January 21, 2010
First to respond: The UW’s PEAT team drills to maintain skills
It looked like an emergency, but it was just a drill. The UW’s PEAT Team — that’s Pre-Assessment Entry Team — conducted a simulation at J Wing in the Health Sciences Building on Friday, Jan. 15.
The PEAT Team, which is administered by the UW Environmental Health & Safety Office, is the first to enter a building after an emergency and determine if there are chemical releases and if it’s safe for search and rescue teams to enter. The PEAT team conducted a drill in the partly unoccupied J Wing of the Health Sciences Building on Friday, Jan. 15, a very rainy day indeed.
“Our job is to decide whether the rooms are safe for rescue teams to come in,” said Matt Moeller, a lead trainer for the PEAT team.
EH&S conducts four to five such drills every school year. The last PEAT drill was at UW Tacoma in October and the next will be in May as part of a three-day class to be held by EH&S.
Moeller said the drill was successful, and helpful in particular in that it was the first drill using two entry teams at the same time. “And it was the first drill under such blustery weather conditions.”
To learn more about the UW’s PEAT team and its work, visit online here.
