You have been invited to a practical exercise. In the app, you reply whether you can make it. On the day of the exercise, you get an alert that works like a real alert, but is clearly marked as an exercise. This way you practise with the same app you use for a real alert.

You get a push notification ‘Invitation to an exercise’ and an email. Tap the notification, or go to Profile and tap Planning.

You see ‘Your answer has been saved’ and the card shows ‘Confirmed’ or ‘Declined’. To change your answer, open the exercise again and tap Change your reply. You can do this until the exercise starts.

Beforehand, you only see that there is an exercise, when and where. In the app, every exercise is called ‘Emergency response scenario’. You find out what is being practised at the moment itself. If the exercise is moved, your answer lapses and you reply again. If the exercise is cancelled, you get a message and you do not need to do anything.

If you take part, you get an alert with EXERCISE at the top at the time of the exercise. You answer ‘Are you available directly?’ as you would for a real alert.

After that, everything works as usual: you see the location, use the checklist and talk via push-to-talk. In the Alerts tab, the exercise alert is listed under the heading ‘Exercises’, below the real alerts.

You cannot escalate an exercise alert or complete it yourself. The alert closes automatically when the exercise leader completes the exercise, or eight hours after the start. An exercise alert does not go to the alarm centre.