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Suggested Citation:"Executive Summary." National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine. 2006. Guidelines for Transportation Emergency Training Exercises. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/13924.
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Guidelines for Transportation Emergency Training Exercises 1 EXECUTIVE SUMMARY New threats to public safety are challenging transportation officials on a daily basis. These profession- als must actively work to prevent and respond to these new threats. This need has led to new efforts in planning and training; developing procedures; evaluating facility designs with security criteria; using the power of technology; and enhancing cooperation and coordination with state, regional, and local agen- cies to mitigate the effects of human-made and natural disasters. In the assessment of the state of pre- paredness in the transportation environment, the practice of conducting and evaluating emergency exercises offers a potential tool second only to the experience of responding to an actual emergency. The guidelines that follow in this document have been designed as a reference for transportation exer- cise coordinators. Steps are described in the processes of emergency exercise development, imple- mentation, and evaluation. In addition, the available literature and materials to support transportation agencies—including state departments of transportation (DOTs), traffic management centers, and pub- lic transportation systems—are described. Useful materials are presented as references with Internet links where applicable. The guidelines in this report are the result of an extensive literature review, as well as telephone inter- views with personnel in the transportation environment who are actively developing and evaluating exer- cises. The guidelines analyze recent recommendations and guidance from the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) and the Preparedness Directorate Office of Grants and Training (G&T, formerly the Office for Domestic Preparedness). Both FEMA and the G&T are part of the Department of Homeland Security (DHS). In addition, contractor-developed materials documenting findings and assessments from exercises have been reviewed for the Federal Transit Administration (FTA) and the Federal Highway Adminis- tration (FHWA). The guidelines consist of the required elements of a successful transportation emergency exercise pro- gram. However, transportation professionals seeking greater levels of preparedness must recognize the critical part that public safety organizations will play in any community emergency and must closely coor- dinate with these organizations. Many of these public safety organizations are now working to improve their capabilities by addressing new requirements spelled out in the National Response Plan (NRP) and the National Incident Management System (NIMS), which were recently released by the DHS. The new federal requirements have been developed from existing practices to create an integrated emergency response capability that can expand or contract, depending on the nature of the emergency, and that uses procedures and technology to aid the information exchange between agencies at all lev- els of government. Transportation agencies should proactively integrate with this system, as they may have an important role to play in response actions needed immediately before, during, and after natural or human-made emergencies. A program of effective training exercises will strengthen relationships between public safety, emergency management, and transportation professionals, thereby aiding com- munities through joint activities, partnerships, and shared exercise improvement plans.

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TRB’s National Cooperative Highway Research Program (NCHRP) Report 525: Surface Transportation Security and TRB’s Transit Cooperative Research Program (TCRP) Report 86: Public Transportation Security series publications have jointly published Guidelines for Transportation Emergency Training Exercises. The report is Volume 9 in each series. The report is designed to assist transportation agencies in developing drills and exercises in alignment with the National Incident Management System. The report describes the process of emergency exercise development, implementation, and evaluation. In addition, the available literature and materials to support transportation agencies such as state departments of transportation, traffic management centers, and public transportation systems are described.

NCHRP Report 525: Surface Transportation Security is a series in which relevant information is assembled into single, concise volumes—each pertaining to a specific security problem and closely related issues. The volumes focus on the concerns that transportation agencies are addressing when developing programs in response to the terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001, and the anthrax attacks that followed. Future volumes of the report will be issued as they are completed.

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