The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has held several half-day workshops for building professionals to explain:

• How to prepare for a terrorist attack on a building
• How to incorporate protective measures into building design and operations to minimize the impact of an attack.

North Carolina A&T University plans and hosts the workshops as part of an EPA contract. These workshops target facilities engineers, building owners/managers, consulting engineers, physical plant directors, local government officials, first responders, industrial hygienists, and health and hospital officials.

The workshops focus on the importance of knowing how to detect and minimize the impact of a chemical or biological agent (CBA) attack in a specific building. CBAs are easy for terrorists to use in an attack because only a small amount of material is needed to incapacitate, seriously injure, or kill building occupants. CBAs can be easily deposited within the building itself or at an air intake, window, or door. Buildings of any size may be targets for a terrorist attack. Large, high-profile buildings have a higher risk of being potential targets, but small and mid-sized buildings are also at risk.

The videos are available at www.epa.gov/nhsrc/news/news110707.html.