Cross-sectoral biorisk awareness and mitigation training
The “Cross-sectoral biorisk awareness and mitigation training” was a 2 and a half days regional course organized by ECDC and EUROPOL.
It was focused on events that potentially involve (natural, accidental or intentional) biorisks. The course was devoted to first responders with duties of trainers (train-the-trainers approach); the attenders represented multiple sectors from Member States (civil protection, law enforcement and health emergency services).
Structure:
The course was organised in 5 modules (1 theoretical, 1 practical and 3 scenarios that were played as table top exercises by people divided in groups guided by a facilitator):
- Theoretical module: introduction on biohazard
- Scenario module: Public health emergency – Entry- and exit screening and border control
- Practical module: Personal Protective Equipment (PPE) and barrier management -
- Scenario module: Intentional release and decontamination strategies – Release in a subway station
- Scenario module: accidental spill during trasport – Clandestine transport discovered to the mail sorting office of a European airport.
The scenarios consisted of a departure situation that was developed further by additional situational updates (injects) during the playing. During the practical module, the demonstration of donning and doffing of PPE included the equipment according to the technical document “Safe use of personal protective equipment in the treatment of infectious diseases of high consequences – a tutorial for trainers in healthcare settings” (V. 2 – Dec 2014) issued by ECDC.
Participation:
The course was organised with a regional approach for a total of 51 attenders, from 14 EU Member States and from 3 EEA/EFTA countries (three participants from each Country, one for each sector). Moreover, 3 observers from the 3 DG (HOME, ECHO and SANTE) were invited to attend. For this edition of the course, the following countries were involved; MS: Belgium, Denmark, Finland, France, Germany, Ireland, Italy, Luxembourg, Malta, Netherlands, Portugal, Spain, Sweden, United Kingdom; EEA/EFTA countries: Iceland, Liechtenstein, Norway.
The course was open only to participants nominated by the above-mentioned MS.
