Requesting a Risk and Vulnerability Assessment
Pennsylvania Schools may request a comprehensive examination of their physical facility and operational procedures free from the Pennsylvania State Police. This examination known as a risk and vulnerability assessment (R-VAT) can assist in identifying critical assets, threat potentials and vulnerabilities. To request an R-VAT assessment for your district or school the Superintendent/Director or designee should write to: Commander Risk and Vulnerability Assessment Team, Pennsylvania State Police, 1800 Elmerton Avenue, Harrisburg, PA 17110 or send the letter via electronic mail to:
ra-pspoffdomesticsecurity@state.pa.us
Copies of the letter and or assessment results may be an item the Office of Auditor General requests when your school is audited in the future.
Funds to Create Individual School Safety Plans
National Institute of Justice (NIJ) will make $1,000 - $5,000 awards to approximately 200 schools across the country through a competition administered by the Rural Law Enforcement Technology Center. To participate, schools must write a one-page concept paper on how they would spend $1,000 on technology to make their school safer. The contest will also require a one-page report on the acquired technology and how it has improved safety at the school. The reports will be posted on the JUSTNET School Safety page as a resource for schools looking for low-cost, effective ways to keep their schools safe. Click here for more information.
OSHA Considers Action on Exposure to Infectious Agents in Health Care
WASHINGTON - OSHA is seeking information and comments on occupational exposure to infectious agents in settings where health care is provided, including hospitals, outpatient clinics, school clinics and correctional facilities, and settings such as laboratories that handle potentially infectious biological materials, medical examiner offices and mortuaries.
OSHA is interested in strategies currently being deployed in health care and related work settings to mitigate the risk of work-acquired infectious diseases. As such, it would like to collect information and data on the facilities and the tasks potentially exposing workers to this risk; successful employee infection control programs; control methodologies being utilized (including engineering, work practice, and administrative controls and personal protective equipment); medical surveillance programs; and training.
OSHA will use the information received in response to this request to determine what action, if any, the agency may take to further limit the spread of occupationally-acquired infectious diseases in these types of settings.
More information on the request for information and how to submit comments is available in last week’s Federal Register notice at http://s.dol.gov/38. OSHA asks that comments be submitted by Aug. 4, 2010. For more information, visit http://www.osha.gov.
NEW ICS/NIMS Implementation Guidelines
The US Department of Education has released new NIMS/ICS implementation activities (2009-2010) for K-12 schools and institutions of higher education.
To view the step-by-step activities check out the REMS (Readiness and Emergency Management for Schools) Technical Assistance page.
Additionally the technical assistance center addresses who is "key" campus personnel and also lists suggested trainings for levels of personnel.
ACT 48 Credit for NIMS/ICS Courses
Are you interested in obtaining ACT 48 credit for your completed FEMA courses in ICS, NIMS and Multi Hazards courses?
To obtain ACT 48 credit for successful completion of FEMA Independent Study (IS) Programs follow the following procedures:
- If you have not already established an account on the PA Learning Management System (PA-LMS) go to the URL http://www.paprepared.com/ and establish an account. NOTE: You will need you PDE personal ID number to set up the account for ACT 48 credit.
- Upon completion of the Final Exam for the course you have taken, you will receive notification and your certificate of completion directly from the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA), Emergency Management Institute (EMI) and NOT the LMS.
- You must email your FEMA IS Certificate OR FEMA Confirmation email to:
c-paschool@state.pa.us to receive credit for each FEMA IS course completed. - Upon receipt of the e-mail certificate or confirmation e-mail staff at the Department of Health will enter the LMS system and give you credit for the course.
- The LMS system will then relay the information automatically to PDE to be credited to your ACT 48 record.
The following courses are eligible for ACT 48 credit: IS-100, IS-100.SC, IS-200, IS-230, IS-700, IS-800b and IS-362 courses
You will received 4 hours of ACT 48 continuing education for each course you successfully complete and e-mail proof completion to the LMS review person at c-paschool@state.pa.us
Timely Information on Critical Incidents
School district staff and administrators may want to obtain information on events occurring nationally and statewide affecting schools and educational institutions.
The following websites are a few public sites available for obtaining that information:
U.S. Department of Homeland Security – Infrastructure Report
This site allows the user to sign up for a daily e-mail with a link to the DHS infrastructure report which contains information regarding school situations.
U.S. Department of Homeland Security – Current Threat Assessment Level
This site accesses the current U.S. Threat Assessment Level (color) and related information.
PA Emergency Management Daily Operational Summaries
This site accesses the PEMA daily operational reports listing all PEIRS reports submitted in the 24 hours reporting period. This site needs to be manually accessed and does not currently have an automated delivery of information.