Emergency Response Exercise to be Conducted at National Emerging Infectious Diseases Laboratories
For Immediate Release: December 9, 2014
Contact: Tom Testa (617) 353-7628 , ttesta@bu.edu
(Boston) – On Thursday December 11, 2014 at approximately 10:00 a.m. Boston University (BU) and the City of Boston will conduct a joint full scale emergency response simulation at the National Emerging Infectious Diseases Laboratories (NEIDL) at 620 Albany Street. This exercise is part of the NEIDL’s ongoing safety and training program for laboratory personnel and internal and external response officials.
This exercise will simulate an emergency response to a spill of material from the Effluent Decontamination System at the NEIDL. The participants in this exercise include: NEIDL operations staff and researchers, BU Public Safety, Boston Emergency Medical Services, Boston Fire and Police Departments, Boston Water and Sewer Commission, Boston Mayor’s Office of Emergency Management, the Boston Public Health Commission and the Massachusetts Water Resource Authority.
While the exercise will have no affect or impact on neighborhood traffic, there will be a number of local emergency response vehicles parked at the NEIDL.
Following this exercise, all participants will convene to review and critique the response in order to continuously improve response and training.
BSL-4 research is not being conducted at the NEIDL now and will not commence until the completion of further regulatory approvals.