Entire communities respond to serious school bus crashes, so entire communities should be included in exercises designed to coordinate community resources during real events. This was the theme last week during a presentation titled “Developing a Mock Casualty Exercise” at the 20th annual STN EXPO in Reno.
A trio of local, national and international experts in emergency and crisis response were a part of this presentation intended for school bus supervisors and drivers. Denny Coughlin, president of the School Bus Training Company in Minnesota; Cheri Clymer (shown above), owner of Emergency Management Specialties in Colorado; and Paul Hassenmeier, a lieutenant in the Huron (Ohio) Fire Department gave the group a laundry list of dos and don’ts associated with staging mass disaster drills involving children on school buses.
The two main points made by the presenters were to get as many agencies involved as possible and to allow some other agency to sponsor the drill that can bear the liability. “These drills cannot be coordinated by one agency, so do not be a one-man band,” Coughlin said. “Allow the drill to be coordinated by a different agency, such as the city or county emergency management office. They will be happy to take it on.”
Coughlin said public agencies such as police or fire may be required to conduct emergency drills annually and would likely have the financial resources and insurance to cover the cost, which is a minimum of $5,000.
Clymer said emergency management agencies are great resources for information, but they won’t do the planning for you. “They will train you to help yourself,” Clymer said. “And they can identify current hazards in your community.”
Agencies suggested to participate are those likely to respond to an emergency involving a crashed school bus. They include law enforcement, fire and rescue, emergency medical, hospitals, emergency management, Red Cross, churches and the media. “Getting everybody in the same room is definitely the key,” Hassenmeier said.
Hassenmeier said notifying the media of an emergency drill is a great way to get positive publicity and media support when the real thing hits. “The media will give you good coverage in both scenarios,” he said. “You get good press when you’re training, and if the real thing hits, you need the media to help keep people out of the area. So develop a relationship with the media.”
