Design and evaluate a Level 3 desktop emergency exercise

What is going on

The Gas Infrastructure Emergency Response Plan commits the business to two exercises a year. The second is a Level 3 desktop exercise on 22 October: a fire at city gate CG-03 at Lara that forces isolation of the transmission supply to the northern Geelong network and threatens supply to 40,000 customers. The exercise will involve the control centre, the North Geelong depot, the incident management team and an observer from the fire service. Kirra Thompson wants a realistic scenario with timed injects, clear objectives drawn from the plan, an evaluation sheet, and a findings report with improvement actions logged in the incident register after the exercise.

Your brief

Design the exercise from the emergency response plan, prepare injects and an evaluation sheet, run the desktop exercise with the participants, then write up the findings and log the improvement actions.

Work through it

You do not need to do it all. Doing a few of these will show you what the work is like. Your ticks and notes stay on this device.

• Read the Gas Infrastructure Emergency Response Plan and write the exercise objectives, one for each role at Level 3 including the regulator and fire service liaison.
• Design a timed scenario for the CG-03 fire with at least eight injects that test site control, isolation under permit, customer tracking, retailer notification and public information.
• Prepare the evaluation sheet that observers will use, linking each inject to the plan section it tests and the expected action.
• Record the exercise in the Permit to Work Register as a simulated isolation permit for CG-03 so that participants practise the control centre notification and approval steps.
• Run the desktop exercise with your group, keeping a master log of the decisions, times and any deviation from the plan.
• Enter the findings in the HSE Incident and Hazard Register as improvement actions with owners and dates.
• Write the exercise report using the Gas Industry Technical Report Template, including a recommendation on whether the plan needs amendment.
• Prepare a short briefing for the General Manager on the three most important findings.

What someone in this role would produce

• Exercise objectives and scenario with injects
• Evaluation sheet
• Master log from the exercise
• Improvement actions in the incident register
• Exercise report and briefing