Red Cell Training

Red Cell training was created after identifying the need for businesses and organisations to continuously test and exercise their Incident Management Plans and assigned management teams.  Our consultants help ensure that clients have a robust and effective response to adverse events that may affect their business continuity. 

We offer a series of exercises that provide a platform to thoroughly train and test Incident Management Plans and teams charged with the responsibility of managing serious incidents.  We have found that due to staff turnover or infrequent testing of Incident Management Plans, teams are often unaware of company policy and procedures as well as their own  and others roles and responsibilities in dealing with a serious incident.

If key incident management staff are not familiar with rapid decision making processes and working together as a team, valuable time could be wasted during the immediate response to a developing incident. They are then immediately thrown into a "reactive" response mode, rather than having the ability to forward plan as part of a "proactive" management cycle.

Training Benefits:

• Expert external validation of existing Incident Management Plans.
• Develop staff competencies and practice them in their delegated roles and responsibilities.
• Test and where necessary, make recommendations to improve existing incident management procedures.

Training Delivery:

Red Cell employs a Systems Approach to Training (SAT) methodology and delivers exercises in three different formats reflecting the level of the competence of those taking part. Depending on your requirement to train or test, exercises can be run from as little as 3 hours to several days incorporating remote sites and various departmental levels both domestically and overseas to fully test lines of communication.  These form a progressive series of exercises to ensure that your organisation gains maximum benefit from the training experience. Exercises are bespoke, based on your needs, but are delivered in three main exercise formats:

• Seminar or discussion based: Basic level of exercise, delivered over a short time period to identify and test client Incident Management Plans and train Management Teams.
• Table-top exercise: Intermediate level training exercise used for implementation training of new or amended Incident Management Plans.
• Live exercise: Advanced level exercise incorporating complex, multiple scenario 'injects' (serials) to thoroughly test Incident Management Teams.

Delegate quotes from recent exercises:

"The Exercise clearly identified gaps in our Serious Incident Plan and the preparation of the Incident Management Team...

"The Incident Management Team was given a clear reminder of the existing Serious Incident Plan and had valuable time to work together through an imaginative and realistic scenario..."

"The exercise highlighted the importance of good communications and information management, both internally and externally of the Incident Management Centre".

Exercise Sequencing:

Basic. Delivered as a seminar or discussion based exercise, this is the first tier of the Red Cell series of exercises. The exercise is deliberately pitched at a basic level to ensure that delegates are introduced to the client organisations Incident Management policy and procedures. This presents a good opportunity for delegates that are new to the organisation to get to know their own and each others roles and responsibilities when dealing with a serious incident and to get to work as a team. Delegates work in syndicates to talk through appropriate responses to a developing scenario in accordance with the Incident Management Plan. Advice from Red Cell along with any lessons identified from delegates is fed back into the organisation during the subsequent debrief and post exercise report so that improvements can be made to the Incident Management Plan.

Intermediate. Intermediate training is conducted as a table-top exercise, with delegates organised into their Incident Management Team structure. The purpose of the Intermediate level exercise is to confirm any changes that may have been recently made to the Incident Management Plan and facilitate implementation training for delegates. The exercise scenario is more complex than the basic level exercise, with a higher level of injects and problems to deal with.

Advanced. Where the clients' Incident Management Team is experienced, with robust and effective Incident Management Plans in place, Red Cell can offer the Advanced Level exercise. This exercise can be delivered as a Live exercise, with satellite groupings involved where necessary to fully test the organisations communications architecture and organisational response to serious incidents. Advanced exercises are deliberately complex with simultaneous multi-tasking events designed to test the fully formed incident management team and set the conditions to replicate near "real-life" conditions. Delegates require rapid decision making skills and thorough knowledge of their Incident Management Plan, before embarking on the Advanced level exercise.

Case History:

A London-based broadsheet newspaper wanted to exercise their Serious Incident Management Team through a third party specialist security provider. A Red Cell consultant discussed the clients' requirements and subsequently delivered a bespoke half day basic level training exercise with the scenario based on the kidnapping of a journalist in a foreign country. The exercise was an excellent learning experience and successfully exposed some important lessons. The outcomes reflected the need to improve elements of the newspapers Incident Management Plan and positive feedback from delegates highlighted the importance of the following:

• Knowledge of the individual roles and responsibilities of the Incident Management Team.
• Practice in being able to function effectively as a team.
• Good lines of Communication.
• Effective Information management.

Red Cell were able to deliver a comprehensive post exercise report that highlighted key action points to the client to make improvements to their serious incident management policy and procedures.