ISCD Published Training Fact Sheet

Today the DHS Infrastructure Security Compliance Division (ISCD) published a new fact sheet providing information supporting Risk-Based Performance Standard (RBPS) #11, Training. As with the rest of the RBPS Fact Sheets, the bulk of the material in the two-page fact sheet is broad summary of the information available in the RBPS Guidance Manual.

There is one section of the Fact Sheet that provides information not available in the manual, the ‘Available Training and Resources’ section provides links. For the most part these are links to government web sites (from agencies like OSHA, EPA, and FEMA) that provide training that, while not specifically about the Chemical Facility Anti-Terrorism Standards (CFATS) program, they do provide chemical safety and incident response information that would be applicable at CFATS covered facilities.

There is on unusual link provided in this section, it is to the HazmatSchool.com. This is a private entity that provides on-line training for a fee (ranges from $10 to $349) on a variety of EPA and OSHA topics. None of the courses listed in the course catalog specifically cover security issues, but a number would probably provide valuable response information that could be applicable to a chemical security incident as well as a chemical accident.

I have not taken any of the training programs from the HazmatSchool, so I cannot comment of their efficacy. They do, however, provide a very good description of the limitations of on-line versus hands-on training in their explanation of why they do not offer an on-line 24-hour HAZWOPR class. It is well worth reading.