8 AUGUST 2018 • FOGHORN FOGHORNFOCUS: SAFETY Five Lessons Learned from a Full Scale Mass Rescue Exercise 1. Hope is not a Plan. Unless you actually exercise your plans you really are just hoping that they will serve you effectively when the time comes. 2. Whoever is locally in charge for your organization needs to get help early! Demands for a leader’s attention will quickly overwhelm them in a crisis if they do not have assistance and do not delegate! If the leader is the person answering the phones they will lose the “big picture” very quickly! 3. If you have an HQ or Corporate Team that isn’t located nearby, then you should plan ahead how you are going to communicate with them and make situation reports and updates. 4. Your plans should include how you are going to address the media. They will be there and quicker than you expect! 5. Your plans should address how your company is going to respond long term (i.e. salvage and clean-up, legal issues, and service recovery) About the Author Tim Aguirre is a General Manager and the Safety Management System Designated Person for HMS Ferries, a Division of HMS Global Maritime. He is also presently working on a team that is converting the Gee’s Bend Ferry to the first 100 percent electric vehicle ferry in the United States. Previously, Tim completed a career in the U.S. Coast Guard. He has served in both afloat and aviation assignments that included Operations Officer, Facilities Engineer and Chief of Training for the HU25 Fleet. He is also a certified Naval Science Instructor and has flown commercially for JetBlue Airways. fail.” Being a full-scale exercise, the other partici- pants had their own objectives and those were all included in exercise planning. On the big day, when roll was taken, we had more than 50 Coast Guard participants from USCG Eighth District, Sector Mobile, and Station Dauphin Island. Fire Rescue from Orange Beach responded as well as local police and fire personnel. For HMS Ferries, it was an “all hands on deck” day and those not participating directly still got the opportunity to observe. Long distance participants included our corporate leadership team and the vessel owner, Alabama Department of Transportation. For this exercise, the team had planned that media interaction and public affairs would be addressed but in most cases simulated. However, as soon as word spread of the exercise taking place actual TV crews traveled to Dauphin Island to report on it. This turned out to be a great op- portunity to test our ability to tell the story and conduct TV interviews. There were plenty of great lessons learned during the “Exercise Hot Wash” held at USCG Sector Mobile. For us as the ferry operator, the chance to validate and improve our plans enhanced our ability to safely handle emergencies and that alone was worth the all the effort. Getting a real opportunity to train for passenger account- ing and control, man overboard recovery and transferring passengers off the ferry was a real eye opener for all involved. Finally, a company’s responsibility following a mass casualty such as this obviously doesn’t conclude in one day like this exercise did. How your plans address the long-term aftermath may determine whether or not the company survives too! n Dozens of participants of were involved in the successful HMS Ferries Alabama training exercise. Photo courtesy of HMS Ferries Alabama.