Factors influencing successful planning, implementation, and improvement of emergency exercises

Saman Poorsiahbidi; Fakhraddin Ghasemi; Omid Kalatpour; Iraj Mohammadfam

doi:10.5055/jem.0867

Authors

Saman Poorsiahbidi, MS
Fakhraddin Ghasemi, PhD https://orcid.org/0000-0002-6279-9888
Omid Kalatpour, PhD
Iraj Mohammadfam, PhD

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.5055/jem.0867

Keywords:

emergency exercise, emergency planning, incident scenario

Abstract

Despite the critical importance of emergency exercises for emergency preparedness, there are major deficiencies in some organizations in managing their exercises. Lack of a comprehensive and systematic approach to emergency exercises can waste organizational resources and diminish the response confidence. The present study was conducted to identify and prioritize influencing success factors for planning, implementing, and improving the exercise process. In this study, a pattern for exercise management process was established based on relevant standards and guidelines. Then, the success and failure factors for each step of a typical exercise were identified based on previous studies. Finally, Fuzzy analytic hierarchy process was used to prioritize the identified influencing factors. Based on literature review and experts’ opinions, 28 factors influence the success of emergency exercises. Although relative importance of all factors was close to each other, findings showed that “establishing the base of support for an exercise program,” “designing the scenario,” “presentations/briefings,” “using expert evaluators,” and “defining appropriate corrective actions plan” had the greatest impacts on the success of an emergency exercise.

Author Biographies

Saman Poorsiahbidi, MS

Occupational Health and Safety Research Centre, School of Public Health, Hamadan University of Medical Sciences, Hamedan, Iran

Fakhraddin Ghasemi, PhD

Occupational Health and Safety Engineering Department, Abadan University of Medical Sciences, Abadan, Iran

Omid Kalatpour, PhD

Center of Excellence for Occupational Health, Occupational Health and Safety Research Center, School of Public Health, Hamadan University of Medical Sciences, Hamadan, Iran

Iraj Mohammadfam, PhD

University of Social Welfare and Rehabilitation Sciences, Tehran, Iran

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