Bristol Airport Exercise Success

Critical-Link Ltd in association with Bristol Airport (BRS) recently ran a very successful information-led crisis management exercise for senior managers.

CEO Robert Sinclair said of the exercise and its findings:

“Critical-Link Ltd brought their substantial and varied experience to bear, delivering a hard but rewarding day that was specifically tailored to our needs. They certainly brought out the key issues and risks that we needed to address, and in a sympathetic way”.

Chief Fire Officer Gary O’Neil said:

“The detailed research, insightful injects and diverse skills of the Critical-Link team really hit-the-spot. The delivery and feedback was well-paced, challenging and constructive. We’ve learned a lot about the risks we face".

He continued: The exercise spanned a full working day with 26 delegates representing all aspects of airport management and operations, including CEO Robert Sinclair.

The aims and objectives of the exercise were to test crisis management procedures, business continuity management & operations; exercise both the management and operational tiers collectively; and to examine decision-making and consent between business continuity & operations.

The exercise was designed as ‘inject-based’ and information led. In support of this, a comprehensive backstory was authored providing the context to fictional events affecting the airport, its environs and operations. Each of 4 injects tested specific elements of the agreed aims and objectives and contained a series of probing questions sets based on the backstory, for the syndicates to apply BRS responses to.

The theme for injects included:

1. Information assessment, risk analysis and risk communication.

2. IT cyber security and communications.

3. Multi-layered information feeds, operational decision-making and consent. Identifying critical links (relationships).

4. Business continuity forecasting and operational management.

Facilitated sessions followed each inject and at the close of the exercise a plenary session highlighted collective learning and action points raised during the day.

"Thanks to Critical-Link for an excellent day."