Biological Incident Response: Building Knowledge through Operational Testing and Exercises
Citation:
McConkey, K., S. Serre, S. Ryan, AND L. Oudejans. Biological Incident Response: Building Knowledge through Operational Testing and Exercises. 2023 US EPA International Decontamination Research and Development Conference, Charleston, SC, December 05 - 07, 2023.
Impact/Purpose:
The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) strives to protect human health and the environment from adverse impacts resulting from incidents involving biological outbreaks or the intentional release of threat agents. This poster will provide a high-level overview of some operational tests and exercises that the U.S. EPA has conducted, and the lessons learned for future capability enhancements in biological incident response.
Description:
The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) strives to protect human health and the environment from adverse impacts resulting from incidents involving biological outbreaks or the intentional release of threat agents. Over the last 15 years several interagency efforts have been conducted to advance the technologies used to characterize and decontaminate indoor and outdoor areas following biological contamination. Collaboration between the U.S. EPA Office of Emergency Management and Office of Research and Development has resulted in the execution of several field exercises and operational tests that have helped identify effective methodologies to implement during an actual biological incident, as well as knowledge gaps to consider for subsequent testing. The operational tests include field-scale studies focused on sampling, decontamination, waste management, and cost analysis information for the remediation of indoor and outdoor areas as well as subway systems. The areas included, but were not limited, to large structures and buildings; rolling stock (railcars) and physical structures (tunnels and stations) of an underground transit system; commercial livestock production facilities; and federal government assets and facilities. This poster will provide a high-level overview of some operational tests and exercises that the U.S. EPA has conducted, and the lessons learned for future capability enhancements in biological incident response.