WildX tabletop package gets first run with industry

Last week, the Sea Alarm team ran its first WildX tabletop and serious game training session with members of an oil company emergency response team. The WildX package allowed the participants to explore various realistic response challenges and discuss operational management options available to them. The training session facilitated an open and frank discussion for company staff to better understand wildlife response needs and complexities. It was also an opportunity for Sea Alarm to travel with the WildX package, test the material with a group of industry experts, and to learn from this experience for use in other companies and events abroad. During the two days of WildX training, the group of industry representatives who were mixed in terms of functions and responsibilities, explored the impacts of oiled wildlife incidents at a local and national level. They explored these impacts in the context of their own capabilities to respond to and manage such an incident. They learned about different scenarios and their challenges, the underlaying planning and logistics, qualitative and quantitative aspects of resources (equipment and personnel), the structure of a wildlife branch and how to populate it, as well as timelines that would be needed for a timely, effective and professional response. At the end of the two days, the feedback was resoundingly positive. It was noted that WildX approach is quite unique and highly valuable for its attractive, interactive and realistic representation of scenarios. Participants said the games opened their eyes to the complexities and possible strategies for dealing with an oiled wildlife incident and the importance of involving local authorities and actors in a response. The training did not solely benefit team members with an assigned role in managing the wildlife branch. Company participants with leadership roles in the planning, logistics or operations sections, in communications or overarching management also came to realise the complex challenges of a wildlife impact scenario. Looking to the future, and with the encouraging feedback received on this methodology, Sea Alarm is aiming to provide WildX trainings with industry partners on a more structural basis. Are you interested in exploring a WildX event for your company or your governmental authority? Contact the Sea Alarm Secretariat at: secretariat@sea-alarm.org