Ohio EMA Releases New School Tabletop Exercise Toolkits

K-12 School Hazmat & K-12 Active Aggressor

COLUMBUS, OH – The Ohio Emergency Management Agency (EMA), in cooperation with the Ohio School Safety Center within Ohio Homeland Security, announced today the release of two additional K-12 exercises: the K-12 School Hazmat Tabletop Exercise Toolkit and the K-12 School Active Aggressor Tabletop Exercise Toolkit.

“Although we know that school will look different this year, it’s still important that we continue the conversations on how to best protect Ohio’s school students in the event of an emergency,” said Governor DeWine. “These new school toolkits, along with the K-12 Severe Weather Toolkit released in March, provide all the information and materials needed to support the planning process.”

The K-12 School Hazmat Tabletop Exercise Toolkit helps school staff, first responders, and other partners to prepare for a hazardous material release near a school, such as the incident that happened this year in Massachusetts which sent 34 students to the hospital.

The K-12 School Active Aggressor Tabletop Exercise Toolkit prepares school staff, law enforcement, and emergency responders to be prepared when an active threat comes to an Ohio school.

These no-cost, discussion-based exercises provide all of the materials and information necessary to easily plan and host a tabletop exercise. Theses toolkits were adapted from material provided by Cuyahoga County’s ReadyEx initiative.

Exercise toolkit materials include:

  • PowerPoint Presentation for the exercise
  • Facilitator’s Guide
  • Participant Situation Manual
  • Planning Timeline
  • Meeting & Support Documents

This toolkit is located on the Ohio EMA website: https://ema.ohio.gov/Exercise_TableTop_Toolkit.aspx. Ohio EMA’s five previous toolkits are:

Mall Active Shooter

Business Continuity: Disaster in the Workplace

Higher Education Active Aggressor Tabletop Exercise Toolkit

Houses of Worship: Targeted Disruption

K-12 School Severe Weather

These toolkits have been downloaded a combined total of over 3,000 times in 46 states and nine countries.

More about the Ohio School Safety Center: On August 21, 2019, Governor DeWine signed Executive Order 2019-21D creating the Ohio School Safety Center (OSSC) within Ohio Homeland Security (OHS). The OSSC is responsible for assisting local schools and law enforcement with preventing, preparing for, and responding to threats and acts of violence, including self-harm, through a holistic, solutions-based approach to improving school safety.