Summary of the HPS Training for First Responders Sub-Committee Work to Date

Summary of the HPS Training for First Responders Sub-committee Work to Date August 13, 2002 Submitted by Dan Corti

Special thanks to Tom O’Connell from the Mass. DPH for the CD of training materials he has put together for his program. Steve Furnace from the Florida Bureau of Radiation Control has offered to share his program as well and many of his slides are now on the web with Tom’s. Jim Barnes has given permission to use his presentation from the Tampa meeting and Allen Brodsky’s paper on Radioactivity Hazards in Survival Planning has been set free for use by Radiation Protection Management. With all of these resources available any one of us can easily put a presentation together for a diverse audience. Rather than a set presentation format I would rather offer the following random thoughts in the guise of a training guide. If anyone wants to whip this into a more refined format, that would be great.

Here are summary statements that I think can serve as partial guidance for members training first responders.

1. First responders in emergency planning zones and in those cities targeted by the Department of Justice for special training are likely in good shape already. 2. Other first responders would benefit most from further training (this group comprises most of the first responders in the country) 3. Training should focus primarily on meter use and interpretation of readings as well as what actions to take based on the readings 4. Many first responders do not now have access to instruments or the knowledge to use them and most do not routinely check for radioactivity in the event of an explosion but should—This should be stressed as part of any training 5. The training program should include some of the Civil Defense materials on what protective actions should be taken and what protective factors are provided by common materials 6. Between the programs put together by Tom O’Connell, Steve Furnace, FEMA and a host of others we do not need to spend much time putting a training program together. Effective delivery of the program is the tough part. 7. As part of the training program, we need to have a clear set of expectations for the trainer. The trainer will need to step outside the mindset of the horror of 50 microcuries of P32 spilled in the lab and talk almost as dispassionately about the consequences of a 20 megaton blast. 8. Once completed, the program should be announced in a press release from the HPS that targets professional journals for fire, police and EMS organizations, the Radiation Program Directors Assn. as well as LEPCs and local and state DES offices. 9. There is no substitute for personal connection so once the program is announced, we need to encourage members to get out and meet and greet local first responders in their area with the program in hand. 10. HPS members should not expect to just show up in the event of an emergency as they should not be allowed on the scene without prior clearance. This increases the need for a prior personal connection with local responders. 11. Members who wish to volunteer as a responder should consider having some formal connection with a response agency. Our university has an MOU with the Rural Fire Department that heads our hazmat team. This document spells out who is responsible in the case of an accident and made all the lawyers happy. If a fire truck runs over your foot, it is good to know whose work comp is covering you. 12. Members should decide before making contact with a local agency whether or not they want to be called on in the event of an incident or if they prefer to serve in only a training capacity as the question will likely come up. 13. The question about how to interface with other organization’s training—by acting as a technical review entity for other agencies who already have training programs or develop our own was resolved by the dual benefit to the HPS of providing training and raising the visibility of the organization by having a stand-alone training program. Some felt that putting FEMA on a program would make it more readily accepted but others felt that we should attempt our own brand name and so we shall. 14. Most first responders trained at the awareness level have no better understanding of radiation than the general public. As such our materials should have some cross-over with the materials distributed for the general public. The primary difference is that the first responders (who may be 5 or 6 folks with no radios and a 40 year old pump truck) will be the ones to set the tone in the very early stages of an incident and should have better information than the general public. The gold standard would be that everyone should have adequate knowledge to act reasonably but in the short run a more realistic goal is to get first responders to that level first. 15. The multitude of agencies already have or are currently in the process of putting more training programs together but there is no good reason to believe that the new and improved programs will be any more accessible to local first responders in small jurisdictions than they currently are. This may be the strongest argument for members to be involved in their communities. 16. HPS members are already inquiring about and making use of the draft materials on the web site demonstrating a small demand already. 17. Trainers should be fully conversant with the instrumentation available to the local emergency responders and plan on extensive hands on training as part of the class. 18. When asked what the best instrument available may be (almost all first responders love gadgets and some will have new funds available from federal monies) the best answer may be “the one you know how to operate and know the limitations of” rather than a recommendation for the latest and best. 19. Trainers should keep in mind that first responders are not typically shy, are generally at least modest adrenaline junkies and want as many practical facts as possible in the least amount of time. Presentations should be geared toward someone with a 10th or 12th grade education. This is not a slam on first responders native abilities but a recognition of the fact that there are few scientists in the target audience and we should not assume a common understanding of basics. One of the biggest complaints you are likely to overhear is ,”yeah, he (or she) knew his stuff but it was a little over my head” 20. Use scenarios. Plan them ahead and make them specific to the local jurisdiction. Consider contacting the training officer for the agency and ask them to help set up a brief tabletop exercise as part of the training. 21. Always use sunscreen. If you don’t have any, latex paint can work well.

Steve Furnace provided guidance from his experience as follows: Police and fire fighters can be intimidating to teach. The instructor needs to get their respect from the get go. So something identifying their creditability to be there would help. PPT presentations, show plenty of pictures keep the bullet points to a minimum. Know your material do not read from a prepared script. Stay away from podiums do the Oprah and walk amongst them while teaching. Do not identify class sleepers. They will get murdered by their peers during a break and will write a negative eval on you (know from experience). I stand next to sleepers or class clowns. They get the hint. Identify the bosses that are in your class. If it's a mixed group tell them to identify their organization. The number of people I train in a class is a minimum of 15 to a max of 30 for four hours. When scheduling a class tell the person whose sponsoring the class to swing a wide net; US customs, FBI, EPA, Red Cross, County Emergency managers, hospital personnel, and more. Tell personal stories that reinforce the training material. Use projectors of 1100 lumens if possible. They love hands' on use of instruments with sources. Don't get stuck on showing VCR tapes means you don't know your material. There's more hope this gives you some ideas.

For those who want a formal presentation outline and wish to use the reference materials provided (ppt etc.) to put it together, here is the presentation outline that Matty Mozzor put together two months ago.

Presentation Outline for Radiological Emergencies: First Responder Personnel Police – Fire – Emergency Medical

Target Audience: Police, Fire Fighters, And Emergency Medical Personnel Estimated Time: 3 hours Instructional Method: Didactic and practical demonstration Instructor Materials: Over projector, or Computer projector with power point. Dose rate or count rate instrument, miscellaneous sealed sources (consumer products or exempt quantity check sources) Student Materials: Student Handout Setting: Classroom Course Outline:

1. Defining Radiation a. Non Ionizing b. Ionizing i. Alpha ii. Beta iii. Gamma iv. Neutron

2. Measuring Radiation a. Millrem, Rem and Sievert b. Millicurie, Curie and Bequerel

3. Dose Limits a. General Public i. Adult ii. <18 years old iii. Unborn b. Radiation Workers c. Emergency

4. Natural and Man-Made Sources of Radiation

5. Radiation Effects a. Acute b. Chronic

6. Potential nuclear terrorism threats a. Nuclear Bomb b. Attack on Nuclear Power Plant c. Radiologically Contaminated Conventional Weapon (Dispersion Bomb) d. Purposeful Contamination of food or water sources e. Purposeful contamination of places.

7. Incident Response a. ALARA b. Individual ALARA Responsibility c. Tasks i. Rescue ii. Injury iii. Fire iv. Spill 8. Using Radiation Measuring Devices a. Dose rate Instruments b. Count Rate Instrument c. Personal Dosimeters

9. Contamination Control a. External b. Internal

10. Decontamination Procedures

11. Psychological Aspects of Radiation Emergencies (Crowd management, patient care) Terminal Objective: Upon completion of the training, the student will be able to safely execute his or first responder duties following a radiological incident

Enabling Objectives:

1. Define ionizing radiation

2. List 4 different types of Ionizing radiation

3. For each of the four different types of ionizing radiation, state whether the primary risk is from external, internal exposure, or both.

4. State the basic and sub units used to measure radiation exposure

5. State the general public exposure limit for

a. Adult b. <18 years old c. Unborn

6. State the dose limit for radiation workers

7. State the recommended voluntary emergency exposure limit to

a. Stop an accident or protect property b. Save a life

8. State the approximate average dose from background radiation

9. Define

a. An Acute dose of radiation b. A Chronic Dose of radiation

10. List the major effect associated with a chronic dose of radiation

11. Describe 4 types of potential terrorist threats

12. Describe 3 basic dose reductions reduction techniques than can always be used to keep your doses ALARA

13. List 3 preoperational checks that must be performed prior to instrument use 14. State the speed with which a frisk for contamination should be performed

15. List two steps, in order of preference, for performing personal decontamination

16. Describe what psychological effect potential radiation exposure may have on the public

17. List one technique to effectively handle psychological distress in the public

Evaluation: Self graded quiz