Massachusetts’ New Suspicious Substances Training Program that Goes Above and Beyond Traditional Screening Methods

Learn how Massachusetts took a legacy training program based on bio threats, developed by the MA DFS Hazmat Division and the MA Dept of Public Health, and created an all-encompassing hazards training called JSMACSS. The Joint Standardized Method for the Assessment & Collection of Suspicious Substances training program takes into account the potential presence of ALL suspicious substances using industry standard protocols and court acceptable techniques – such as SWGDRUG. The primary objectives are:

1. protect LRN workers from potential exposure to an unknown substance by screening for radioactivity, explosives, acute chemical hazards and drugs prior to packaging and delivery of a sample
2. conduct presumptive identification for law enforcement and/or the incident commander at a scene
3. develop standards that produce accurate and reproducible results

The session will include information about the advanced analytical equipment MA DFS uses in this training and in their incident response, such as handheld Raman analyzers.