Aiming to decrease the time needed to restore major facilities following a chemical or biological attack, Sandia is helping develop an end-to-end restoration system. This system, called Building Restoration Operations Optimization Model (BROOM™), will include a restoration plan template, cleanup guidelines, methods to characterize the contaminant, decontamination technologies, clearance sampling tools, and software-based tools for pre-planning and coordinating the restoration process.
BROOM is a software-based tool that will help airports and public buildings preplan for a possible restoration event. BROOM also makes it easier for cleanup personnel to collect the samples needed to effectively decontaminate a building and determine whether the building is safe for reentry.
BROOM™ consists of:
Cleanup personnel use drop-down menus and maps stored on the PDA's to record a wealth of information about each sample collected. Further, the samples are placed in vials with barcodes that can be scanned by the PDA ensuring that samples are properly identified and linked with a precise location throughout the processing procedure.
BROOM™ was demonstrated successfully with the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health in Albuquerque, N.M.
