Training
Gold Standard
Purpose
The purpose of Gold Standard is to enhance UK Resilience by providing
the multi-agency civil command team training necessary for the effective
management of major emergencies and events.
Why is it needed?
There is an existing significant gap between individual and collective
training for those who may be charged with providing the direction to
ensure a successful outcome from events that could challenge UK Resilience.
Consequently, there is a risk that the effectiveness of response may be
degraded, because key leaders and supporting staff have not been able to
train together often enough as teams in realistic and pressurised, but
controlled, environments.
Who is it for?
The flexibility of system design allows its use across the Public Sector
spectrum centred on the Gold Co-ordination/Command Group through Regional
to Lead Government Departments. This includes members of Local Resilience
Forums, Regional Civil Contingencies Committees, central emergency
management teams in Devolved Administrations, the NHS, Government
Departments and Agencies and all other Public Sector organisations that
have a role in crisis response arrangements. However, the
Gold Standard is much more than a training tool just for the Public Sector.
It is also designed and available to support the specific needs of the
Private Sector. The system does of course support companies and
organisations that have duties to discharge under civil protection
legislation but it also assists companies and organisations whose products
and operations require close attention to incident, emergency and business
continuity management.
What is Gold Standard?
Gold Standard encompasses a mixture of people, technologies and procedures
that are brought together to work as a system to support team training
at the senior decision-making level. The system is designed to deliver
a complete training service driven by the specific needs of individual
customers. A key and significant aspect of the Gold Standard system is that
it operates alongside customer's own in-place command and control
centre technologies and arrangements. This allows users to work with their
own operating models, processes and procedures thereby gaining not only
training benefit but validation for their operating arrangements. The Gold
Standard system therefore provides each customer with the choice of whether
to train in their own command facilities or elsewhere in concert with their
specific training need and level of operation (local, regional or
national).
What does Gold Standard do?
Scenario Realisation - Each exercise or training event is
bespoke but founded on underlying common components for economy and
standardisation of training effect across all user communities. The common
components are drawn from the Risk Registers that have been constructed
across the UK to inform civil protection planning arrangements. They
encompass the following event areas:
Fire & Explosion; Gas and LPG Ð landing, storage,
processing, transmission, transport.
Toxic or Radioactive or Chemical Release; The
circumstances mentioned above including malicious release.
Transportation Incidents; Ships, ferries, passenger
liners, trains, aircraft, and road vehicles with associated fires,
explosions, toxic release etc.
Weather Related Events; Storms, winds, rain, flooding,
snow, cold and heat-wave.Human Disease; Pandemic influenza, Severe Acute
Respiratory Syndrome (SARS), food contamination, novo virus etc.
Animal Disease; Epidemic Foot and Mouth Disease (FMD),
Avian Influenza etc.
Disruption of Essential Supplies and Services; Logistic
and technical disruption of essential supplies and services (oil, gas,
electricity, water, food, telecommunications including data transmission,
transfer and payment).
Environmental Impact; Any or all of the above may
affect the environment and the remediation of such damage is an important
component of the recovery phase of operations.
Among other key operating functions the Gold Standard system will:
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Interface with customer's existing Communication
Suites.
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Have the ability to adjust scenario timelines forward or
back.
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Measure decisions and map consequences.
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Provide objective critique of outcomes.
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Provide a comprehensive Take-Home pack to players for
validation of own Policy, Plans and Procedures.
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To take your organisation up to the GOLD STANDARD
For further information or to discuss your particular requirements for a
Gold Standard training event or exercise, please contact the Gold Standard
Exercise Director on +44(0) 1347 825027, email: keith.strickland@cabinet-office.x.gsi.gov.uk
or Reception on +44(0) 1347 821406.
