Key to disaster preparedness is “training, training, training”

threat, what policies have been put in place to secure these radioactive materials?

BM: Well there are very strong Nuclear Regulatory Commission standards and regulations, so we certainly have that to fall back on and to help us with our ammunition to get the right system. Usually it’s a system of levels. You might have an alarm-type system on a particular reactor or a piece of equipment that could emit radioactivity, and then certainly access controls for the rooms with that equipment and camera technology to supplement that.

HSNW: In the event of a mass casualty event, how do you handle security given the chaotic environment with the sudden influx of patients and additional personnel, volunteers, and first responders who are not normally present?

BM: Well, there’s not a one shop answer for that. It’s very complicated to evacuate a medical facility. It’s not easy to do, so it’s done only on very rare occasions when life is absolutely on the line. I think the other complications for disaster preparedness for hospitals is you’ve got people who not only want to leave but there are people who want to come in – worried people in the community who may feel it is safer in the hospital or during a disaster people who come in for care.

I think the key to success here is training, training, training. Doing a huge amount of work to develop departmental and hospital wide disaster plans and then just drill various scenarios at different times so people really feel comfortable and mentally condition themselves for what to do if a scenario happens.

HSNW: In your experience as the head of security at Mass Gen, what are some of the most valuable lessons you have learned in terms of securing a facility?

BM: I think the first thing is to get other departments to understand your issues and what’s in it for them to help and become your partner. Nobody has enough security staff or technology, so you can’t do this alone. You really almost need a neighborhood watch program.

Secondly, hiring the very best educated, skilled people you can in the security department because that is so huge. This is a very sensitive area, and as you pointed out there’s a lot of vulnerabilities in healthcare that don’t exist in any other industry, and people are there at the worst possible time in their lives. So when you mix a lot of vulnerabilities with a very a tense environment, you need people that can really understand this and do their jobs in very skilled ways.

Finally, having the right balance as I said earlier. Looking at different vulnerabilities and being flexible about switching the deployment of resources when needed and being proactive and having proactive services along the way.

To hear more about how emergency officials are preparing for disasters, Bonnie Michelman will be participating in an all-day summit held at Pace University on 11 January. She will be joined by former DHS secretary Tom Ridge, Margereta Wahlstrom, the head of the UN Risk Reduction Office, and the CEOS of Verizon as well as key security officers at Target, Boeing, and Jet Blue.