Emergency Drill Planned for BU Biolab
For Immediate Release
December 4, 2012
Contact: Valeda Britton, 617 638 1911
Ellen Berlin 617 520 7115
Emergency Drill Planned for BU Biolab
Exercise to simulate a medical incident involving a researcher
(Boston) — On Tuesday December 11, 2012, Boston University will be conducting a discussion-based exercise at the National Emerging Infectious Diseases Laboratories (NEIDL) as part of its ongoing training program. In this exercise, researchers, facility staff, local health officials and first responders will be testing and reviewing the response to a variety of medical incident scenarios. This exercise is part of the NEIDL’s ongoing safety and training program.
The participants of this exercise include NEIDL researchers and operations staff as well as representatives from Boston Emergency Medical Services, Fire and Police Departments and the Boston Public Health Commission.
BSL-4 research is not being conducted at the lab and will not commence until the completion of several regulatory and judicial steps.
Early next year, Boston University will assemble the same team that is participating in this exercise and expand the training to conduct a full-scale operations-based exercise. Following each exercise, the team meets to review the responses and critiques the participants’ responses in order to continuously improve response and related training. .
“We are deeply committed to ongoing safety training and to working with local emergency responders and health officials. This exercise brings together all the participants and is an important component in our training,” said Ara Tahmassian, Associate Vice President for Research Compliance at Boston University.
Located on the Boston University Medical Campus on Albany Street in Boston’s South End the National Emerging Infectious Diseases Laboratories (NEIDL) is part of a national network of secure facilities studying infectious diseases that are—or have the potential to become—major public health concerns. The laboratories are dedicated to the development of diagnostics, vaccines, and treatments to combat emerging and re-emerging infectious diseases. In addition to BSL-2 and BSL-3 laboratories, the NEIDL houses a BSL-4 laboratory. The NEIDL adds to the growing life sciences industry in the region, throughout the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, and across the country.
Founded in 1839, Boston University is an internationally recognized private research university with more than 30,000 students participating in undergraduate, graduate, and professional programs. BU consists of 17 colleges and schools along with a number of multi-disciplinary centers and institutes which are central to the school’s research and teaching mission.