Training and Exercises

The Office of Emergency Management offers a variety of training and outreach programs for the University community. 

Emergency preparedness training (CPR, first aid, fire safety, etc.)

The Howard University Office of Emergency Management offers emergency preparedness training for students, faculty, and staff.  Here is a brief list of some of the training that is offered.

1. Incident Command System Training
2. National Incident Management System Training
3. Floor Warden/Building Warden Training
4. Campus Emergency Response Team (CERT) Training

For more information about emergency preparedness training, you can visit the following link:

FEMA Training  https://www.ready.gov/training

Howard University conducts exercises based on the Department of Homeland Security Exercise and Evaluation Program (HSEEP).  The Office of Emergency Management conducts the following discussion-based exercises:

• Seminar. A seminar is an informal discussion, designed to orient participants to new or updated plans, policies, or procedures (e.g., a seminar to review a new Evacuation Standard Operating Procedure).
• Workshop. A workshop resembles a seminar, but is employed to build specific products, such as a draft plan or policy (e.g., a Training and Exercise Plan Workshop is used to develop a Multi-year Training and Exercise Plan).
• Tabletop Exercise (TTX). A tabletop exercise involves key personnel discussing simulated scenarios in an informal setting. TTXs can be used to assess plans, policies, and procedures.
• Games. A game is a simulation of operations that often involves two or more teams, usually in a competitive environment, using rules, data, and procedure designed to depict an actual or assumed real-life situation.

The University also conducts operational-based exercises on campus:

• Drill. A drill is a coordinated, supervised activity usually employed to test a single, specific operation or function within a single entity (e.g., a fire department conducts a decontamination drill).
• Functional Exercise (FE). A functional exercise examines and/or validates the coordination, command, and control between various multi-agency coordination centers (e.g., emergency operation center, joint field office, etc.). A functional exercise does not involve any "boots on the ground" (i.e., first responders or emergency officials responding to an incident in real time).
• Full-Scale Exercises (FSE). A full-scale exercise is a multi-agency, multi-jurisdictional, multi-discipline exercise involving functional (e.g., joint field office, emergency operation centers, etc.) and "boots on the ground" response (e.g., firefighters decontaminating mock victims).