How to Develop a Multi-Year Training and Exercise (T&E) Plan Fact Sheet on a Tool for the Water Sector


SERft
           United States
           Environmental Protection
           Agency
              How to Develop a Multi-Year Training and Exercise (T&E) Plan
                                             Fact Sheet on a Tool for the Water Sector
 In May 2011, the United States Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) published How to Develop a Multi-
 Year Training and Exercise (T&E) Plan, to serve as a step-by-step guide for utilities to continually improve
 preparedness and response capabilities.
  Benefits to Implementing a Multi-Year T&E Plan:
  •  Helps employees stay prepared and facilitates new
     employee understanding of the utility's preparedness
     plans and operations
  •  Provides managers and responders with a mechanism to
     evaluate operations and plans
  •  Focuses on continual improvement

                                                      Making
                                                   Improvements
                                                      Evaluating
                                                                   Planning
                                                                 Exercising
                                                                          Organizing
                                                                             Training
                                                                          Equipping
 Training and Exercises
 Training is one of the first steps to ensuring your utility is properly prepared to respond to an emergency and
 may come in many forms. There are seven types of exercises defined within Department of Homeland
 Security's Homeland Security Exercise and Evaluation Program (HSEEP), each of which is either discussion-
 based or operations-based:
          Discussion-Based Exercise
                                                   Operations-Based Exercise
                              Seminar
Develop /familiarize participants
with:
• Plans
  Policies
- Agreements
• Procedures
                              /orkshop
                               Game
                          fabletop Exercise
  Validate plans, policies,
agreements, &
procedures
* Clarify roles &
Responsibilities
• Identify resource
 gaps in a field
 environment
                                                                       Functional Exercise
                                                                        :ull-Scale Exercise
 The material in How to Develop a Multi-Year Training and Exercise (T&E) Plan is compliant with the Homeland
 Security Exercise and Evaluation Program (HSEEP). HSEEP provides a standardized policy, methodology,
 and terminology for exercise design, development, conduct, and evaluation. HSEEP compliant activities may
 increase funding opportunities for utilities through state administrative agencies.  For more information on
 HSEEP, visitwww.HSEEP.dhs.gov.

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Components of a Multi-Year T&E Plan
Section 1. Purpose
Explains the purpose of your utility's multi-year T&E plan.

Section 2. Points of Contact
Provides a primary contact list for personnel involved with
training and exercises at your utility. You should also
include your local Emergency Management Agency training
coordinator, and other emergency management contacts in
your state and local jurisdiction. A template is included in
the document for your use.
Keep your list of contacts
updated as changes occur
within the organization.
Section 3. Program Priorities/ Capabilities-Based Training
Identify program priorities to determine how training will support or complement your jurisdiction's
preparedness priorities. Be sure to conduct a review of the utility's vulnerability assessment, existing plans
(e.g., Emergency Response Plan), lessons learned from recent incidents or previous years' training and
exercises, and any recent act, regulation, or initiative for additional information.

Capabilities-based preparedness emphasizes training and exercises of specific capabilities (e.g.,
maintaining operations during a power outage), rather than general threats or incidents (e.g., hurricane,
tornado). Capabilities are applicable to a wide variety of threats and incidents. For example, a utility located in
an area prone to power outages may want to develop the capability to operate using backup generators.
Example Multi-Year T&E Plan Schedule for a
Small Utility
Section 4. Methodology and
Improvement Tracking
Methodology describes how the training
courses and exercises will be chosen
and how they will be tracked with
respect to progression and
improvement.

Section 5. Multi-Year
Training and Exercise Plan
Schedule
The template and examples included in
the appendices will help you complete
your training schedule (example shown
to the right). The template can be
modified to meet the requirements of
your utility (e.g., small, medium, or large
facilities).
AGENCY/
JURISDICTION

SMALL UTILITY

[NEIGHBORING
UTILITY NAME]

[COUNTY HEALTH
DEPARTMENT]

[ STATE PRIMACY
AGENCY]
[LOCAL EMA]

[LOCAL FIRE
DEPARTMENT]
SMALL UTILITY MULTI-YEAR TRAINING & EXERCISE SCHEDULE: [2011 {YEAR ONE)]
Qtrl
j

TRAINING:
SAFETY
F

TRAINING:
TELEPHONI
THREATS

TRAINING:
ICS-IOO.A

Qtr2
A

TRAINING:
DRILL
M

EXERCISE: ERP
WORKSHOP

EXERCISE:
WORKSHOP

Qtr3
J

EXERCISE:
PANDEMIC
INFLUENZA
TABLETOP

A
EXERCISE:
EMERGENCY
CONTACT &
CALL-IN
SEMINAR

TRAINING:
NlMS

Qtr4
O

EXERCISE:
ALL-HANDS
ERP SEMINAR

EXERCISE:
SPILL DRILL
D

EXERCISE:
WATER
WEBINAR

Priorities Addressed: Utility T&E Priorities (small utilities can leverage training sponsored by their response partners)
Priority 1
Safety

Priority 2
Communications
For Additional Information

How to Develop a Multi-Year Training and Exercise (T&E) Plan (EPA 816-K11-003, May 2011) is located
online at http://water.epa.gov/infrastructure/watersecurity/emerplan/upload/epa816k11003.pdf. For more
information, please contactWSD-outreach@epa.gov.
Office of Water (4608-T) EPA817-F-12-001 March 2012 http://water.epa.gov/drink

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