You've created comprehensive emergency preparedness plans. You've conducted thorough risk assessments. Your policies are documented, your procedures are clear, and your staff have been trained. But..
Do they actually work when it matters?
The only way to know is to test them. The time to discover that your lockdown procedure is confusing, your communication chain breaks down, or your staff don't know where emergency equipment is kept isn't during an actual crisis.
Why Testing Emergency Plans Matters
Plans look different on paper than in practice. What seems straightforward in a document becomes complicated when real people must execute it under pressure with limited information and competing priorities.
People need muscle memory. Reading a procedure once during training isn't enough. Staff need repeated practice so that emergency responses become automatic, reducing hesitation and errors during actual incidents.
Gaps only become visible through testing. You might discover that your assembly point is too far for young children, that mobile signal is poor in certain areas, that key staff don't have each other's contact details, or that your emergency supplies are locked in a room nobody can access.
Confidence comes from competence. Staff who have successfully navigated drills feel more confident and capable during real emergencies. Those who haven't are more likely to panic, freeze, or make poor decisions.
Regulations often require it. Many regulatory frameworks mandate regular emergency drills, particularly fire evacuations. But effective organisations go beyond minimum compliance to test all their emergency scenarios.
Children and vulnerable adults deserve it. The individuals in your care depend on your ability to respond effectively during emergencies. Testing your plans is how you honour that responsibility.
Two Approaches: Drills vs Tabletop Exercises
Testing falls into two main categories, each serving different purposes:
Physical Drills
Physical drills involve actually executing emergency procedures in real-time with real movement, communication, and decision-making.
Best for: Fire evacuations, lockdowns, severe weather procedures, medical emergencies, missing child protocols.
Advantages: Tests the physical reality of your procedures, builds muscle memory, identifies practical obstacles, involves everyone simultaneously, creates realistic pressure and time constraints.
Challenges: Disruptive to normal operations, can be stressful for participants (especially children), requires significant coordination, may not be suitable for all scenarios.
Tabletop Exercises
Tabletop exercises are discussion-based sessions where participants walk through emergency scenarios step-by-step, making decisions and identifying actions without physical execution.
Best for: Complex multi-stage incidents, scenarios involving external agencies, testing decision-making and communication protocols, situations too dangerous or disruptive to drill physically.
Advantages: Less disruptive, allows deeper exploration of decision-making, can test multiple scenarios quickly, suitable for leadership teams, enables "what if" variations, lower stress for participants.
Challenges: Doesn't test physical execution, may not reveal practical obstacles, requires imagination and engagement, can feel abstract without real pressure.
The most effective approach is to use both approaches. Physical drills test whether procedures work in practice. Tabletop exercises test whether decision-makers understand their roles and can coordinate effectively.
Planning Your Drill or Exercise: The Foundation
Effective testing requires careful planning. Poorly designed drills waste time, create confusion, and may even reinforce bad habits.
1. Define Clear Objectives
What specifically are you testing? Don't just say "our lockdown procedure"—be precise:
Can all staff initiate the lockdown signal and do all staff recognise it?
Can all rooms be secured within two minutes?
Do staff know how to account for all children in their care?
Can leadership communicate with all staff during lockdown?
Do staff know when and how to contact emergency services?
Clear objectives allow you to measure success and identify specific gaps rather than vague feelings that "it went okay."
2. Choose Realistic Scenarios
Your scenarios should reflect actual risks identified in your risk assessments and emergency plans. Consider:
Fire emergencies: Fire in kitchen during lunch service, fire alarm malfunction, fire blocking primary exit route, fire during outdoor activities.
Lockdown situations: Threatening individual near premises, domestic incident spilling onto grounds, police request for lockdown.
Medical emergencies: Severe allergic reaction, suspected head injury, child with existing medical condition deteriorating, staff member collapsing.
Severe weather: Unexpected heavy snow during session, flooding preventing access/egress, extreme heat with vulnerable individuals.
Safeguarding disclosures: Child makes concerning disclosure to staff member, parent makes allegation against staff, staff witnesses concerning behaviour.
Include relevant details: time of day, number of children present, which staff are on duty, weather conditions, any complicating factors. Realism increases the value of testing.
Leadership team exercises: Senior staff and designated safeguarding leads test decision-making and coordination (complex incidents, multi-agency scenarios).
Department-specific drills: Particular teams test their procedures (kitchen staff testing food safety incident response, sports coaches testing injury protocols).
Role-specific training: Individuals practice specific responsibilities (first aiders testing medical emergency response, designated staff testing missing child procedures).
4. Determine the Level of Advance Notice
Should participants know the drill is coming?
Announced drills: Staff know the date and scenario in advance. Best for initial testing, complex scenarios, situations involving children who may find surprises distressing, and when you want to test whether procedures work when everyone is prepared.
Unannounced drills: Staff don't know when the drill will occur. Best for testing realistic response, identifying whether procedures are truly embedded, and assessing how staff perform under surprise conditions.
Partially announced: Staff know a drill will occur within a timeframe but not the exact moment or scenario. Balances preparation with realistic surprise.
Start with announced drills when introducing new procedures, then progress to unannounced testing once basic competence is established.
5. Prepare Observers and Evaluators
Designate specific people to observe and document the drill rather than participate. They should:
Position themselves to observe key areas and actions
Use structured observation forms aligned with your objectives
Note timing of key actions and decisions
Document what worked well and what didn't
Avoid intervening unless actual safety issues arise
Capture specific examples rather than general impressions
Observers might include senior leaders not directly involved in the scenario, external safeguarding consultants, or designated staff members rotated out of participation.
6. Brief Participants Appropriately
Before the drill, ensure participants understand:
The purpose of testing (learning and improvement, not catching people out)
What scenario is being tested (for announced drills)
How they'll know the drill has started and ended
What's expected of them during the drill
Who to contact if they have concerns or questions
How to distinguish the drill from a real emergency
For drills involving children, provide age-appropriate explanation that balances honesty with avoiding unnecessary anxiety.
Running Physical Drills: Practical Execution
Fire Evacuation Drills
Frequency: At least termly; more frequently if you have high staff turnover or significant changes to premises.
Key elements to test:
Can everyone hear the alarm in all areas?
Do staff immediately stop activities and begin evacuation?
Are children/vulnerable adults evacuated calmly and efficiently?
Do staff close doors and windows as they leave?
Is everyone accounted for at the assembly point?
How long does full evacuation take?
Do staff know not to re-enter the building?
Can leadership communicate with emergency services?
Variations to test: Block different exit routes to test alternative evacuation paths. Conduct drills at different times of day. Test evacuation when certain key staff are absent.
Lockdown Drills
Frequency: At least annually; more frequently in higher-risk locations.
Key elements to test:
Do all staff recognise the lockdown signal?
Can staff quickly bring children inside from outdoor areas?
Can all doors and windows be secured?
Do staff know to move away from doors and windows?
Can staff account for all children in their area?
Do staff know how to respond to someone trying to enter?
Can leadership communicate with staff during lockdown?
Do staff know how and when to contact emergency services?
Is there a clear all-clear signal?
Important considerations: Lockdown drills can be frightening, especially for young children or those with previous trauma. Provide age-appropriate explanation, ensure children understand it's practice, and have support available for anyone who becomes distressed.
Medical Emergency Drills
Frequency: Termly for first aiders; annually for all staff.
Key elements to test:
Do staff recognise when to call for first aid support?
Can designated first aiders be located quickly?
Is first aid equipment accessible and properly stocked?
Do staff know how to contact emergency services?
Can staff provide clear location information to ambulance services?
Do staff know how to access medical information for the individual?
Is there a clear system for contacting parents/carers?
Do staff know how to manage other children during the incident?
Scenario examples: Use training mannequins or role-play with staff volunteers. Test specific scenarios relevant to your context (severe allergic reaction, asthma attack, suspected concussion, diabetic emergency).
Missing Child Drills
Frequency: Annually, or more frequently for organisations with higher risk (large premises, outdoor activities, trips).
Key elements to test:
How quickly is a missing child identified?
Do staff know the immediate search procedure?
Is there a clear system for coordinating the search?
Do staff know when to escalate to police?
Can staff provide detailed description and recent photo?
Do staff know how to secure exits without causing panic?
Is there a system for managing other children during the search?
Do staff know how to communicate with parents?
Execution tip: Use a doll, mannequin, or designated staff member as the "missing child" rather than actually hiding a real child, which could cause distress.
Tabletop exercises are structured discussions that walk participants through emergency scenarios step-by-step.
Setting Up the Exercise
Environment: Choose a comfortable space free from interruptions. Arrange seating so everyone can see each other and any visual aids.
Duration: Plan for 60-90 minutes for most scenarios. Complex multi-agency exercises may require 2-3 hours.
Materials needed:
Detailed scenario description with timeline
Relevant policies and procedures for reference
Contact lists and communication protocols
Floor plans or site maps if relevant
Observation and note-taking forms
Flip chart or whiteboard for capturing decisions and actions
Facilitation Process
Introduction (10 minutes): Explain the purpose, scenario, and ground rules. Emphasise that this is a learning exercise, not a test. Encourage honest discussion and questions.
Scenario presentation (5 minutes): Present the initial situation with sufficient detail to ground the discussion. Include time, location, who's present, initial information available.
Initial response (15-20 minutes): Ask participants: "What would you do first? Who would you contact? What information would you need?" Document responses and probe for specifics.
Scenario development (30-40 minutes): Introduce complications and new information in stages. After each development, ask: "How does this change your response? What additional actions are needed? Who else needs to be involved?"
Resolution and debrief (15-20 minutes): Bring the scenario to a conclusion. Discuss what went well, what was challenging, what gaps were identified, and what improvements are needed.
Effective Facilitation Techniques
Use open-ended questions: "What would you do?" rather than "Would you call the police?" Encourage thinking rather than yes/no responses.
Probe for specifics: When someone says "I'd contact parents," ask "How? What would you say? What if they don't answer?"
Introduce realistic complications: "The parent isn't answering their phone. What now?" "The designated safeguarding lead is on annual leave. Who takes the lead?"
Test decision-making under uncertainty: "You don't have all the information yet. What do you do?" "Two staff members are giving you conflicting accounts. How do you proceed?"
Maintain psychological safety: If someone makes an error or doesn't know the answer, respond with curiosity rather than criticism. "That's interesting—let's explore why that might not work" rather than "That's wrong."
Document everything: Capture decisions, questions, gaps, and action items in real-time so nothing is lost.
Sample Tabletop Scenarios
Safeguarding disclosure scenario: A child discloses to a staff member that they're being hurt at home. The staff member isn't sure if it meets the threshold for referral. The designated safeguarding lead is off-site at a meeting. Test: reporting procedures, decision-making under uncertainty, record-keeping, communication with parents, multi-agency coordination.
Allegation against staff scenario: A parent alleges that a staff member has behaved inappropriately with their child. Other parents are asking questions. Test: immediate safeguarding actions, suspension decisions, LADO notification, communication strategies, support for all parties, managing reputation.
Complex medical emergency: A child with known medical needs deteriorates rapidly. Ambulance is delayed due to traffic. Parents are unreachable. Test: medical response, escalation decisions, alternative emergency contacts, communication with emergency services, documentation, support for other children and staff.
Multi-incident scenario: Fire alarm activates during a lockdown drill. Test: conflicting priorities, decision-making under pressure, communication when normal systems are disrupted, coordination between different emergency procedures.
Debriefing: Where the Real Learning Happens
The debrief is the most important part of any drill or exercise. This is where you transform experience into learning and improvement.
Immediate hot debrief : Immediately after the drill, gather participants briefly to capture initial observations and feelings while they're fresh. Ask: "What went well? What was challenging? Any immediate concerns?"
Detailed debrief: Within 24-48 hours, conduct a thorough debrief with key participants and observers. This allows time for reflection but maintains momentum.
Written debrief report: Document findings, lessons learned, and action items within one week while details are still clear.
Structured Debrief Questions
What went well? Start with successes to build confidence and identify strengths to maintain. Be specific: "Staff evacuated all children within three minutes" rather than "evacuation was good."
What didn't go well? Identify failures, confusion, delays, or errors without blame. Focus on systems and processes rather than individuals.
What surprised us? Unexpected challenges or complications that weren't anticipated in planning.
What did we learn? New insights about your procedures, premises, people, or preparedness.
What needs to change? Specific improvements to procedures, training, equipment, or communication.
What questions remain unanswered? Areas where uncertainty persists and further clarification or testing is needed.
Creating Actionable Improvements
Don't let debrief insights disappear into a document that nobody reads. Create specific, actionable improvements:
Weak action item: "Improve communication during lockdown."
Strong action item: "Purchase two-way radios for all team leaders. Train all staff on radio protocols by end of month. Test radio communication during next lockdown drill."
Each action item should have:
Specific action to be taken
Person responsible for implementation
Realistic deadline
Success criteria (how you'll know it's done)
Plan for testing the improvement
Building a Comprehensive Testing Programme
Effective emergency preparedness requires ongoing, systematic testing rather than occasional ad-hoc drills.
Adjust frequency and scenarios based on your specific context, risks, and regulatory requirements.
Progressive Testing Approach
Build complexity over time:
Level 1 - Basic procedures: Test individual procedures in isolation with full advance notice. Focus on whether people know the basic steps.
Level 2 - Realistic conditions: Test with less notice, during busy periods, with complications. Focus on whether procedures work under realistic pressure.
Level 3 - Complex scenarios: Test multiple simultaneous incidents, missing key staff, equipment failures. Focus on adaptability and decision-making under uncertainty.
Level 4 - Multi-agency coordination: Test scenarios involving external agencies, parents, media, and multiple stakeholders. Focus on communication and coordination across boundaries.
Measuring Success: Key Performance Indicators
How do you know if your testing programme is effective? Track these indicators:
Response times: Time to complete evacuations, initiate lockdowns, respond to medical emergencies. Track improvement over time.
Action item completion: Percentage of debrief action items implemented within agreed timescales.
Repeat issues: Are the same problems appearing in multiple drills? This indicates systemic issues not being addressed.
Staff confidence: Survey staff about their confidence in emergency procedures before and after testing programmes.
Incident outcomes: When real emergencies occur, how effectively does your organisation respond? Real incidents are the ultimate test of preparedness.
Conclusion: Testing Is How You Keep Your Promise
Your emergency plans are promises. Promises that you'll keep children and vulnerable adults safe when things go wrong. Promises that staff will know what to do under pressure. Promises that your organisation can respond effectively to protect those who depend on you.
But promises without testing are just words on paper.
Testing transforms plans into capability. It builds the muscle memory, confidence, and competence that enable effective response when emergencies actually occur. It identifies gaps before they become failures. It creates cultures where preparedness is valued and continuously improved.
The organisations that protect vulnerable individuals most effectively aren't those with the most impressive documentation—they're those who test regularly, debrief honestly, implement improvements consistently, and never stop learning.
Because the children and vulnerable adults in your care deserve more than plans that look good in a folder. They deserve plans that have been tested, refined, and proven to work when it matters most.
Your next drill isn't a disruption to your real work—it's one of the most important things you'll do all year.