The indicator emergency response plan tested is defined as whether a board of health has an internal emergency response plan and whether it was tested between January 1, 2007 and the date of the survey in November, 2008. Testing an emergency response plan would include activities such as running a table top exercise, testing a telephone contact list of all staff, and staging a mock emergency scenario.

All boards of health reported that they had an internal emergency response plan in place, and the majority (29) had tested their plans since January 1, 2007. Seven boards of health reported they had not tested their plans since this date.

Of the 29 boards of health that reported they had tested their plans, most used more than one method to assess the strengths and weaknesses of their plans. The most common methods were table top exercises (18 boards of health) and scenarios or simulations (17 boards of health). The third most common method, used by 15 boards of health, was to conduct a call out or fan out exercise, which tests the ability to contact all staff or designated people by telephone and other electronic means.

More than seventy percent of boards of health that had tested their plans (21 of 29 boards of health) used at least two of these methods and 10 boards of health had completed multiple versions of a testing exercise over this time period.

In addition, eight of the boards of health that had tested their plans have also faced real emergency situations during this period, and reported that they have been able to identify ways to improve their emergency response plans based on these experiences.

Definition:

Indicates whether a board of health has an internal board of health emergency response plan and whether the plan was tested between January 1, 2007 and the date of the survey in November, 2008. Testing an emergency response plan includes activities such as running a table top exercise, testing a telephone call out list of all staff, and holding a mock emergency scenario.

Data Source(s):

Survey of boards of health, 2008

Formula:

Yes, with description of testing method; no

Notes:

• Included as a measure of public health unit emergency preparedness; provides a starting point for the development of possible future indicators, which may relate to community awareness of public health's role in emergency preparedness or effectiveness of staff training in emergency preparedness
• Because municipalities are required to have an organizational emergency response plan, nil responses were not anticipated
• Criteria for testing the plan were self-defined and described by boards of health
• Lack of a threshold for adequacy of testing an emergency response plan will limit interpretation of results