33 CFR § 154.1055 - Exercises.
(a) A response plan submitted by an owner or operator of an MTR facility must include an exercise program containing both announced and unannounced exercises. The following are the minimum exercise requirements for facilities covered by this subpart:
(1) Qualified individual notification exercises (quarterly).
(2) Spill management team tabletop exercises (annually). In a 3-year period, at least one of these exercises must include a worst case discharge scenario.
(3) Equipment deployment exercises:
(i) Semiannually for facility owned and operated equipment.
(ii) Annually for oil spill removal organization equipment.
(4) Emergency procedures exercises (optional).
(5) Annually, at least one of the exercises listed in § 154.1055(a)(2) through (4) must be unannounced. Unannounced means the personnel participating in the exercise must not be advised in advance, of the exact date, time and scenario of the exercise.
(6) The facility owner or operator shall design the exercise program so that all components of the response plan are exercised at least once every 3 years. All of the components do not have to be exercised at one time; they may be exercised over the 3-year period through the required exercises or through an Area exercise.
(b) A facility owner or operator shall participate in unannounced exercises, as directed by the COTP. The objectives of the unannounced exercises will be to test notifications and equipment deployment for response to the average most probable discharge. After participating in an unannounced exercise directed by a COTP, the owner or operator will not be required to participate in another COTP initiated unannounced exercise for at least 3 years from the date of the exercise.
(c) A facility owner or operator shall participate in Area exercises as directed by the applicable On-Scene Coordinator. The Area exercises will involve equipment deployment to respond to the spill scenario developed by the Exercise Design Team, of which the facility owner or operator will be a member. After participating in an Area exercise, a facility owner or operator will not be required to participate in another Area exercise for at least 6 years.
(d) The facility owner or operator shall ensure that adequate records of all required exercises are maintained at the facility for 3 years. Records shall be made available to the Coast Guard upon request.
(e) The response plan submitted to meet the requirements of this subpart must specify the planned exercise program. The plan must detail the exercise program, including the types of exercises, frequency, scope, objectives and the scheme for exercising the entire response plan every 3 years.
(f) Compliance with the National Preparedness for Response Exercise Program (PREP) Guidelines will satisfy the facility response plan exercise requirements. These guidelines are available from the TASC DEPT Warehouse, 33141Q 75th Avenue, Landover, MD 20875 (fax: 301–386–5394, stock number USCG–X0241). Compliance with an alternative program that meets the requirements of paragraph (a) of this section and has been approved under § 154.1060 will also satisfy the facility response plan exercise requirements.
The PREP guidelines are available online at http://dmses.dot.gov/docimages/pdf1a/198001_web.pdf.