Valero Drill - Texas Production Team

	Chemical plants and refineries are required to conduct response drills. Sometimes they are "tabletop" exercises taking place in a conference room. Valero Houston Refinery took it to the top, with a full-scale exercise that included all the activities and participation of an actual incident.
	In conjunction with Channel Industries Mutual Aid (CIMA) and neighboring plants, the real-time exercise ran from 7:30 AM until noon. TPT's Jim Zura directed a 3-camera shoot, documenting the activities as a training tool for future such exercises.
	In this drill, there were five categories of participation: PLAYERS: are the responders to the incident. They are not informed of the events that are about to unfold. CONTROLLERS: are the drill managers, stationed at all the key sites. They inject the various "events" at the proper times. EVALUATORS: are qualified personnel able to evaluate Players' performances. SIMULATORS: are role-players, who portray injured personel, various agencies, community members, employees relatives, and the news media. OBSERVERS are guests allowed to watch the drill without interrupting the flow of the exercise. Close to 300 people participated in this exercise, representing 30 companies and organizations.


	.
After the exercise, all the participants gathered in their respective groups for a De-Briefing; to discuss the drill, and to list strong points and areas that could use improvement.