Articles
CLICK HERE to register
Course Title: Basic Threat Assessment for Laboratory Biosecurity Programs
Instructors: Ben Perman, PhD
Lindsay Odell, PhD
Tricia Delarosa, PhD
Course Length: 8 hours
Course Time: 8:00 am – 5:00 pm
Description:
This awareness course will teach biological and biomedical laboratory administration, management, and researchers the basic principles of threat assessment and introduce students to the role of threat assessment in a laboratory biosecurity programs. The course is intended to give students a basic tool-kit that will allow them to implement successful insider threat mitigation strategies using threat assessment approaches at their home institutes and to convey concepts in threat assessment to their colleagues. The course will follow established techniques in the personal protection field that are used to identify, assess, and manage dangerous threats. Students will be presented with relevant case studies in order to learn about basic threat indicators, approaches to make threats, and threatening behaviors. Through an analysis of relevant case studies, students will learn how to recognize specific personal security vulnerabilities and how to link these vulnerabilities to threats. The course will focus on the purposes and requirements of biosecurity programs and the role of threat assessment in the management of effective personal security and personal suitability or reliability components of biosecurity programs. Regulatory issues relevant to threat assessment and to the implementation of personnel management programs, in particular changes to the Select Agent Regulations pertaining to Tier 1 agents, will also be discussed. Theoretical concepts will be put into practice in a 2 hour tabletop exercise devised around a realistic laboratory security problem that draws on the material presented in the lecture and case studies.
Key Objectives:
1. Describe the basic principles of threat assessment in a laboratory biosecurity program and how threat assessment can be implemented in a successful insider threat mitigation program;
2. Recognize specific personal security vulnerabilities and how to link these vulnerabilities to threats; and,
3. Understand the purpose and requirements of basic suitability or reliability and threat assessment programs and their roles in laboratory biosecurity management.
Course Title: Biosafety Program Analytics
Instructor Robert Emery, PhD // University of Texas Health Science Center at Houston
Course Length: 4 hours
Course Time: 8:00 am – 12:00 pm
Description:
Participants in the workshop are asked to come prepared with the types of data they collect for their programs and to actively engage in the dialogue so that the collective knowledge of the group can be leveraged. Each topic of conversation will include a brief presentation to display of examples currently in use at The University of Texas Health Science Center at Houston’s (UTHealth) Biosafety Program (UTHealth BP). Given the current lack of consensus regarding biosafety program operational characteristics, the knowledge gleaned from the workshop will serve as foundational information for a Biosafety Program Analytics Initiative to be undertaken by the UTHealth BP in conjunction with the University of Texas School of Public Health’s Prevention, Preparedness and Response (P2R) Academy. The P2R Academy is a group dedicated to the advancement of the health and safety professions through the dissemination of scientifically sound education, training and research. As such, the information and conclusions from this workshop will be shared with the practicing biosafety community so that improved understanding of profession’s collective efforts can be instilled.
.
Key Objectives:
This workshop will address these issues through the active engagement of participants to begin to answer some critical questions plaguing the biosafety community, such as:
1. What are the key institutional drivers that influence biosafety program resourcing?
2. Where might this data reside and how might it be assembled for optimal analysis and interpretation?
3. What parameters should biosafety programs be collecting beyond those for regulatory compliance?
4. What types of comparisons might be possible and valid?
Course Title: Biodefense
Instructor Patricia Delarosa
Course Length: 4 hours
Course Time: 8:00 am – 12:00 pm
Description:
This course reviews the new National Biodefense Strategy and it’s links to biosafety. Content will include a look at the lessons of the Sverdlosk anthrax outbreak and its impact on biodefense, the links between biosafety and biodefense, the public health risk assessment and its link to biodefense, and new technology risks.
.
Key Objectives:
1. Understand the components of a biodefense program
2. Elaborate the role of biosafety in biodefense
3. Understand traditional and novel threats in biodefense
Course Title: Incident Investigations – How to conduct the investigation and get to the real “root cause”
Instructor Bruce Donato // K&A First Aid and Safety, Inc.
Course Length: 4 hours
Course Time: 12:00 pm – 5:00 pm
Description:
Incident investigations are routinely done with minimal training resulting in not understanding or determining the real root causes and being able to make effective corrective actions. This course will explain what root causes are vs. direct causes. The course also has several role playing scenarios followed by debriefing sessions.
.
Key Objectives:
1. This teaches key interviewing techniques to get the “right” answers to get to a root cause.
2. This also teaches techniques to minimize placing blame.
Course Title: Case Studies in Biocontainment Emergencies
Instructor Dave Harbourt //
Course Length: 4 hours
Course Time: 12:00 pm – 5:00 pm
Description:
It is important that biosafety professionals understand how to respond to emergency response situations that could affect operations in containment laboratories. Biosafety professionals need to be able to thoroughly understand how their facility and personnel function during normal operations to aid in preparation for significant events. In addition to understanding their facility and personnel, it is also vital for biosafety professionals to know who the key decision makers are in their facility for situations that could potentially result in disruptions to operations. By understanding how their facility is intended to function, who the key decision makers are and the critical information that is needed during emergency scenarios, biosafety professionals can help ensure that they are prepared when situations arise in the future. This course is intended to cover some basic information of emergency response situations along with the key features of a containment laboratory that may be affected during an emergency situation. This course will go over key questions that biosafety and safety professionals need to be able to answer about their facility to help prepare them for emergency situations The course will be separated into two sections with the first covering the key questions of each of the facility components to include HVAC, plumbing, electrical failures, and potential occupational exposures. The second part of the course will cover a series of case studies based on real world emergency response situations in biocontainment laboratories. Individuals will be expected to work in groups to help solve each of the case studies and at the end of the course, the instructor will discuss how the emergency was handled in real time along with lessons learned.
.
Key Objectives:
1. Understand the decision making process during an emergency response situation.
2. Understand who the key decision makers are in your facility and who can authorize decisions that will impact mission operations.
3. Identify lessons learned from case studies and apply them to their own facility if applicable.