NIOSH Software Monitors Health, Safety of Emergency Responders

Last month, NIOSH announced the launch of ERHMS Info Manager, a new software platform for tracking and monitoring the health and safety of emergency responders during all phases of emergency response following a natural disaster or public health emergency. ERHMS Info Manager allows organizations involved in the deployment and protection of emergency responders to implement the Emergency Responder Health Monitoring and Surveillance (ERHMS) framework, which provides recommendations for protecting emergency responders during emergencies in any setting. According to NIOSH, the software is intended to help streamline monitoring and surveillance of response worker health.

Users of the free ERHMS Info Manager software can create responder profiles, record response incidents and map incident locations, assign responders to an incident roster, design forms and surveys using custom and pre-built templates, request information from responders using forms and surveys, and view and analyze forms and survey responses.

“ERHMS Info Manager decreases the time required to identify exposures and signs and symptoms of illness throughout an emergency response to ensure workers are not harmed and can respond effectively,” said NIOSH ERHMS Coordinator Jill Shugart, MSPH. “Data collected before, during, and after a response also helps identify which responders would benefit from medical referral and possible enrollment in a long-term health surveillance program.”

The ERHMS Info Manager software, user manual, and training videos are available on NIOSH’s new for information related to emergency responder health monitoring and surveillance.