First Response Subcommittee

Development of information and techniques for responding to radiological events

Thomas F. O'Connell, Chair

Tom Clawson, Technical Resources Group, US DOE MERRTT program coordinator
Gordon Diotalevi, Milford, MA Fire Department, NFPA Certified Hazardous Materials Technician
Judson Kenoyer, BWCHPS First Responder Lead
Dale Mack, RSO, Morehouse School of Medicine
Doug Van Cleef, ORTEC, Instrumentation-Technical Support

Some thoughts about keeping your perspective in a radiological emergency...

• You can operate safely and accomplish your missions in an incident that involves radiation. 
  
• Prepare for the worst by wearing your turnout gear and self-contained breathing apparatus (SCBA) as a minimum. Wearing of respiratory protection minimizes the inhalation of the substances that contain radioactive materials.
  
• Be aware of your working environment and be observant of all the hazards present at an incident. Radiation may not be your biggest hazard.
  
• Be observant; all legally transported radioactive materials will have labels, marking, or placards with the universal radiation symbol.
  
• Remember and practice keeping your exposure to both radiological and hazardous materials as low as reasonably achievable (ALARA).
  
• The basics of keeping your time in the hazard to a minimum, increasing your distance from a hazard, and putting more material between you and the hazard works for a radiological hazard.
• Call for additional resources, such as radiation experts, early on in the incident when their technical expertise is needed.
  
• Use the 2008 Emergency Response Guidebook in addition to your established standard operating protocols to assist you in setting up your initial incident operation zones.

Radiation Instrumentation...

• Be knowledgable and be trained on the instruments that you deploy.
  
• Always perform instruments' operational checks prior to deployment.
• Always perform the operational checks in the cold zone.
  
• The area impacted by the incident is constantly changing.
  
  • MONITOR YOUR COLD ZONE.
    
• There is no magic box that detects all types of radiation.
  
  • Use an exposure rate meter in the hot or exclusion zone.
    
  • Use a contamination rate meter at the decontamination line.

An aid to understanding radiological exposure hazards...

If 10 microrem (background) = $0.01, then
1 mrem = $1.00
1 rem = $1,000.00
5 rem = $5,000.00 [general monitoring]*
10 rem = $10,000.00 [protection of large population]*
25 rem = $25,000.00 [life-saving value; above this value, written authorization required]*

*The information within brackets is taken from USEPA 400, 1994.

Links to first responder resources:

An Approach to First Responder Radiological Preparedness
Tom O'Connell and Paul Ares

Contamination Monitor Procedure (MBAS-RAD-001)

Instructions for Use of Digital Dosimeters (MABAS-RAD-002)

(Gamma) Exposure-Rate Monitor (MABAS-RAD-003)

Radiation Detection and Metering Standard Operating Procedure

First Responders - Does Radiation Change the Response - Presentation by Tom O'Connell

Plugging Into the Local Incident Command System - Presentation by Tom O'Connell and Steve Clendenin

Response Actions at Radiation Incidents - A Typical EMS Standard Operating Procedure

The Challenge of Communication at Hazmat Incidents
Steven Graham, Marlin Hartman, and George Mosho
A tool is suggested that should readily improve "passing the word" at HAZMAT incidents. The incorporation of the Five-Paragraph Order (SMEAC) as a standard for HAZMAT response operations orders should significantly increase the safety and effectiveness of the responders.

Time-to-Dose Calculator - Excel spreadsheet for calculating time-to-dose limit for various instruments

Nuclear Dose Calculator Excel spreadsheet for calculating time-to-dose limit when responding to a nuclear weapons attack

First Responder Job Aids and Documents

The Portable First Response Assistant for Radiological Emergencies is a tool that may be used by emergency service personnel as an aid in the field when responding to a radiological emergency. It is based on the material in the IAEA Manual for First Responders to a Radiological Emergency and contains quick guides with response actions, instructions, and information useful in the first response to a radiological emergency.

The tool has been designed for use on portable devices, such as hand-held computers and smart phones, and requires only a Web browser to be used.

Transportation Emergency Preparedness Program - Emergency Responder Radioactive Material Quick Reference Sheet: This one-page reference sheet provides a quick reference for responding to a transportation accident involving radioactive materials.

Manual for first responders to a radiological emergency: The objective of this publication by the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) is to provide practical guidance for those responding within the first few hours of a radiological emergency.

Communicating in the First Hours: The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention's communication guide for the first hours of an incident.

Medical Management of Internally Radiocontaminated Patients: A manual that is useful for EMS and hospital medical personnel for management of patients internally contaminated with radioactive materials.

NIST Special Publication 981 - Aid for Decontamination of Fire and Rescue Service Protective Clothing and Equipment After Chemical, Biological, and Radiological Exposures

Emergency Response to Terrorism Job Aid Edition 2: A U.S. Fire Administration handbook.

Critical Incident Stress Management Articles: A compilation of articles covering a variety of topics related to incident stress management.

IAFF - Virtual Academy: The International Association of Fire Fighters Virtual Training Academy Web site.

CDC/NIOSH Guidance Documents: The National Institute of Occupational Safety and Health's guidance document Web site on Protection Emergency Responders.

HSPD-8 Overview: Here is the Department of Homeland Security Office of Grants and Training overview of Presidential Directive 8 National Preparedness with links to other documents and presidential directives.

Emergency Responder Guidelines: The Office for Domestic Preparedness is the Department of Justice's component responsible for enhancing the capabilities of state and local jurisdictions to prepare for, and respond to, incidents of domestic terrorism involving chemical and biological agents and nuclear, radioactive, and explosive devices.

Radioactive Material Shipment Quick Reference Sheet: A quick reference from the Department of Energy.

Web Sites of Interest to First Responders:

All-Hands.net is a user-supported community where emergency management, homeland security, and business continuity professionals come together to post articles, share files, and communicate with others in our profession. In other words, "all hands" working together to share knowledge and resources. Topics include emergency management, homeland security, disaster preparedness, business continuity, consulting and training services, mitigation planning, terrorism planning, threat assessments, search and rescue, emergency operations centers, and command operations and training. Participation is encouraged; you can contribute information by posting articles or adding downloads to the toolbox. You can also participate by asking or answering questions in the user forums or by reviewing products, etc.

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has a lot of information on bioterrorism agents, chemical warfare, diseases, and other threats in addition to radiological emergencies. There is information on how to handle mass casualty incidents.

GET INVOLVED with the LOCAL RESPONSE: The Community Emergency Response Team (CERT) Program educates people about disaster preparedness for hazards that may impact their area and trains them in basic disaster response skills, such as fire safety, light search and rescue, team organization, and disaster medical operations. Using the training learned in the classroom and during exercises, CERT members can assist others in their neighborhood or workplace following an event when professional responders are not immediately available to help. CERT members also are encouraged to support emergency response agencies by taking a more active role in emergency preparedness projects in their community.

The origins of this Web site lie in recommendations made by the Counter-Terrorism Training Coordination Working Group convened by the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) Office of Justice Programs to examine the counter-terrorism tools available to law enforcement and first-responder communities.

The Edgewood Chemical Biological Center (ECBC) provides state-of-the-art science, technology, and engineering solutions to meet the rapidly changing needs of the war fighter. Located in Edgewood, Maryland, ECBC offers more than 85 years' experience in chemical and biological defense and houses many facilities capable of handling items contaminated with chemical, biological, or radiological materials.

Specific ECBC offerings include a full array of material management assistance ranging from risk management to agent detection, testing, and decontamination. By partnering with industry, academia, and the first responder community, ECBC leverages this expertise, furthering its mission to protect U.S. Armed Forces and U.S. interests.

The International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) has published many documents pertaining to radiological emergency response. There are technical documents on radiological response, case histories of past incidents to learn what went right and what went wrong, medical aspects of radiation exposures, risks from radiation, and emergency planning and preparation documents. In addition, the IAEA has a Web site dedicated to first responders including a Manual for first responders to a radiological emergency.

State and Local Guide (SLG) 101: Guide for All-Hazard Emergency Operations Planning. If you need reference materials for developing a response plan for your city or town, this link provides you a good starting point. From this link you can also move about the FEMA Web site.

Use of the FEMA banner does not imply a relationship with, affiliation with, sponsorship of, or endorsement of the HPS or this website.

The goal of the National Bioterrorism Hospital Preparedness Program is to aid state, territory, and selected entities in improving the capacity of the health care system, including hospitals, emergency departments, outpatient facilities, EMS systems, and poison control centers, to respond to incidents requiring mass immunization, isolation, decontamination, diagnosis, and treatment in the aftermath of terrorism or other public health emergencies.

The mission of the National Bioterrorism Hospital Preparedness Program is to ready hospitals and supporting health care systems to deliver coordinated and effective care to victims of terrorism and other public health emergencies.

If you want to know how the Incident Command System works, FIRESCOPE is the site to see and learn.

The Mission of FIRESCOPE is to (1) provide professional recommendations and technical assistance to the Director of OES (Office of Emergency Services) and the OES Fire and Rescue Branch on the following program elements:

• Statewide Fire and Rescue Cooperative Agreement (Mutual Aid) Plan
• Statewide Fire and Rescue Cooperative Agreement (Mutual Aid) System
• Mutual Aid Use and Application
• OES Fire and Rescue Branch staffing needs
• Policies and Programs
• Apparatus and Equipment programs

and (2) maintain a system known as the FIRESCOPE "Decision Process" to continue statewide operation, development, and maintenance of the following FIRESCOPE-developed Incident Command System (ICS) and Multiagency Coordination System (MACS) components:

• Improved methods for coordinating multiagency firefighting resources during major incidents
  
• Improved methods for forecasting fire behavior and assessing fire, weather, and terrain conditions on an incident
  
• Standard terminology for improving incident management
  
• Improved multiagency training on FIRESCOPE-developed components and products
   
• Common mapping systems
   
• Improved incident information management
   
• Regional operational coordination centers for regional multiagency coordination

The NIOSH Web site, part of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, contains many resources currently used in the hazardous-materials and first-responder communities. These resources include pocket guides on chemical safety, emergency response resources, respiratory protection information, and emergency preparedness guidance for businesses.

NIOSH objectives include:

• Conduct research to reduce work-related illnesses and injuries
   
• Promote safe and healthy workplaces through interventions, recommendations, and capacity building
   
• Enhance global workplace safety and health through international collaborations

The RAND Corporation publishes many documents pertaining to terrorism and other world affairs. It is a valuable resource for researching various topics that involve preparing to respond to emergencies and insight into the reasons things are the way they are in the world. The nice thing is that material on homeland security and other topics can be downloaded or reviewed with no cost to the site visitor.

The RAND Corporation is a nonprofit research organization providing objective analysis and effective solutions that address the challenges facing the public and private sectors around the world. For more than 50 years, the RAND Corporation has pursued its nonprofit mission by conducting research on important and complicated problems. Initially, RAND (the name was derived from a contraction of the term research and development) focused on issues of national security. Eventually, RAND expanded its intellectual reserves to offer insight into other areas, such as business, education, health, law, and science. RAND's innovative approach to problem solving has become the benchmark for all other "think tanks" that followed.

RAND is a nonpartisan research institute and use of their banner does not imply a relationship with, affiliation with, sponsorship of, or endorsement of the HPS or this website.

The Knowledge Base has been built specifically to serve the needs of emergency responders. It contains information on currently available products, along with a wealth of related information such as standards, training, and grants. All vendor information is screened before posting. This site contains a wealth of information and reference materials that could keep you busy reading and researching for years. This site gets input from all of the first-responder communities so you get to see things through everyone's eyes.

About NTI   Working for a Safer World

Nuclear Threat Initiative's (NTI) mission is to strengthen global security by reducing the risk of use and preventing the spread of nuclear, biological, and chemical weapons. NTI seeks to raise public awareness, serve as a catalyst for new thinking, and take direct action to reduce these threats.

On this site you will find a Research Library, which has multiple sections. We have found that the Source Documents section is full of valuable insight documents. In this section, you will be able to access nonproliferation and WMD-related documents published by both nongovernmental organizations and government bodies.

If you can not find what you are looking for at this Web site you may not know what you are looking for, as this Web site has one of the most comprehensive listings we have seen that provides links to all subjects dealing with preparation, response, and planning for all types of emergencies. Information from TSUNAMIs to SPACE WEATHER can be found here.

This system allows you to narrow down a hazardous substance by looking at human symptoms and/or the characteristics of the hazardous material. The PC-based system lets you link to many GIS resources for mapping and U.S. EPA Tier II reporting sites. Very neat, a valuable responder tool, and it's free.

WISER (Wireless Information System for Emergency Responders) is a system designed to assist first responders in hazardous-material incidents. Developed by the National Library of Medicine, WISER provides a wide range of information on hazardous substances, including substance identification support, physical characteristics, human health information, and containment and suppression guidance.

The operational version of WISER for Windows is now available for download! The operational version of WISER for Palm OS is also available.

• Mobile support, providing first responders with critical information in the palm of their hand
   
• Comprehensive decision support, including assistance in identification of an unknown substance and, once the substance is identified, providing guidance on immediate actions necessary to save lives and protect the environment
   
• Access to 390 substances from NLM's Hazardous Substances Data Bank (HSDB), which contains detailed information on over 4,700 critical hazardous substances
   
• Rapid access to the most important information about a hazardous substance by an intelligent synopsis engine and display called "Key Info"
   
• Intuitive, simple, and logical user interface developed by working with experienced first responders

This Web site has a number of documents that pertain to first responders, areas of response, and methods of improving response. There are a couple of sections of interest, especially on homeland security and terrorism, that provide a lot of guidance to first responders on biological, chemical, and radiological issues.

The U.S. Government Accountability Office (GAO) is an independent, nonpartisan agency that works for Congress. GAO is often called the "congressional watchdog" because it investigates how the federal government spends taxpayer dollars.

GAO gathers information to help Congress determine how well executive-branch agencies are doing their jobs. GAO's work routinely answers such basic questions as whether government programs are meeting their objectives or providing good service to the public. Ultimately, GAO ensures that government is accountable to the American people. To that end, GAO provides Senators and Representatives with the best information available to help them arrive at informed policy decisions?information that is accurate, timely, and balanced. GAO supports congressional oversight by:

• evaluating how well government policies and programs are working;
   
• auditing agency operations to determine whether federal funds are being spent efficiently, effectively, and appropriately;
   
• investigating allegations of illegal and improper activities; and
   
• issuing legal decisions and opinions.

 

At a time of new global opportunities and challenges, the Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS) provides strategic insights and policy solutions to decision makers in government, international institutions, the private sector, and civil society. A bipartisan, nonprofit organization headquartered in Washington, DC, CSIS conducts research and analysis and develops policy initiatives that look into the future and anticipate change.

Since 1962, CSIS has grown to become one of the world’s preeminent international policy institutions, with more than 220 full-time staff and a large network of affiliated scholars focused on defense and security, regional stability, and transnational challenges ranging from energy and climate to global development and economic integration.

FireSpecialOps.com was started in 2008.  The goal of FireSpecailOps.com is to create a site that members of fire department special operations teams can find the latest news and information.

Homeland1.com is revolutionizing the way in which the homeland security community finds relevant news, identifies important training information, interacts with colleagues and researches product information. With more than 12,000 members across public safety, Homeland1 offers a full range of articles, videos, training tips and product information. Homeland1 addresses the wide-ranging needs of domestic preparedness -- from command and control, to bioterrorism, disaster exercises and funding and is a resource for emergency managers, disaster planners and counter-terrorism officials across the country.