National Dialogue on Preparedness Update 09-01-10

We are looking at another update on the National Dialogue on Preparedness because of a recent Idea posted by Randall Hecht that should be of interest to the chemical security community. Before we look at that new Idea, lets look at the stats for the Dialogue as of 3:50 pm EDT today.

To date there have been 205 Ideas posted by 626 registered participants. There have been 323 comments posted to these Ideas and 2,319 votes on the Ideas. We seem to be getting more active participation as time progresses.

New Idea

Randall Hecht has proposed a reorganization of the Technical Hazards Division of FEMA. He would like to see chemical, biological, radiological and explosive hazardous material coverage restored to the responsibility list for that Division. He has this specific recommendation for chemical hazardous material:

“Chemical, which includes chemical weapons, toxic industrial chemicals and toxic industrial materials. Has the responsibility of working with the agencies and organizations (NRT and RRTs, SERC and LEPCs) which deal in this area day-to-day, i.e., US EPA, US DOT, US DOE, and DHHS. They are to build the tools and guidance documents, not conduct exercises.”

Status of followed Ideas

Below is the tabulation of the status of the now seven Ideas that I think might be of interest to the chemical security community. I submitted Ideas 2, 4, 5, and 7. Reader’s of this blog should take the time to look at these Ideas if they don’t have time to peruse all of the Ideas on the site.

Participation Urged

Once again, I would like to urge anyone with an interest in the response to chemical incidents (accidental and deliberate) to become part of this dialogue. In my review of the 205 Ideas submitted, I think these 7 Ideas may be of interest to our community. But, don’t take my word for it; register, log-on, and participate in the Dialogue.