad.

Training needs to change performance! Whether it deals with Incident Management, Problem Solving or Interrogation the experience needs to contain skill building and exercising if it is going to be effective. The pressure and stakes of dealing with these events such as Incident Management is high and our experience is limited because of the infrequency of the incidents.

Exercises need to be a part of the training plan. We will set up realistic scenarios to test the organization's "concept of operations" and individuals ability to work within it.