Homeland Security Section
Nuclear and radiological weapons may be used in terrorist attacks on the United States or other countries. The responsibility of the Homeland Security Section is to provide assistance to professionals and to protect the public against a terrorist attack by weapons of mass destruction (WMDs) containing radiological and/or nuclear material.
The work of the HPS Homeland Security Section involves the following areas of activity. These are organized as work groups:
The section also provides assistance to members and local chapters of the Society who wish to assist in the homeland security effort. For example:
- Preparing and updating training information and guidance documents for use by Society members and chapters to assist government programs and to train emergency responders.
- Implementing Society and chapter programs to provide trainers or speakers requested by homeland security agencies or teams.
- Preparing, with reference to previous publications of agencies or experts, appropriate information that can be recommended to members of the public for simple actions that may minimize exposure to harm and prevent panic in the event of an attack with WMDs.
- Providing guidance and assistance to chapters for organizing, developing, and implementing local or regional homeland security programs in cooperation with their state and local governments and agencies.
- Assisting in the development of consensus standards and other guidance documents.
New Resources
Sheltering-in-place is a vital option to save lives in the aftermath of an IND or RDD. The Preparedness 360 website describes an approach to improve the success of shelter-in-place operations. It provides the tools to acquire the necessary public input that alleviates the most common failings of the shelter-in-place experience and improves survival in homes, schools and government facilities.
Other Resources
This Powerpoint presentation is a draft of proposed training for volunteer radiological spokespersons. As part of HSC's support of the Medical Reserve Corps and after our members attending the wonderful risk communications training provided at the HPS mid-year Albuquerque meeting, the HSC has been putting together this training. This is meant as a self-paced educational opportunity for a radiation health professional to learn about risk communications, if they decide to be the local radiological spokesperson.
The HSC would at least envision this training to be found at our HSC website, but could be used in any appropriate venue including in-person trainings. The trainee can view all or only specific sections/modules based on prior knowledge, how much they want to learn, and how much time they have to devote to the training. The information in this training has been extracted from a variety of sources including Dr. Vincent Covello, the NRC, the EPA, the CDC, and the Florida Department of Health. Risk communicators from the Florida Department of Health, the EPA, and the CDC have reviewed these DRAFT slides. The HSC realizes that there is a lot of information here. That is why it is divided into sections and modules; to pick and choose what the potential spokesperson might need. Please direct any comments to: john_lanza@doh.state.fl.us
Unless specifically asked to do so by the Board of Directors, the Homeland Security Section does not speak or act officially for the Health Physics Society.
The Health Physics Society has a Media Center that can provide technical information.
