The National Dam Safety Review Board - Dam Safety Training Work Group is pleased to announce the sixteenth in a series of highly successful technical dam safety training seminars.  The topic for the National Dam Safety Program’s Technical Seminar No. 16 will be Handling Emergencies with Dams.  The seminar will take place February 18-19, 2009, on the campus of the Federal Emergency Management Agency's (FEMA) training center in Emmitsburg, Maryland.

The purpose of the seminar is to enable participants to prepare an Emergency Action Plan, as well as improve the content and effectiveness of existing Emergency Action Plans. 

The seminar is intended for individuals who would be involved with emergency actions regarding dams – bringing together inspectors, consultants, owners, and emergency responders – for two days of dynamic presentations.  The presentations will cover all aspects of handling a dam safety emergency, including such topics as:

• Developing and Enhancing Emergency Action Plans
• Performing Exercises
• Emergency Response
• Warning People at Risk
• Emergency Communications

The seminar will utilize lessons learned from recent emergencies to highlight what worked and what didn’t work to ensure all downstream inhabitants would be warned and evacuated.  Embedded in these incidents are important lessons for dam safety and emergency response professionals with all levels of experience. 

The seminar will include presentations from representatives of local, State, and Federal dam safety and emergency response organizations, as well as experts from the private sector and dam owners.  Individual presentations will be complemented by panel discussions where the audience will have the opportunity to interact with recognized experts to pursue innovative ideas and concepts.  Take advantage of this very worthwhile training and plan now to attend.