Software monitors safety of emergency responders

The National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health has launched a software platform called ERHMS Info Manager to monitor the health and safety of emergency responders.

ERHMS Info Manager tracks and monitors emergency response and recovery worker activities during all phases of emergency response following a natural disaster or other public health emergency, NIOSH said in a statement last week.

The software can be used by incident command staff; response organization leadership; health, safety and medical personnel; and emergency responders. It allows users to create responder profiles, record response incidents and map incident locations, assign responders to an incident roster, design forms and surveys using custom and pre-built templates, request information from responders by using forms and surveys, and view and analyze forms and survey responses, according to the statement.

“By being able to easily collect, analyze, and report health data, ERHMS Info Manager decreases the time required to identify exposures and signs and symptoms of illness throughout an emergency response to ensure workers are not harmed and can respond effectively,” Jill Shugart Atlanta-based NIOSH Emergency Responder Health Monitoring and Surveillance Coordinator said in the statement. “Data collected before, during, and after a response also helps identify which responders would benefit from medical referral and possible enrollment in a long-term health surveillance program.”