First Responders Safety Issues Addressed at Briefing -- June 18, 2004 -- California Capitol Hill Bulletin -- Volume 11, Bulletin 20

The issue of the safety of first responders was recently explored at a RAND Corporation briefing, held on Wednesday, June 16, 2004 and co-sponsored by the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health, and the House Homeland Security Caucus. Titled "Protecting Emergency Responders, Volume 3: Safety Management in Disaster and Terrorism Response", the briefing focused on the findings of a recently released RAND study.

Briefing attendees heard introductory remarks by the following speakers: Mr. Michael Rich, Executive Vice President, RAND Corporation; Rep. Curt Weldon (PA), Co-Chairman of the House Homeland Security Caucus; Rep. Norm Dicks (WA), Co-Chairman of the House Homeland Security Caucus; Dr. John Howard, Director of the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health; Mr. John Henshaw, Assistant Secretary of Labor for Occupational Safety and Health; and the author of the study, Dr. Brian Jackson, RAND Researcher.

The study on the safety of first responders, defined the latter broadly to include not only uniformed servicemen but also construction workers removing rubble and Red Cross volunteers, and examined 4 major national disasters, two of which were terrorist attacks. The study argues that in the chaotic environment of a major disaster, individual response organizations may have problems following normal safety procedures and may have difficulty collecting and coordinating data on the hazards at the scene. The study further recommends that responder agencies need to be able to anticipate such problems and need to put systems in place so that they can efficiently scale up to cope with circumstances more complex and hazardous than they routinely address. In particular, Dr. Jackson underscored during the briefing that protecting responders during a major disaster requires a coordinated, multi-agency effort.

Additionally, the study included 31 recommendations to address current management shortfalls. Some of the key strategies suggested in the study include: building an integrated safety function into the existing structure for managing major response operations; using preparedness efforts to plan ways to integrate safety management; and developing a cadre of highly trained "disaster safety managers" to facilitate coordination among agencies.

For more information, visit the RAND Corporation website at: http://www.rand.org .

To expand communications between Washington and California, the California Institute provides periodic bulletins regarding current activity on Capitol Hill that directly impacts our state. Bulletins are published weekly during sessions of Congress, and occasionally during other periods.

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