HOUSTON ASIS CHAPTER MINUTES

FEBRUARY 26, 2003

The Chapter held a luncheon meeting at the Renaissance Hotel. Chairman Mike Crocker CPP presided. Seventy-three members and guests attended.

Opening Pledge: Mike Crocker

Opening Prayer: Greg Walker

Committee Activities:

Legislative Affairs: Bob Cascino announced a State audit uncovered financial irregularities at TCPS. As a result, the Houston and Dallas offices were closed. All investigations will now be conducted out of the Austin office. Dave Parker, who also is a member of ASSIST, shared some of the statements made by the auditors. Cliff Grumbles and his staff inherited the troubled budget and are not directly responsible for the overruns. ASSIST and ASIS have grave concerns about cutbacks in this important agency during this threat period to our Nation’s security. If you are interested in participating in an inter-organizational committee to explore the future of TCPS, please contact Mike Crocker.

C.P.P.: Karim Vellani CPP announced there are two new specialty certifications for the CPP. One is for Physical Security and the other as a Certified Investigation Professional. He suggested the expansion of the training to include these new specialties. The Executive Committee approved the purchase of reference materials.

Treasurer’s Report: Bob Cascino presented the report and copies were distributed.

Membership: Mark Steinfort announced we now have 160 Chapter members who have paid the local dues out of the 500+ assigned our Chapter by National. Benefits for local membership include discounts for the monthly luncheons and seminars and no cost to participate in the CPP Review class. Some of the local dues are being used to pay for plaques given to our speakers and L.E. awards.

Golf Tournament: Bob Cascino announced the annual tournament will be held May 12 at the Willowcreek Golf Course. Willowcreek is rated one of the top 20 courses in Texas and just installed new greens. They can accommodate 144 players and we already have 11 teams committed. To see details about Willowcreek, look for the link on our web site.

WEB: Mike Crocker thanked our current sponsors of the web site and encouraged others to support its operation. Please contact Mike if you can help.

ASIS Foundation: Greg Walker explained that the Foundation provides scholarships and other benefits to the Chapter. The Houston Chapter has purchased a table (10 seats) for the Foundation Dinner at the National Conference. We were the first Chapter to reserve a table and will be given preferential placement. Members may purchase a seat back from our Chapter for $180. The Neville Brothers will be appearing.

Houses of Worship: Lewis Eakins announced the first survey was completed, with special recognition to Matt Silcox CPP for conducting the survey. The goal is to complete two surveys a month. If anyone is interested in learning more or helping with the surveys, please contact Lewis.

Annual Seminar: Matt Silcox reminded us to mark our calendars for August 12 & 13. The program is Homeland Security and several speakers have already been scheduled.

Law Enforcement Recognition Award: Presented by Mike Mallon

Our awardee, HPD Office Muzaffar H. Siddiqi, was introduced by his supervisor Sgt A. Parrish.

With the number of diverse communities within Houston, many citizens feel isolated and vulnerable because of the difference of language and customs. HPD recognized that to better serve these citizens, it needs to provide personnel who can effectively communicate and relate through a common cultural bond. Officer Siddiqi was appointed the department’s Southeast Asian Liaison.

Following a rash of violent robberies committed against Pakistani convenience store clerks, small business owners and citizens welcomed this ambitious and enthusiastic officer. To help communicate the department’s safety messages and reduce the inherent suspicion that exists toward law enforcement, Officer Siddiqi conducted crime prevention seminars and attended community meetings. His efforts to amalgamate the Southeast Asian communities also extend to working with foreign dignitaries, coordinating training conferences, and assisting with National Night Out activities in these areas.

But not all of Officer Siddiqi’s contributions to the community are accomplished in his capacity as a police officer. Officer Siddiqi has contributed much of his own time and personal expense to assist with humanitarian efforts. When a powerful earthquake recently struck India, he was instrumental in coordinating the Houston relief effort for survivors.

As of September 11, 2002, Officer Siddiqi has visited numerous mosques and temples in the area in an attempt to calm the peoples’ fears of unwarranted retribution from fellow citizens. Acting in his appointed role, as well as on his own initiative, Officer Siddiqi serves as a multi-linguistic diplomat and ambassador of American patriotism in a time of sensitive international and domestic relations. Although his work is far from being done, he continues to nurture trust between the community and police so that isolation and suspicion, caused by language barriers and cultural differences, are reduced.

Officer Siddiqi has been praised and recognized through countless letters of commendation from citizens, business and organization leaders, diplomats and other law enforcement agencies. He was selected as the 2001 HPD Officer of the Year. The Chapter awarded Officer Siddiqi a plaque in recognition of his exceptional dedication and performance.

Speaker: Dr. Robert Emery and Mr. Bruce Brown

Emerging Issues in Biosecurity

Dr. Robert Emery is the Executive Director of Environmental Health & Safety for the University of Texas Health Science Center at Houston and Associate Professor of Occupational Health at the University of Texas School of Public Health. Dr. Emery has over 20 years of experience in health and safety and holds masters degrees in health physics and environmental sciences and a doctorate in occupational health. Dr. Emery is unique in that he possesses national board certification and registration in all of the main areas of health & safety: Health Physicist, Safety Professional, Industrial hygiene, Biological Safety, hazardous materials management and risk management. In 2001, Dr. Emery assumed the additional role of Assistant Vice President for Research Administration to coordinate the infrastructure in place to support the research enterprise for the Health Science Center.

Bruce Brown is the Director of Environmental Health & Safety and manager of the Biosafety Program for the University of Texas Health Science Center at Houston. Mr. Brown holds a bachelors degree in microbiology from the University of Texas at Austin and is completing a master’s degree in occupational health from the University of Texas School of Public Health. Mr. Brown has worked in the health and safety field for 6 years. He is also a Certified Hazardous Materials Manager (CHMM) and Associate in Risk Management (ARM).

The presentation addressed these issues:

Summarizing the current “homeland defense-related” regulatory issues impacting biomedical research.

Identifying ways to synchronize and coordinate efforts within organizations to ensure safety, security and compliance.

Describing the security needs associated with the inevitable growth in research involving select agents so that these needs may be both anticipated and accommodated.

In addition to the key highlights outlined here, a copy of the power point presentation can be found on the local web page.

Safety and Security are being pulled tighter and tighter and we must work to dovetail our efforts. The underlying mission of bioresearch is the diagnosis, treatment and prevention of disease. This requires research facilities to store and work with chemical, biological and radiological agents. These agents can be handled safely, but in the current environment, research facilities are being asked to include considerations for “sinister intent”. Previously, background checks have never been considered relevant for lab workers and it has been difficult transition for safety professionals to think “criminally”. Until now there were only two assumptions for the security procedures of these agents: that people wanted to protect their health and that people were ignorant of the potential hazard. Sinister intent was not historically included in the portfolio.

Bio-Safety levels are dictated by the route of transmission. Airborne agents have a higher risk than ingestible agents, such as anthrax. A key parallel effort initiated prior to 9/11/01 and separate from the select agent registry is the global polio eradication efforts. Laboratories will be the only source of poliovirus as these eradication efforts are achieved within the next few years. The objective is to avoid possible re-introduction to the population.

There are four key legislative Acts that have impacted security procedures.

1989 Biological weapons Anti-Terrorism Act (Bio-weapons Act): criminalized biological agents and toxins as weapons.

1996 Anti-terrorism and Effective Death Penalty Act (96 Act): created “select agents”, and controlled the transfer only, not the possession.

2001 USA Patriot Act: created “restricted persons”, which now screens for previous criminal convictions or mental disorders.

2002 Public Health Security and Bioterrorism Preparedness and Response Act (Bio-terror Act): required notification of possession of “select agents”. A new application must be filed with a security review of the facility that includes new security requirements.

The new requirements in 42 CFR 73/9 CFR 121 include:

Registration

Security risk assessments

Designation of Responsible Official (RO)

Formalized Biosafety policies and procedures

Emergency response plans

Increased worker training, including infectious waste control and substance shipping

Control of transfers

Record maintenance

Notifications of loss, theft or release

UTHSCH has worked closely with the UTPD to implement the new security procedures.

Lab inventories by both EH&S and lab personnel

Campus wide notices by e-mail in “News on the Go”

EH&S site visits to labs with activities potentially including select agent(s) and/or poliovirus materials.

Vulnerability assessments

Proactive security upgrades

“Restricted person” assessments of personnel in select agent lab completed and forwarded to UTPD.

Institutional Biosafety Committee, appointed by the President

System for research protocol reviews

Surveillance of L3 or higher labs

Failure to completely comply will result in stiff Federal penalties. Lack of compliance also carries significant reputational risk, which is critical to a research institution. More and more institutions will be affected and it will percolate down to even small blood labs. The desired outcome will be to develop a plan that complies with the rules for current activities and can be readily applied to likely future applications.

Our speakers took questions from the floor:

Q: What will be the EPA’s involvement?

A: The EPA will not likely become involved until we need to determine how clean is clean. What IS the level of acceptable risk determination?

Q: Who will fund decontamination centers?

A: Money will most likely come through the state and local health departments from the Homeland Security budget.

Q: What is the incubation period for small pox? When does the inoculation take affect?

A: The only ones receiving inoculations are the military and selected front-line health care workers who provide the inoculation. There is a three day period for it to take affect. The vaccination lasts about 10 years.

Dr. Emery and Mr. Brown both accepted plaques in appreciation for their time and presentation.

The next ASIS luncheon meeting is scheduled for March 26. Details will be posted on the web page shortly.