Protecting Building Occupants and Operations from Biological and Chemical Airborne Threats A Framework for Decision Making (2007) / Chapter Skim
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, which is scheduled to assume responsibility for test beds1 and other results developed by DARPA's Immune Building Program, asked the National Academies to convene a committee to consider existing work on preventing and mitigating the effects of airborne biological or chemical threat agents released within or infiltrated into built structures. The committee was asked to provide general principles that can be derived from those studies and existing test beds and to discuss the cost, benefit, and risks of potential protection schemes (see Appendix A for the complete Statement of Task)
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Threat Types and Threat Agents This report addresses two threat types: airborne releases of biological threat agents and airborne releases of chemical threat agents. "Threat agent" refers to the biological or chemical agent used in an attack.
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Active or passive strategies can be used to protect against threat agents. Passive measures provide protection by using approaches that do not include identification and detection technologies.
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is a high-level passive protection that does not utilize sensors. Options for achieving LP-2 include site selection, addition and upgrade of filters and adsorption units specific to biological and chemical threats, compartmentalization and overpressurization of building interiors, filtration of outdoor air, relocation of outdoor air intake vents, local air-washes,2 security protection in the surrounding area, and appropriate operational responses.
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Building type or interior layout affects a building's vulnerability to threat agents because compartmentalization or the lack thereof can affect the spread of threat agents throughout the building. A protection system designed to be integrated into newly constructed buildings is likely to have fewer limitations than a retrofit to an existing building.
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HVAC can be used as a passive strategy that enhances protection from biological and chemical airborne threats through zoning, enhanced particulate filtration, the addition of continuous gas and vapor protection, and sensing and active control of airflows and air treatment devices. HVAC can also be used as an active strategy if it is coupled with validated sensor networks and used for threat mitigation.
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Data collected on degradation, maintenance, and operational and life-cycle costs of building protection systems in test beds -- and, in time, from operational buildings -- can be used as points of reference for future analyses. Because test facilities cannot faithfully duplicate specific operational buildings and data from actual biological or chemical attacks are sparse, modeling and simulation are necessary for assessing building protection.
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Protection metrics and operational performance metrics are used to gauge whether a building protection system is performing as planned. Protection metrics, which can include fraction of building exposed, fraction of occupants exposed, and lives saved, usually measure against the protection goals.
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Protecting buildings from biological and chemical airborne threats is a complex matter subject to many variables. These variables have a striking impact on the feasibility and capability of the desired protection system.
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