A Guide on Mitigation of Certain Weapons Threats for HVAC Systems in Federal Facilities

Submitted by: Mike MacDonald, Commercial Buildings Group

Many changes in America have resulted from large-scale attacks against civilian populations by extremists. A Department of Homeland Security has been created. Increased abilities to mitigate attacks by weapons of mass destruction have been recommended by prestigious bodies. DOE Secretary Spencer Abraham has declared that security is core to DOE’s mission. Federal agencies have promulgated directives requiring increased security against attacks. Federal facility managers have asked DOE’s Federal Energy Management Program (FEMP) if there is any assistance that can be provided to deal with the directives, especially related to building ventilation systems in commercial and industrial buildings.

Based on these requests, FEMP asked ORNL to develop a guide on ventilation security against potential attacks by weapons of mass destruction or lesser weapons. The resulting report is Mitigation of CBRN Incidents for HVAC Systems in Federal Facilities, ORNL/TM-2004/260, by Mike MacDonald of ESTD’s Commercial Buildings Group. The report is a short guide that summarizes a lot of information related to mitigation of a subset of such incidents for federal facilities, although the information can be applied much more broadly than federally. The guide does NOT cover threats from explosives, which are covered extensively in many other documents. The guide is an ORNL report that provides a starting point for federal facility managers to lay out initial plans for scoping potential mitigation measures that can be implemented for their buildings and heating, ventilating, and air-conditioning (HVAC) systems.

One of the conceptual drawings for the proposed Department of Homeland Security headquarters building in Chicago.

Threats from weapons are complicated, and commercial and industrial buildings and their HVAC systems are also complicated. Guidance and directives on building threats and risk assessments have mushroomed almost beyond the ability of individuals to assimilate and analyze. Emergency preparedness has become a major national undertaking, reminiscent of the Civil Defense efforts of the 1950’s, only more complicated and extensive. Extensive technology development has been recommended and is in progress. Extensive prospective R&D for new and advanced technologies to apply to emergency preparedness and threat mitigation is also in progress by many organizations. However, funding for extensive capital investments to enhance building security for all federal facilities is tight. Information and methods to quantify the potential threat to federal buildings are mostly nonexistent, although many qualitative methods are available and are being used, and some limited quantification is occurring.

Federal facility managers are hard-pressed to meet directives for increasing facility security against potential threats. The guide describes briefly some simplified steps needed to develop threat mitigation measure plans and strategies, and indicates links to the many resources available that can help facility managers.

A brief, simplified example is presented of a federal agency that implements incident mitigation measures related to building HVAC systems and personnel that can be accomplished with limited resources.

The guide generally indicates potential improvements that appear to be needed:

• New technologies are under development but are not completed, e.g., biological agent sensors, improved chemical sensors
• Overall integration of multiple methods and technologies has not truly been tried and tested, so major integration improvements are expected to be needed (an area where ORNL has heavy involvement)
• Expertise on building and HVAC systems in combination with expertise on potential threats appears limited. Some guidance has been developed, but too many pieces are still missing, such as how to integrate personnel actions effectively with technologies chosen.
• Facility managers are expected to need outside expertise to more effectively assess potential threat mitigation measures for their facilities. Procurement of enhanced, outside expertise is expected to be a challenge, as definition of that expertise does not appear to be truly known at this time.
• Energy efficiency is an interest of FEMP, and initial ideas for ways to integrate energy efficiency and building security have been developed, but much more work is required to understand true benefits and workable solutions to synergistic issues.
• Better alignment and eventual standardization of methods and approaches used to assess risks for building HVAC systems will be needed. Methods developed to date do not appear adequate to deal with certain unique requirements of HVAC systems — systems that appear particularly critical relative to the types of threats covered in the guide.

Readers of this guide can use the information presented and the resources identified to work through an overall, simplified process to select and prioritize threat mitigation measures for facility HVAC systems and people. Results should be at least marginally acceptable in the short term, but many changes in the works for federal policy and technologies are expected to keep the overall situation in flux for many years to come.

Energy efficiency should not be forsaken in the quest for security. FEMP has developed some initial ideas about synergistic system opportunities that apply for buildings, HVAC systems, and increased HVAC system security. Significant additional work appears needed to better develop these ideas, reasonable methods of application, and some scaling of potential benefits from different approaches.

Mike MacDonald can be contacted at 865-547-5187, macdonaldjm@ornl.gov.

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