Hazmat emergency responders get new PDA reference

Bethesda, MD, March 17, 2005 -- (MobileVillage) -- The National Library of Medicine (NLM), a component of the National Institutes of Health, has announced the release of a PDA application designed to help first responders when they arrive at a hazardous material (Hazmat) incident, such as a chemical spill.

Hazmat incidents have been increasing yearly since 1991, with approximately 34,000 incidents reported in 2004, according to statistics from the U.S. Coast Guard's National Response Center on all hazardous substances and waste released into the U.S. environment.

The application, called WISER (Wireless Information System for Emergency Responders) provides the emergency responder with information on hazardous substances, including physical characteristics, human health data, and containment and suppression information. To aid decision making, users can specify the role they are currently performing at the scene of an incident, and WISER organizes the critical information in a sequence most relevant to a first responder on-the-scene, a Hazmat specialist, or an emergency medical specialist (EMS).

One of WISER's features is to help the user narrow the range of substances that may be involved in a specific incident. As the emergency responder selects observed properties and symptoms, WISER looks in its database for chemical substances that have these characteristics. The list of candidate chemicals decreases as additional information is provided, and WISER presents the user with a list of candidate chemicals at any point in the identification process.

The operational versions of WISER for Palm OS and for Pocket PC are available free of charge for downloading to a user's PDA at http://wiser.nlm.nih.gov. A desktop version will be available later this spring, and a web-based version is also being developed, according to the NLM.

NLM says it is collaborating with regional and local emergency response organizations and using their feedback as input for future enhancements to WISER. For example, NLM is working with CapWIN, an integrated transportation and criminal justice information wireless network across Maryland, Virginia, and the District of Columbia. WISER has been added as a resource to this network, providing easy access to authoritative chemical information.

WISER is also being incorporated into training curricula, such as the Baltimore County, Md. Hazmat Team training program, the Illinois Fire Service Institute, and the Federal Emergency Management Agency's (FEMA) Chemical Stockpile Emergency Preparedness Program.

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