U.S. Government Resources on Building Security |
Department of Health and Human Services (DHHS) |
National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health | Guidance for Filtration and Air-Cleaning Systems to Protect Building Environments from Airborne Chemical, Biological, or Radiological Attacks | Detailed, comprehensive information on selecting and using filtration and air-cleaning systems in efficient and cost-effective ways (04/2003). |
Guidance for Protecting Building Environments from Airborne Chemical, Biological, or Radiological Attacks | Preventive measures that can be implemented promptly to protect building air environments from a terrorist release of chemical, biological, or radiological contaminants (05/2002). |
Department of Homeland Security (DHS) |
Ready.gov,
Ready Business | Assess Building Air Protection | Advice for business owners on safeguarding their companies and securing their physical assets by improving building air protection. |
Federal Emergency Management Agency | FEMA 426—Reference Manual to Mitigate Potential Terrorist Attacks Against Buildings | Guidance for the building science community of architects and engineers to help reduce physical damage to buildings, related infrastructure, and people caused by terrorist assaults. Chapter 5—Chemical, Biological, and Radiological Measures: protective measures for safeguarding building occupants from CBR threats (12/2003). |
FEMA 427—Primer for Design of Commercial Buildings to Mitigate Terrorist Attacks
| Introduces a series of concepts that can help building designers, owners, and state and local governments mitigate the threat of hazards resulting from terrorist attacks on new buildings (12/2003). |
Department of Energy (DoE) |
Lawrence Berkeley National Lab, Airflow and Pollutant Transport Group
| Advice for Safeguarding Buildings Against Chemical or Biological Attack | Advice for dealing with a biological or chemical release in a building. |
Protecting Buildings from a Biological or Chemical Attack: Actions to Take Before or During a Release - LBNL/PUB-51959 | Advice on how to operate a building to reduce casualties from a biological or chemical attack, and on changes (e.g. the design of the ventilation system) that could make a building more secure (12/2003). |
Oak Ridge National Laboratory | Mitigation of CBRN Incidents for HVAC Systems in Federal Facilities | Background information on personal preparedness, the nature of CBRN threats, and the larger context for CBRN threat mitigation. This is intended to assist federal agencies in understanding the overall HVAC security picture and in dealing with the wide range of activities that could come under the call to make HVAC systems more secure against many types of threats (02/2005). |
Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) |
Office of Air and Radiation (OAR), Office of Radiation and Indoor Air, Indoor
Environments Division (IED) | Homeland Security and the Indoor Environment | Guidance developed to assist building owners and operators in addressing issues related to building security and CBR terrorist attacks. |
National Homeland Security Research Center (NHSRC) | Securing Buildings against Chemical and Biological Agents
| Video of a workshop conducted on October 5, 2006, for architects, engineers, owners, and other building professionals, on latest research on protecting buildings from a terrorist attack. |
Technology Testing & Evaluation | NHSRC’s efforts to provide reliable information on the performance of commercially available technologies that may have application for homeland security including Ventilation Media Air Filters. |
Department of Commerce |
NIST: Building and Fire Research Lab, Fire Research Division | Homeland Security—Research and Development for the Safety of Threatened Buildings
| Information on BFRL’s efforts to develop a technical basis for the standards, technology, and practices needed for cost-effective improvements to the safety and security of buildings and building occupants, including evacuation, emergency response procedures, and threat mitigation. |
Building Environment Division, IAQ and Ventilation Group | Building Retrofits to Protect Against Airborne Chemical and Biological Releases - NISTIR 7379 | Results of an effort to evaluate chem/bio retrofit options for buildings and guidance on the application and effectiveness of various retrofits (03/2007). |
Department of Defense (DoD) |
U.S. Army Edgewood Chemical Biological Center and the Army Corps of Engineers Protective | Draft Protecting Buildings and Their Occupants from Airborne Hazards | Ways to protect building occupants from airborne hazards; guidance for building managers, designers, and security planners on minimizing potential effects of airborne hazardous materials (10/2001). |
Non-Governmental Organization Resources on Building Security |
National Research Council, National Academies |
Committee on Materials and Manufacturing for Advanced Sensors | Sensor Systems for Biological Agent Attacks: Protecting Buildings and Military Bases | Results of an assessment of the development path for detect-to-warn sensor systems, including analysis of scenarios for protecting facilities, sensor requirements, and detection technologies and systems (2005). |
| Committee on Protecting Occupants of DOD Buildings from Chemical and Biological Release | Protecting Building Occupants and Operators from Biological and Chemical Airborne Threats | General principles derived from an assessment of existing work on preventing and mitigating the effects of airborne biological or chemical threat agents released within or infiltrated into built structures, with discussion of the cost, benefit, and risks of potential protection schemes (2007). |
American Society of Heating, Refrigerating and Air-Conditioning Engineers, Inc. (ASHRAE) |
| Presidential Ad Hoc Committee for Building Health and Safety under Extraordinary Incidents | Risk Management Guidance for Health, Safety and Environmental Security under Extraordinary Incidents | Guidance for new and existing buildings regarding protection of air, water, and food systems within buildings (01/2003). |
National Air Filtration Association (NAFA) |
| | NAFA Position Statement on Bio-terrorism; Using ANSI Standard 52.2 in preparedness in Bio-terrorism | Position statement on protecting the indoor environment from bioterrorism. |
U.S. Government Resources on Indoor Air Quality |
Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) |
Office of Air and Radiation (OAR), Office of Radiation and Indoor Air (ORIA), Indoor Environments Division (IED) | Indoor Air Quality (IAQ) website | Information on indoor air quality issues and EPA’s Indoor Environments Program, a voluntary (non-regulatory) program to address indoor air pollution. Website includes information on biological pollutants, indoor air quality in large buildings, a variety of publications on IAQ. |
Building Air Quality: A Guide for Building Owners and Facility Managers | Practical suggestions for preventing, identifying, and resolving indoor air quality (IAQ) problems in public and commercial buildings (12/91). |
Healthy Buildings, Healthy People: A Vision for the 21st Century | Blueprint for agencies and individuals across the country and around the world to focus their efforts on improvements in the indoor environment and health (10/01). |
The Inside Story: A Guide to Indoor Air Quality | Description of sources of air pollution in the home and office, corrective strategies, and specific measures for reducing pollutant levels. |
Department of Commerce |
National Institute of Standards and Technology, Building and Fire Research Laboratory (BFRL), Building Environment Division | Healthy and Sustainable Buildings
| Information on BRFL’s efforts to develop measurement methods, test methods, fundamental data, simulation models, and life cycle environmental and economic analysis tools to support widespread use of sustainability in design, construction, operation, and demolition of buildings and their systems/subsystems. |
Indoor Air Quality and Ventilation Group | Information on BRFL’s efforts to develop and apply computer simulation programs and measurement procedures to better understand the phenomena of air and contaminant transport in buildings and to support industry efforts to improve environmental conditions in buildings in a cost-effective manner. |
Department of Energy (DoE) |
Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, Environmental Energy Technologies Division, Indoor Environment Department (IED) | Commercial Building Ventilation & Indoor Environmental Quality Group | Results of recent research on ventilation and indoor air quality including: ventilation rates and technologies, volatile organic compounds, sick building syndrome, and filtration for particles and other pollutants. |
U.S. Government Resources on Energy Efficiency and the Built Environment |
U.S. Environmental Protection Agency and the U.S. Department of Energy |
| | ENERGY STAR program, Buildings & Plants | Information on improving the energy performance of buildings and plants, including strategies, tools, professional assistance, and recognition opportunities to help businesses meet their goals and contribute to ENERGY STAR’s nationwide challenge to improve the energy efficiency of facilities by 10% or more. |
