Protecting emergency responders, Vol. 4, Personal protective equipment guidelines for structural collapse events / Henry H. Willis [and others].

2024-05-18T00:54:46Z

by Willis, Henry H.
Call Number 363.3481 22
Publication Date 2006
Summary This monograph serves as a technical source for National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH) incident commander guidelines for emergency response immediately following large structural collapse events. It characterizes response activities and expected hazards, and develops guidelines for selecting appropriate personal protective equipment (PPE). The partial or complete collapse of a multistory building creates an array of physical, chemical, and biological hazards. The most significant uncertainties are the composition and magnitude of the hazards present in the postcollapse environment. Although hazard monitoring can reduce these uncertainties, this type of monitoring will not be available during the first few postcollapse hours. The guidelines focus on three issues that present unique challenges in the response to a multistory-building collapse: (1) protection from biological hazards; (2) protection from inhalation of hazardous materials; and (3) required modifications to responders' typical PPE ensembles because of the duration and intensity of the response. However, selecting and purchasing appropriate PPE does not alone ensure safety; the guidelines also address the need to provide adequate supply of equipment and training so that it is used correctly.
Format: Electronic Resources
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Evaluating the reliability of emergency response systems for large-scale incident operations [electronic resource] / Brian A. Jackson, Kay Sullivan Faith, Henry H. Willis.

2024-05-18T00:54:46Z

by Jackson, Brian A., 1972-
Call Number 363.3480684 22
Publication Date 2010
Summary The ability to measure emergency preparedness - to predict the likely performance of emergency response systems in future events - is critical for policy analysis in homeland security. Yet it remains difficult to know how prepared a response system is to deal with large-scale incidents, whether it be a natural disaster, terrorist attack, or industrial or transportation accident. This research draws on the fields of systems analysis and engineering to apply the concept of system reliability to the evaluation of emergency response systems. The authors describe a method for modeling an emergency response system; identifying how individual parts of the system might fail; and assessing the likelihood of each failure and the severity of its effects on the overall response effort. The authors walk the reader through two applications of this method: a simplified example in which responders must deliver medical treatment to a certain number of people in a specified time window, and a more complex scenario involving the release of chlorine gas. The authors also describe an exploratory analysis in which they parsed a set of after-action reports describing real-world incidents, to demonstrate how this method can be used to quantitatively analyze data on past response performance. The authors conclude with a discussion of how this method of measuring emergency response system reliability could inform policy discussion of emergency preparedness, how system reliability might be improved, and the costs of doing so. --From publisher description.
Format: Electronic Resources
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Search Results for National safety - Narrowed by: Willis, Henry H.

Protecting emergency responders, Vol. 4, Personal protective equipment guidelines for structural collapse events / Henry H. Willis [and others].

Evaluating the reliability of emergency response systems for large-scale incident operations [electronic resource] / Brian A. Jackson, Kay Sullivan Faith, Henry H. Willis.