COLD INJURY PREVENTION: CDC Webpage on Cold Injury Prevention

[This is an indepth, long version for Cold Injury Prevention.  It is geared for Workplace Safety, but anyone going outside during cold weather, would be smart to re-familiarize themselves with this information.  Be safe.  SDF Blogger]

Types of Cold Stress

cdc.gov

Hypothermia  | Frostbite |Trench Foot | Chilblains

Hypothermia

When exposed to cold temperatures, your body begins to lose heat faster than it can be produced. Prolonged exposure to cold will eventually use up your body's stored energy. The result is hypothermia, or abnormally low body temperature. A body temperature that is too low affects the brain, making the victim unable to think clearly or move well. This makes hypothermia particularly dangerous because a person may not know it is happening and will not be able to do anything about it.    Read more

FREE BROCHURE: NIOSH Cold Injury Prevention

[This is a short and sweet printable document on the signs, symptoms and prevention of cold injuries including:  hypothermia, frostbite, trenchfoot and chilblains.  SDF Blogger]
 
http://www.cdc.gov/niosh/docs/2010-115/pdfs/2010-115.pdf

FREE: A PRIMER ON SITUATIONAL AWARENESS

[A must have for everyone, not just military. One of the best documents I have ever read.]
A Primer on Situational Awareness is republished with permission of STRATFOR.

FREE COURSE > Risk Communication Strategies for Public Health Preparedness

Description

Risk communication is an exchange of information about the likelihood and consequences of adverse events. In an emergency, effective risk communication is vital because it helps the public respond to the crisis, reduces the likelihood of rumors and misinformation and demonstrates good leadership. This training product will help you be more effective as a communicator and member of a crisis response team. After reviewing basic ideas about risk communication, you will learn to develop crisis communication plans and deliver public health messages by working with the media.

TOPIC 1: RISK COMMUNICATION STRATEGIES FOR PUBLIC HEALTH PREPAREDNESS

• Part 1: Background on Risk Communication
• Part 2: What is Risk Communications?
• Part 3: Working with the Media
• Part 4: Communications Plans and Strategies
• Part 5: Crisis Communications
• Part 6: Implications and Action Steps

Useful Risk Communication-related Web sites:

Review CDC-Funded Cooperative Agreements on Public Health Preparedness and Response for Bioterrorism—Budget Year Four

CDC Guidance for Risk Communication and Health Information Dissemination (“Public Information and Communication, Focus Area F”)
Cross-Cutting Areas (co-funded with Health Resources and Services Administration)
Metropolitan Medical Response Systems (now part of the Department of Homeland Security)

DISASTER COMMUNICATION: Call for Public Safety Wireless Network

Published: July 20, 2011 at 5:44 PM
By ROBERT SPOERL, MEDILL NEWS SERVICE, Written for UP

WASHINGTON, July 20 (UPI) -- A bipartisan coalition of U.S. politicians urged that the auction of wireless spectrum be used to, in part, fund a public safety wireless network for first responders, which has been stalled since the days following the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks.

U.S. Sen. Charles Schumer, D. N.Y., said Wednesday at the U.S. Capitol that the plan would save lives and make emergency response more efficient without costing taxpayers money.

"To get this kind of help for our first responders without it costing the taxpayers a dime is a great accomplishment," Schumer said.

"The 9/11 Commission Report," released in 2004, called for a public safety communication network. First responders had difficulty communicating in the chaos after the attacks, chiefly because various departments were on different radios and networks.

Some telecommunications companies have spectrum they don't use. Part of the bill would establish a means to persuade broadcasters and companies to return spectrum to the government. The Federal Communications Commission would have an "incentive auction" selling extra spectrum. Proceeds from that auction would go toward creating the public safety network.

FREE COURSE: FAST Foundations (Disaster Behavioral Health First Aid Specialist Training)

Program Aim: The FAST Foundations program is intended to provide training in the foundational knowledge necessary to effectively deliver Psychological First Aid (PFA) to children, adolescents, adults, and families in the immediate aftermath of disaster.

Program Goals: 
• Define and describe Psychological First Aid. • List the basic objectives of Psychological First Aid. • Identify guidelines for delivering Psychological First Aid to adults, children, older adults and persons with disabilities. • Identify guidelines for delivering Psychological First Aid to adults, children, older adults and persons with disabilities. • Identify things that the Psychological First Aid provider should know and do when preparing to deliver Psychological First Aid. • Recognize survivors who are at increased risk for adverse psychosocial outcomes. 
• Identify the 8 Core Actions of Psychological First Aid and the related goal(s) and key tasks.

ICE > Readies Disaster Response Teams for Hurricane Season

Wed, 2011-07-13 07:20 AM

By: Mark Rockwell

RRT deploys

U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement is readying response teams that would provide support to ICE and DHS facilities if hurricanes strike this summer and fall.

ICE’s Rapid Response Teams (RRTs) deploy during natural and manmade disasters, emergency situations when other federal, local or state agencies request ICE assistance.

Teams have already been deployed this summer in the Midwestern U.S. to help with recovery from flooding along the Missouri River, according to ICE. Teams from Denver, Boston, and Newark, NJ, and Boston were recently deployed to Dakota Dunes, SD to assist the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) with law enforcement support. The team members are scheduled to provide assistance through mid-August 2011, said the agency.  Read more

FREE COURSE > NEW FEMA IS-111.a - Livestock in Disasters

IS-111.a - Livestock in Disasters  (access course)

Course Date

New as of  12 July, 2011

Course Description

This course combines the knowledge of livestock producers and emergency managers to present a unified approach to mitigate the impact of disasters on animal agriculture.

Course Objectives

The objectives of this course are to learn understand issues that arise when disasters affect livestock, determine a farm's susceptibility to hazards, and identify actions to reduce economic losses and human and animal suffering in disasters.

Primary Audience

Emergency management officials and livestock owners.

CEUs

0.4

Course Length

3.5 hours

EARTHQUAKE DETECTION > Volunteers help California build quake sensor network

Image courtesy of USGS.gov

Published 12 July 2011

Thousands of residents across California are helping the U.S Geological Survey (USGS) build a dense network of seismic sensors across the state; as part of the Quake Catcher Network, Californians are being asked to place 6,000 seismic sensors in their homes to help geologists study earthquakes

Thousands of residents across California are helping the U.S Geological Survey (USGS)build a dense network of seismic sensors across the state.

As part of the Quake Catcher Network, Californians are being asked to place 6,000 seismic sensors in their homes to help geologists study earthquakes. Last weekend the program was introduced in the San Francisco Bay Area with the help of University of California, Berkeley and Stanford University.

“With thousands of volunteers hosting our seismic sensors, forming dense networks in these regions, we’ll be able to get data on a level of detail and with a degree of accuracy that we could only dream about before” said Jesse Lawrence, assistant professor of geophysics at Stanford University, where the project is based.

The sensors can be plugged into a computer’s USB port and need to be firmly secured to the ground to prevent false readings. Using special software and an internet connection, data is transmitted from the device back to Stanford University, where the information is being collected.

Elizabeth Cochran, a USGS research geophysicist,explained that the sensors will allow geologists to track ground movements after an earthquake from more locations to enable a denser record of seismic data.  Read more

MEDICAL TECHNOLOGY > Natural antibody brings universal flu vaccine closer

Published 8 July 2011

Annually changing flu vaccines with their hit-and-miss effectiveness may soon give way to a single, near-universal flu vaccine, according to a new report from scientists at the Scripps Research Institute and the Dutch biopharmaceutical company Crucell; they describe an antibody which, in animal tests, can prevent or cure infections with a broad variety of influenza viruses, including seasonal and potentially pandemic strains

A universal flu vaccine in the offing // Source: yle.fi

Annually changing flu vaccines with their hit-and-miss effectiveness may soon give way to a single, near-universal flu vaccine, according to a new report from scientists at theScripps Research Instituteand the Dutch biopharmaceutical company Crucell. They describe an antibody which, in animal tests, can prevent or cure infections with a broad variety of influenza viruses, including seasonal and potentially pandemic strains. The finding, published in the journalScience Express on 7 July 2011, shows the influenza subtypes neutralized with the new antibody include H3N2, strains of which killed an estimated one million people in Asia in the late 1960s.

“Together this antibody and the one we reported in 2009 have the potential to protect people against most influenza viruses,” said Ian Wilson, who is the Hansen Professor of Structural Biology and a member of the Skaggs Institute for Chemical Biology at Scripps Research, as well as senior author of the new paper with Crucell’s chief scientific officer Jaap Goudsmit.  Read more

FREE TRAINING > Anhydrous Ammonia Training

This is the best training I have ever seen on anhydrous ammonia.  Please pass along to all your emergency responder buddies and who ever else might benefit from this great training!  

Photo courtesy of:  http://transcaer.com

Below is the list of contents.  Go to course page

1. Introduction
2. How To Use This Training Package
3. Student Handbook
4. Properties
5. Transports
6. Railcars
7. Emergency Response
8. Additional Materials
9. Sponsors & Partners
10. Conclusion

WEBINAR 19JUL2011 > Preparing For the Unexpected: The Trigger Events for Systemic Failure

Preparing For the Unexpected: The Trigger Events for Systemic Failure

Join us for a Webinar on July 19

This topic outlines the situation, complications and solutions to help leaders ensure the continuity of business operations in the face of unprecedented risks. The hypothesis is that a convergence of many long wave cycles is increasing the probability and impact of large scale disasters such as the incident in Japan. Surviving and thriving amidst these threats requires an enterprise resiliency plan that encompasses all internal functions, suppliers, and enterprise eco-system touch points. Are you prepared?

NUCLEAR > Nuclear Safety Journal Launched

Published 7 July 2011

Three Mile Island, Chernobyl, Fukushima: for the third time in twenty-five years a nuclear power plant suffered a serious accident, precipitating a global review of the way to govern nuclear safety and security; a publisher of scientific journal is launching a new journal -- International Journal of Nuclear Safety and Security (IJNSS) -- which will offer a forum for the serious discussion of nuclear power plants' safety

pThree Mile Island, Chernobyl, Fukushima: for the third time in twenty-five years a nuclear power plant suffered a serious accident, precipitating a global review of the way to govern nuclear safety and security.

The 11 March Fukushima accident was especially poignant because it came during — and may well put an end to — what was correctly termed a Nuclear Renaissance: as worries about climate change and the volatility of oil prices grew, interest in nuclear power generation was rekindled.

InderScience Publishers is launching a new journal — teInternational Journal of Nuclear Safety and Security (IJNSS) — which aims to address the growing interest in, and concern about, nuclear safety.

The publisher says that the international community must learn from these accidents in order to improve international co-operation, both in terms of crisis management and prevention of risks. IJNSS will provide an opportunity to exchange information on the implications of safe and secure operation of nuclear power plants and approaches taken by countries worldwide.   Full article

Among the topics which will be covered by the new journal:

• Strategic, managerial, organizational issues; total quality management (TQM) and environmental management
• Macroeconomics, nuclear economics and business
• Technological advances, issues, innovation, hazards; role of information and communication technologies (ICTs)
• Analysis/assessment methodologies, performance measurement
• Governance, policy strategy, assessment, review
• National/international environmental protection policy; ecosystem research
• Ecological/environmental impacts; risk assessment/legal aspects of pollution
• Waste disposal strategies; clean technologies
• Energy security and risk assessment; policy, standards and regulations
• Critical infrastructures design, protection, management
• Risk assessment, control, characterization, perception, communications, models
• Integrated risk assessment and safety management
• Nuclear systems management, transport, resource development, power quality
• Public policy, regulations, governance and nuclear use; public attitudes
• Knowledge based policies and education; knowledge transfer

BIODEFENSE > Nano detector spots deadly anthrax

Published 7 July 2011

image coutesy of powells.com

An automatic and portable detector that takes just fifteen minutes to analyze a sample suspected of contamination with anthrax is being developed by researchers in the United States. The technology amplifies any anthrax DNA present in the sample and can reveal the presence of just forty microscopic cells of the deadly bacteria Bacillus anthracis.

B. anthracis, commonly known as anthrax, is a potentially lethal microbe that might be used intentionally to infect victims through contamination of food and water supplies, aerosolized particles, or even dried powders, such as those used in bioterrorist attacks in the United States in fall 2001. Detection is crucial to preventing widespread fatalities in the event of an anthrax attack.

The complexity of the microbe’s biology have so far made it difficult to build a portable system that can be employed quickly in the field. That said, there are several systems available that use PCR to amplify a particular component of the genetic material present in anthrax and then to flag this amplified signal. These systems are fast and sensitive but do not integrate sample preparation and so are not as convenient as a single detector unit would be.  Full article