APCO | Public Safety Communications

The training of public safety functionaries in educational settings is much in the news lately.  APCO International is an ANSI accredited standards developer of a suite of standards that should interest business units in the US education industry responsible for campus safety.   APCO has released two standards for public review:

Candidate ANS 1.115.1-201X Core Competencies, Operational Factors and Training for Next Generation Technologies in Public Safety Communications

(New standard) Topics include: Processing, dispatch, and utilization of multimedia systems; Operational factors, including but not limited to: increased work load and multi-tasking, security requirements, impact of evolving voice and data networks; Conceptual understanding of NG systems, emergency services networks, and IP networks; Impacts of stress when handling graphic media; Utilization of non-traditional resources, i.e., third party call centers, telematics, etc.

Candidate ANS APCO 3.108.2-201x Core Competencies and Minimum Training Standards for Public Safety Communications Instructor

This is a revision of the standard that identifies the core competencies and minimum training requirements of the individual who is generally tasked with delivery of training within the communications center. The purpose of this standard is to provide a consistent foundation for the knowledge, skills and abilities needed to fulfill this critical function. This standard recognizes the standard with agency-specific information.

Comments are due May 7th.   You may obtain an electronic copy from [email protected] or from Crystal McDuffie, (386) 322-2500, [email protected].   You may send comments to [email protected] (with a copy to [email protected]).

The landing page for APCO standards development is linked below:

Standards Call to Action

All campus safety standards are on the standing agenda of our Open Door teleconference — every Wednesday, 11 AM Eastern time — to which everyone is welcomed.  Login information is available in the link below:

Contact

Issue: [18-87 & 18-88]

Category: Public Safety, Risk Management, Informatics

APCO commenting platform provided by Higher Logic, Inc.

The IES-City Framework is the product of an open, international public working group led by the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) to reduce the high cost of application integration through technical analyses of existing smart city applications and architectures.  Campuses — especially large research university campuses — are “cities within cities” and the perfect study unit for cities of the future — hence our interest in how this framework will catalyze concepts we will see in safety and sustainability codes and standards in the near future.

If you think these policy conceptions are too high level to be meaningful in the construction, operation and maintenance documents that guide the build out of the $300 billion education facilities industry, think again.  We are already beginning to see some of these concepts show up in public input into campus building infrastructure codes and standards developed by IEEE, NFPA, ASHRAE, ICC and others.

NIST has set up a public working group for a technology and business model neutral forum for capturing a minimum set of commonalities that can be adopted to achieve the composable vision of a smart city.  One of its work products has been released for public review:

14-43 NIST IES-CityFrameworkdraft_20180207

Comments are due April 8th.  To provide comments you may use this link to create a response email: Comment, You may also communicate directly with Dr. Martin J. Burns, NIST,  Smart Grid & Cyber Physical Systems Program Office, Associate Director for Testbed Science: [email protected]  Tel: 301-975-6283, Cel: 202-379-8021.

All NIST projects are on the standing agenda of our weekly Open Door teleconferences (every Wednesday, 11 AM Eastern time) to which everyone is welcomed.  Click here to log in.   Since the emergent #SmartCampus is fundamentally an electrotechnical transformation we also collaborate with the IEEE Education & Healthcare Facilities Committee which meets 4 times per month in American and European time zones.

Issue: [14-43] and [14-101]

Category” #SmartCampus, Electrical, Telecommunications, Informatics, Facility Asset Management

Colleagues: Mike Anthony, Jim Harvey, Richard Robben

Link to legacy website

The National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) invites organizations to provide products and technical expertise to support and demonstrate security platforms for the Energy Sector Asset Management Project. This notice is the initial step for the National Cybersecurity Center of Excellence (NCCoE) in collaborating with technology companies to address cybersecurity challenges identified under the Energy Sector Asset Management use case. Participation in the use case is open to all interested organizations.

Link to Federal Register Announcement

Background: The NCCoE, part of NIST, is a public-private collaboration for accelerating the widespread adoption of integrated cybersecurity tools and technologies. The NCCoE brings together experts from industry, government, and academia under one roof to develop practical, interoperable cybersecurity approaches that address the real-world needs of complex Information Technology (IT). By accelerating dissemination and use of these integrated tools and technologies for protecting IT assets, the NCCoE will enhance trust in U.S. IT communications, data, and storage systems; reduce risk for companies and individuals using IT systems; and encourage development of innovative, job-creating cybersecurity products and services.

Letters of interest are due April 25th.  Letters of interest must be submitted to [email protected] or via hardcopy to National Institute of Standards and Technology, NCCoE; 9700 Great Seneca Highway, Rockville, MD 20850.  Click here for more complete information about the scope of the project and about how to participate.

Because of the dependence of the education industry upon energy and information infrastructure wee encourage our colleagues in the academic and business sides of the education industry to participate.   We encourage participation of the many education industry trade associations who depend upon the daily content available at Standards Michigan for their own advocacy agendas and claims to leadership.

This project, as with all federal level projects, will be on the standing agenda of our weekly Open Door teleconferences every Wednesday, 11 AM Eastern time.  (Click here to log in)

Issue: [18-93]

Category: Energy, Electrical, Telecommunications, Management & Administration, Smart Campus

Colleagues: Mike Anthony, Jim Harvey, Richard Robben