Appendix 2: Tabletop Exercises

This appendix contains a collection of websites that will help you in developing tabletop
exercises for your organization. As with the websites for COOP planning, no one site
will meet your organization’s specific needs. However, drawing from a variety of
websites will likely help you design an exercise that can truly test your organization’s
readiness. As with the COOP websites, these are organized by sector (education,
government, financial, etc.).

Helpful Websites for Developing Your Tabletop Exercise

Education
http://www.tallytown.com/redcross/exercise/UniversityPandemicInfluenzaTabletopExercise-Overview.pdf
http://www.tallytown.com/redcross/exercise/UniversityPandemicInfluenzaTabletopExercise.pdf
http://edcp.org/pdf/DHMHSummaryPanFluSchoolTTX.pdf
http://www.cshema.org/resource/UNC%20System%20Pandemic%20Tabletop%20Planning%20Exercise.doc
Federal Government
http://www.hhs.gov/nvpo/pandemics/tabletopex.html
Financial
http://www.bondmarkets.com/assets/files/SIABMA_pandemicTestimony.pdf
General Operations
http://www.steadfastresponse.com
Hospitals/Health Care Facilities
http://www.nyc.gov/html/doh/downloads/pdf/bhpp/bhpp-train-hospital-toolkit.pdf
Local Government
http://www.hsph.harvard.edu/hcphp/products/exercises/HSPH-CPHP%20Avian%20&%20Pandemic%20Influenza
%20Tabletop.pdf
http://www.rand.org/pubs/technical_reports/2006/RAND_TR319.pdf
http://www.nyc.gov/html/doh/downloads/pdf/bhpp/bhpp-train-city-panmod1.pdf
http://www.nyc.gov/html/doh/downloads/pdf/bhpp/bhpp-train-city-panmod2.pdf
http://www.tallytown.com/redcross/exercise/InfluenzaPandemicTabletopExercise.pdf
Public Health Departments
http://cdc.confex.com/cdc/nic2004/techprogram/session_893.htm
http://www.phppo.cdc.gov/phtn/DLSummit2005/Benton.pdf
http://www.dallascounty.org/department/hhservices/services/publichealthalert/documents/AfterActionReportFinal.pdf
http://www.idready.org/docs/DHSPanFluTableTop.pdf
http://www.liebertonline.com/doi/pdfplus/10.1089/bsp.2005.3.61
Table A2-1
Appendix 2: Tabletop Exercises
Following is a short synopsis of the websites listed in Table A2-1.

Education
University of Minnesota Pandemic Influenza Tabletop Exercise
The exercise consists of five separate scripts, each with a list of events that have occurred
and data injected as appropriate. The overall goal of the exercise is to assess how the
existing emergency response structure at the University of Minnesota addresses the
challenges posed by pandemic influenza and how the University coordinates its response
with state and local public health agencies and with Fairview University Medical Center.
The exercise involves a novel H5N1 avian influenza strain that is capable of causing
severe disease in humans (similar to the 1918 pandemic) and is readily transmissible
through person-to-person spread. Key aspects of the exercise include the following:

• A vaccine against the novel H5N1 strain will not be available until approximately
four months after the pandemic arrives in the United States.
• The scenario is assumed to be plausible and the scripts are designed to be
relatively realistic, given current information about H5N1 avian influenza in Asia.
• The events unfold in the order that the scripts are presented. However, there may
be days to weeks between each of the scripts and, therefore, the exercise is not
intended to simulate a “real-time event.”
• The scenario is designed to assess certain key decisions and issues that will need
to be addressed relatively early in the course of the pandemic. Therefore, the
exercise focuses on the early stages of the pandemic. Given time constraints, the
exercise is not intended to cover the entire first wave of the pandemic period.

Overview:
http://www.tallytown.com/redcross/exercise/UniversityPandemicInfluenzaTabletopExerc
ise-Overview.pdf
Script #1:
http://www.tallytown.com/redcross/exercise/UniversityPandemicInfluenzaTabletopExerc
ise.pdf

Maryland Department of Public Health and Mental Hygiene, Summary of the

Pandemic Influenza School System Tabletop Exercise
The joint school system/public health exercise was sponsored by the Maryland
Department of Health and Mental Hygiene, Maryland Partnership for Prevention, and the
Maryland State Department of Education.
The key findings included:

• Current local school plans do not address pandemic influenza.

• Current pandemic influenza preparedness plans do not sufficiently address school
systems.
• Gaps are present in communication needed to ensure timely and effective
exchange of information during an influenza pandemic.
• School systems lack specific guidance and procedures on a myriad of issues
relevant to an influenza pandemic.

Recommendations included integrating pandemic influenza response plans with other

local emergency preparedness efforts so that they can be regularly reviewed, developing
a pandemic influenza decision matrix, and developing comprehensive communication
protocols.

http://edcp.org/pdf/DHMHSummaryPanFluSchoolTTX.pdf

The University of North Carolina: Pandemic Influenza Tabletop Emergency

Exercise
This is the situation manual for a tabletop exercise of the emergency preparedness of the
16-campus University of North Carolina system. This exercise focuses on a pandemic flu
event that poses a severe threat to public health and safety. The overall goal of the
exercise is to:

• Assess how the existing emergency response structure on campus will address the
challenges posed by a pandemic influenza event.
• Assess how the campus will coordinate its response with its campus health
service, area hospitals, and state and local public health agencies.
• Identify gaps and issues to be addressed in the campus response plan.
• Educate the participants about contagious disease and the unique challenges a
pandemic poses to the health and well being of the university community.

http://www.cshema.org/resource/UNC%20System%20Pandemic%20Tabletop
%20Planning%20Exercise.doc

Federal Government
HHS Tabletop Exercise Package
The purpose of this pandemic influenza tabletop exercise package is to provide states and
local areas with tools to assist in planning and conducting tabletop exercises on the topic
of pandemic influenza. Exercises serve to identify where plans may need to be refined or
modified, and thus lead to strengthening preparedness. Exercises should be viewed as an
integral part of planning activities.
This package includes two exercises: an overview and a surge capacity exercise, as well
as other resources helpful in planning and conducting these exercises. The exercises are
designed for use at the state or local level and are general enough to be useful in any area.
The overview exercise addresses planning issues that will arise during the course of an
influenza pandemic over an array of areas, including surveillance, vaccination, antiviral
medications, communications, and emergency response. Participants for the overview
exercise will include people who will be involved in planning for and responding to a
pandemic, including, but not limited to, staff in the areas of public health, public
information, public safety, emergency management, and health care. The surge capacity
exercise focuses on medical surge capacity issues; these issues are addressed in greater
depth than in the overview exercise. Participants in the surge capacity exercise will be
from the same groups as for the overview exercise, but more heavily skewed toward
representatives of local hospitals and emergency management services. This package is
referenced by several other tabletop exercise websites and plans. It describes a few
different structures, so the organization using it can choose the best approach for their
own needs.

http://www.hhs.gov/nvpo/pandemics/tabletopex.html

Financial

TMBA/SIA Joint Tabletop Exercise on Industry Preparedness

The Bond Market Association and Securities Industry Association conducted a joint
exercise on pandemic response issues involving fourteen of the largest securities firms.
The firms were presented with an escalating pandemic scenario that focused attention on
issues that would likely affect the operation of the financial markets and asked how they
would respond to the changing situations. A dominant question that arose was how
regulators would react in a crisis. Participants agreed regulators have been responsive and
understanding in past emergencies, but there remains a concern that regulators across all
markets act consistently.

http://www.bondmarkets.com/assets/files/SIABMA_pandemicTestimony.pdf

General Operations

Steadfast Response
This website offers a downloadable COOP tabletop exercise kit with a pandemic
influenza scenario for general operations. The template can be used for both business and
government organizations, and is claimed to have been used by Federal, state, and local
players in over thirty cities.

http://www.steadfastresponse.com
Hospitals/Health Care Facilities
The New York City Department of Health and Mental Hygiene: Hospital and
Primary Care Centers Tabletop Toolkit
NYC DOHMH developed this tabletop toolkit during 2004–2005 to aid hospitals in
conducting exercises. The materials were tested in ten hospitals and five primary care
centers in New York City and served as an important resource for staff training and a
method to evaluate facility preparedness involving five biological agents, one of which is
pandemic influenza. The Toolkit contents can be modified to account for the distinct
geographic, patient, resource, and staffing challenges faced by individual hospitals and
primary care centers. The Toolkit also includes instructions on planning, conducting, and
evaluating a hospital tabletop exercise.

http://www.nyc.gov/html/doh/downloads/pdf/bhpp/bhpp-train-hospital-toolkit.pdf

Local Government
Harvard School of Public Health Center for Public Health Preparedness, Tabletop
Exercise Number 1: Avian Influenza
This tabletop allows local public health officials to test their response to a major outbreak
of a theoretical highly contagious and highly morbid disease. The major public health
functions tested in this drill are: risk communication; isolation and quarantine procedures;
and mass prophylaxis and dispensing capabilities. Additional communitywide functions
tested in this drill are: risk communication; control of population movement; isolation
and quarantine procedures; and protection of staff. It is recommended that exercises
include representation from local public safety, local government, and major local health
care providers, whenever possible, in order to integrate the community emergency
response plans and facilitate cooperation.

http://www.hsph.harvard.edu/hcphp/products/exercises/HSPH-CPHP%20Avian%20&
%20Pandemic%20Influenza%20Tabletop.pdf

Tabletop Exercises for Pandemic Influenza Preparedness in Local Public Health

Agencies, RAND Tabletop Exercises Template
This report presents a fully customizable template for a tabletop exercise for pandemic
influenza preparedness that can be used by state and local health agencies and their
healthcare and governmental partners as an exercise in training, building relationships,
and evaluation. The exercise relies on a “forced decision making” framework, which
requires participants to make key decisions at each discussion point after they have had
time to consider the scenario and the information provided to them at a specified point in
“x” time. The exercise focuses on five broad issues: surveillance and epidemiology;
command, control, and communications; risk communication; surge capacity; and disease
prevention and control.

http://www.rand.org/pubs/technical_reports/2006/RAND_TR319.pdf
NYC Citywide Pandemic Influenza Tabletop Exercise
This exercise includes two modules used for a teleconference led by the New York City
Department of Health and Mental Hygiene. Module 1 describes early pandemic activity,
including vaccine production, surveillance efforts, and initial cases in localized areas of
New York. Module 2 describes peak pandemic activity, providing the expected impact of
the first pandemic wave, including the number of illnesses, hospital admissions, and
deaths. In this phase, participants must face issues like hospital staff shortages and short
supply of critical care beds and ventilators, and possibly an altered standard of care.

Module 1: http://www.nyc.gov/html/doh/downloads/pdf/bhpp/bhpp-train-city-
panmod1.pdf
Module 2: http://www.nyc.gov/html/doh/downloads/pdf/bhpp/bhpp-train-city-
panmod2.pdf

Leon County Health Department Influenza Pandemic Tabletop Exercise

This exercise focuses on communication, emergency response coordination, resource
integration, problem identification, and resolution. This exercise is meant to focus on the
overall response and decisionmaking process and is not a test of detailed response
procedures. It is divided into three modules: incubation, intensification, and escalation.
The objectives are:

• Exercise the local and regional decisionmaking process and identify areas needing
refinements. Identify key actions to be taken and by whom.
• Review local, state, and Federal operations for area access control and possible
quarantine issues resulting from an epidemiological incident.
• Examine the local interface among city, county, state, and Federal agencies in the
conduct of crisis and consequence management activities. Examine local, state,
and Federal interactions with the private and public sector during the threat or
actual occurrence of an epidemiological incident.
• Discuss options to provide timely information to the population and assist in
minimizing chaos. Review plans to preclude dissemination of conflicting data.
Assess the adequacy of local plans for interface with and use of media resources.
Discuss how media will be coordinated when state and Federal agencies are
involved.
• Review the local medical, emergency medical transport, and public health
department capabilities to recognize, identify, monitor, and respond to an incident
involving an influenza pandemic.

http://www.tallytown.com/redcross/exercise/InfluenzaPandemicTabletopExercise.pdf
Public Health Departments
CDC Session: Advancing Pandemic Influenza Planning through Tabletop Exercises
This workshop describes the experiences of Massachusetts, Maryland, and Minnesota in
planning and conducting pandemic influenza tabletop exercises. Participants should be
able to identify key steps in planning and conducting a tabletop exercise and understand
how exercises can improve the planning process.

http://cdc.confex.com/cdc/nic2004/techprogram/session_893.htm

California Department of Health Services

This presentation on using live satellite broadcast to prepare for pandemic influenza
offers background information on avian influenza and detailed advice on how to plan a
broadcast and tabletop exercise. The exercise objectives are to familiarize individuals
with their local jurisdiction’s pandemic influenza plan and to practice two of the ten
deliverables that should be included in a pandemic influenza plan. These deliverables
include:
• Draft possible key messages and use them to write a press release about pandemic
influenza in general before a local outbreak has occurred.
• Identify agency partners, as well as other stakeholders, who would be involved in
two of the listed response activities, and list their respective roles and
responsibilities.
• Test your organization’s emergency response command and communication
structure by drawing a schematic of the response structure and information flow,
or a call-down tree, to activate emergency response plan.
• Draft a checklist, step-by-step plan, or flowchart on the type of communication
channels that will be used, how they will be used, and the populations that the
channels will reach.

http://www.phppo.cdc.gov/phtn/DLSummit2005/Benton.pdf

Dallas County Health and Human Services (DCHHS), Avian Flu Pandemic
Tabletop Exercise After Action Report
This exercise allowed participants to discuss issues in a logical sequence within a
hypothetical scenario. The response was divided into three phases: identification and
notification, public health emergency, and response efforts. Future recommendations
included:

• Local, state, and private sector partners should continue to review and evaluate
their procedures for an effective multi-agency response during a pandemic event.
• Additional private sector organizations need to participate and partner with
DCHHS in future exercises and symposiums to develop stronger community
involvement.
• For hospitals: institute regional hospital collaboration, create a framework for
allocation of limited medical resources, and revise pandemic preparedness
guidance for hospitals.
The purpose of this exercise was to facilitate understanding of concepts, identify
strengths and shortfalls, and educate key partner organizations, to include the private
sector, in pandemic response and recovery requirements. It also provided participants an
opportunity to evaluate current response concepts, plans, and capabilities for a
community-wide response to a large-scale, public health emergency that was health
based, not disaster based.

http://www.dallascounty.org/department/hhservices/services/publichealthalert/documents
/AfterActionReportFinal.pdf

California Division of Communicable Disease Control (DCDC), Pandemic Influenza

Tabletop Exercise
This DCDC problem-solving tabletop exercise presented four different scenarios that
required prompt responses in order to orient DCDC participants to the draft pandemic
response plan:

• Identify how key response measures will be implemented.

• Identify gaps and vulnerabilities in DCDC pandemic influenza preparedness.
• Make specific recommendations for plan revisions.
• Promote inter-program collaboration and coordination.

The exercise addresses command and control, operations/planning section functions,

communications section functions, logistic section functions, and miscellaneous topics.

http://www.idready.org/docs/DHSPanFluTableTop.pdf

Maryland Department of Health and Mental Hygiene, Pandemic Influenza

Preparedness in Maryland: Improving Readiness through a Tabletop Exercise
During the tabletop exercise meant to test the Maryland Pandemic Influenza
Preparedness Plan, participants were presented with nine different fictitious scripts
encompassing a single scenario. They were asked to respond to the information presented
in each script, discuss organization-specific questions posed by the exercise facilitator,
and make decisions regarding action steps that their organization would take in response
to the various issues raised. The exercise identified a number of important gaps that need
to be addressed, including: additional surge capacity specific to a pandemic; greater
understanding of the realities and implications of pandemic influenza among elected
officials and decision makers; coordination of pandemic influenza planning with the
existing emergency response infrastructure coupled with additional training in incident
command; further steps to make several aspects of the Maryland Pandemic Influenza
Preparedness Plan operational; and additional Federal guidance.

http://www.liebertonline.com/doi/pdfplus/10.1089/bsp.2005.3.61