Food Safety Authority of Ireland Simulation Exercise

In Wicklow, Ireland, 4C Strategies conducted its largest public sector exercise to date with the FSAI. The simulation exercise was set up with a set of four objectives:

• To test and verify the organisational arrangements in response to a chemical contamination of a food chain.
• To examine how information is shared and the effectiveness of communication within and between agencies.
• To assess the decision-making processes during the management of chemical contamination of a food chain and last of all;
• To test the external communications response and ensure it has more focus on generic public information.

The exercise started with a teleconference with all of the participating agencies with the objective of assessing the magnitude of the crisis and decide on what action to take. As the scenario unfolded throughout the day, the events gained traction in the media increasing pressure to communicate consistently, clearly and coherently. Over the course of the six hours the 200 participants were subject to some 240 injects with new information, to assess correctly and share with all actors in the exercise.

Designing, delivering and evaluating the food safety exercise in Exonaut enabled the effective management of a complex simulated exercise, while developing the crisis management capability of the different participating agencies. All of the knowledge gained or results found were compiled and saved in Exonaut, to be used for future preparations in crisis management and exercise delivery.

We’d like to thank all of the participating agencies for the opportunity to be an integral part of the important work in securing the food safety chain in Ireland for many years to come.

Participants for the SIMEX included representatives from: Health Service Executive (Environmental Health Officers & Public Analyst Laboratory), Local Authority Veterinary Inspectors, Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine, Sea Fisheries Protection Authority, Food Safety Authority of Ireland, Department of Health and the Irish Food Board (Bord Bia).