Preparing to Assess Drills.

DOE-EM-STD-5505-96

There are two reasons for requesting that a drill be run during an assessment:

Assess the drill program

Assess the facility's response to the drill

Findings discovered during the drill would only be used as leads for that particular area and

should not be reported as findings. The one exception to this situation would be if the deficiency

was not detected by the drill team and not discussed at the drill critique. Then the drill team's

failure to detect the deficiency would be noted in the report as a drill program finding.

Assessors should understand the difference between an activity drill and a site-wide exercise.

While a drill is a supervised training session at an activity, a site-wide exercise is a comprehensive

performance test of most aspects of the site's emergency management program.

Conducting drills at an activity should be an integral part of the activity's training and qualification

program. Proper response to abnormal or emergency conditions is vital to ensure personnel

safety, and protection of activity equipment and the environment. The most important aspect to

evaluate when assessing drills is the control of equipment, systems, and processes during the drill.

6.21.2 Preparing to Assess Drills. The team leader should attempt to schedule the assessment

in conjunction with a scheduled drill if the contractor already has a drill schedule. If the

contractor does not routinely schedule drills, then the team leader should request a drill.

The

scope of assessing drills can be divided into two areas. First, is the drill program itself. Second, is

the observation of drills by assessment team members to assist them in their specific areas such as

communication, notifications or control area activities. Examples of specific aspects of the drill

program or specific elements of conduct of operations that could be assessed include:

Drill program goals, objectives and responsibilities

The incorporation of drills into the continuing training program to enable personnel to

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