Safeguarding HVAC Systems Against Chemical, Biological, and Radiological Attacks - a PDH Online Course for Engineers and Surveyors

Safeguarding HVAC Systems Against Chemical, Biological, and Radiological Attacks

Course Outline

This course identifies actions that a building owner or manager can implement without undue delay to enhance occupant protection from an airborne chemical, biological, or radiological (CBR) attack. The intended audience includes building owners, managers, and maintenance personnel of public, private, and governmental buildings, including offices, laboratories, hospitals, retail facilities, schools, transportation terminals, and public venues (for example, sports arenas, malls, coliseums). This course is not intended to address single family or low-occupancy residential housing (less than five family units). Higher risk facilities such as industrial facilities, military facilities, subway systems, and law enforcement facilities require special considerations that are beyond the scope of this course.

This course includes a multiple choice quiz at the end.

Learning Objective

At the conclusion of this two hour course, the student will learn the following regarding the protection of building environments from potential terrorism:

Specific recommendations, and what can be done and should not be done;
Physical security, ventilation and filtration considerations; and
Maintenance, administration, and training techniques.

Course Content

In this course, you will be directed to the website of The National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health. Specifically, you will be directed to the publication entitled Guidance for Protecting Building Environments from Airborne Chemical, Biological, and Radiological Attacks (NIOSH Publication No. 2002-139) at http://www.cdc.gov/niosh/docs/2002-139/pdfs/2002-139.pdf. This twenty-eight-page manual of guidelines was released in May 2002 by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services and has input from the Office of Homeland Security. The document has been placed in the public domain and may be freely copied or reprinted.

At the site, you will be presented with the following course content sections in the form of links:

Foreword
Abbreviations
Acknowledgments
Ordering Information
Scope
Background
Preparatory Recommendations-Know your building
Specific Recommendations
Things not to do
Physical security
Ventilation and filtration
Maintenance, Administration, and training
Conclusions
For Additional Information
Appendix A
Appendix B

There are two ways to proceed with the course:

1. From the opening page, select (click on) the desired course section listed above and view the material on your monitor. Proceed from the Forward through Appendix B in this manner. You may optionally print each course section individually using the print function on your browser tool bar.

2. Download the entire manual by selecting (clicking on) "This document is also available in PDF format" link. WARNING: If you are connected via modem, the download time may be long (841KB PDF file).

Additional Resources

Students may be interested in researching the following documents and publications for additional information on this and related subjects:

Building Security Through Design: A Primer for Architects, Design Professionals, and Their Clients. This twenty-four-page booklet provides an overview of security issues, including defining security needs and shaping security responses. It includes a detailed explanation of how to analyze potential threats to security. The booklet can be ordered form local AIA components, through the national AIA bookstore by calling 800 242-3827 or online at http://www.aia.com/security.

Vulnerability and Protections of infrastructure Systems: The State-of-the-Art. This is an electronic compendium of twenty-four American Society of Civil Engineers (ASCE) journal articles (in PDF file format) on such topics as assessment of infrastructure vulnerability; infrastructure renovation based on the results of vulnerability assessments; research and development directions to help protect critical elements of infrastructure; retrofitting of designs to mitigate disaster damage; new design procedures, including codes and standards; and disaster preparedness and response procedures. It is available through http://www.pubs.asce.com.

Once you finish studying the above course content, you need to take a quiz to obtain the PDH credits.

DISCLAIMER: The materials contained in the online course are not intended as a representation or warranty on the part of PDHonline.com or any other person/organization named herein. The materials are for general information only. They are not a substitute for competent professional advice. Application of this information to a specific project should be reviewed by a registered professional engineer. Anyone making use of the information set forth herein does so at their own risk and assumes any and all resulting liability arising therefrom.