3.

Building operation protection from chemical and biological airborne threat

Protecting buildings from biological and chemical airborne threats is a complex matter subject
to many variables including the construction, missions, and vulnerabilities of the building to be
protected. A systematic process that takes into account the buildings vulnerabilities and risks
of attacks, its physical limitations, the budget, and options for protection using risk assessment
and management approaches is needed to guide decision making and cost-benefit analysis for
building protection. Attacks using airborne biological and chemical threat agents in the last two
decades have increased the urgency of protecting buildings, their occupants, and critical
operations from those threats. At the request of the Defense Threat Reduction Agency, the
National Academies convened a committee to consider existing work on preventing and
mitigating the effects of airborne biological and chemical threat agents released within or
infiltrated into buildings. The resulting report discusses general principles derived from existing
work and the variables that need to be considered in the design and implementation of a
protection system for airborne biological and chemical releases, its likely cost, benefit, and
risks.

Considerations for designing building protection systems

To design an appropriate building protection system, many factors have to be considered. What
are the threat agents to be protected from and how would they be delivered? What are the
vulnerabilities to and risks of attacks and how could they be managed? What are the main goals
of protectionsaving lives only or protecting resources and maintaining continuous operations
inside the building as well? What are the limitations posed by the building procurement, design
and construction? Are there financial resources available for design, implementation,
operation, and maintenance? Given the complex interactions of these factors, building
protection cannot be designed generically. Building protection systems should be designed and
implemented on a case-by-case basis for each structure to be protected.

Although a number of protection strategies may be incorporated into a design, each system
is typically constructed from a primary set of functional components. These primary
components include collective protection, detection, and air flow management. These primary
components are then supplemented by other assets to include individual protection,
decontamination, building segmentation, physical security, plans and procedures, personnel,
and training.

Collective protection (filtration, neutralization) is considered the key element in most

protection systems. The two primary types of CB filters are gas and particulate. Carbon-based
filters are a type of gas filter that are intended to capture chemical agents in gaseous and vapor
form. Particulate filters (e.g.,HEPA filters) are intended to capture the microscopic particles
associated with biological agents and chemical aerosols. In general, the level of protection
achievable varies with the removal efficiency of the filters for external threats. This holds true
only if all the air entering the protected envelope passes through the filters. Building
pressurization is utilized to help ensure all the outside air is introduced through filters.
Pressurization is achieved by supplying filtered air at a rate sufficient to produce an outward
flow through all building openings (e.g., cracks, seams). In order to cost effectively pressurize
a building; sealing measures must be taken to reduce the leakage of the envelope.

The second critical element to all protection systems is detection. Rapid identification of a CB
agent is vital to the protection of building occupants and the effective treatment of casualties.
CB detectors internal and external to the building are required to initiate active building
protection systems, such as building exhaust. CB detectors for building applications should
have high sensitivity (below incapacitating levels), high selectivity (low false alarm rate), fast
response time (seconds), autonomous operation (no human intervention required during
operation), and low maintenance requirements. CB detectors are currently at various stages of
maturity and therefore caution should be taken when incorporating them into a building
protection system.