From 20 to 22 September, the Bullseye cross-sectoral exercise took place in Vught, the Netherlands, on the premises of Consortium Member Defense CBRN Center Vught.
After improving the Bullseye harmonised procedures during and after the mono-trainings, the final cross-sectoral exercise was organised.
In this context, first-, second- and third-line responders gathered at the National Training Centre CBRN in Vught, to test all the Bullseye harmonised procedures and to ascertain whether they are interoperable. The exercise aimed to verify a smooth sequence of the interventions executed by the different lines.
The programme
On the first day, a first multi-disciplinary exercise was organised based on a scenario that was very similar to the one used during the mono-trainings. Each intervention was followed by a short feedback session to evaluate the execution and the implementation of the procedures. This intensive first day concluded with an informal networking moment.
The second day, a second cross-sectoral exercise took place. However, this time the participating first responders did not know what to expect, as it involved a completely new, unknown scenario: a drone attack in a metro station with a chemical/radioactive agent causing multiple injuries and deaths.
During the final day, both exercises were discussed and the procedures were evaluated once more by all project partners, allowing to modify the procedures, if deemed necessary. The purpose of this debriefing was to establish and validate a final set of procedures for all three lines of first responders.
A valuable exercise
Overall, the participating practitioners were very enthusiastic about the course of the exercises. The cross-sectoral character of the exercise allowed the practitioners to test the interoperability and coherence of the procedures and to finetune coordination and communication, which was considered extremely valuable. Furthermore, the international dimension offered practitioners the opportunity to discover new or different tools that were used in the other countries.
The project wants to thank the Consortium partner DCBRNC Vught for the organisation of the excerises.
What’s next?
Based on the exercise and ex-post evaluation, some adjustments are currently being made to the final set of harmonised procedures.
As a final step in the Bullseye project, a Train-the-Trainer toolkit will be developed containing the finalised harmonised procedures, best practices and other useful tools. This toolkit will be presented to all EU member states, giving the opportunity to be implemented by other member states as well.
More information about this will follow soon!