OREANDA-NEWS. AT&T* and its Network Disaster Recovery (NDR) organization will conduct a hazardous materials functional exercise in New York City.

The exercise will allow participants to train together in preparation for real-life local hazmat emergencies. Participants wearing personal protective equipment, including fully encapsulated suits, will work inside he AT&T facility and practice the type of responses that would be required if the building was contaminated by a hazardous substance.  

As part of the exercise, the teams will test out a “smart” hazmat suit for first responders. The suit includes the Sonim XP7, an ultra-rugged LTE smartphone with a built-in rear and front-facing camera. The Sonim XP7 uses an app that streams video of what a hazmat responder sees. Command staff can view events remotely and quickly relay instructions to the hazmat technicians. The hazmat suit uses sensors that can detect the presence of hazardous gasses and chemicals. This is the first time AT&T will test these hazmat suits in a drill scenario.  

“We are conducting this exercise in New York City to help AT&T’s NDR Special Operations group  prepare to handle a hazmat situation in its efforts to maintain or restore communications for an area impacted by a disaster,” said David Brandvold, VP, AT&T Global Services and Technology Operations.

The exercise will focus on:

  • On-site incident command
  • Techniques on working in areas that have been contaminated by hazardous materials
  • Communications between public and private entities

WHAT: AT&T performing drills to ensure seamless communications and best practices for real-life hazmat situations.

WHEN: Media Visits — October 21-22, 2015; 9-11 a.m. and 1-3 p.m.

WHERE: 33 Thomas Street New York, NY

VISUALS: Trained teams with AT&T NDR conducting an exercise to prepare for possible hazmat situations, participants wearing fully encapsulated hazmat suits

In its two decades of service, the AT&T NDR team has been deployed more than 70 times – including recent deployments for Hurricanes Sandy in 2012 and Irene in 2011. The NDR team deployed on September 11, 2001, following the New York City World Trade Center disaster – recovering the services of a destroyed network office and providing emergency communications support for humanitarian efforts.