On 11 and 12 April 2018, a delegation, headed by the Director of the JCBRN Defence COE COL (GS) Vratislav OSVALD, visited the Austrian company Seibersdorf Laboratories. The delegation followed an official invitation arranged by the Forces Development Division of the Austrian MoD and was welcomed by the managing director of Seibersdorf Laboratories Mrs. Dr. Martina SCHWAIGER and the Consultant Dr. Chris SCHMITZER.
Aims of the meeting
| 1. |
To visit the site of the company and to get an introduction on the capabilities and capacities of the Seibersdorf Laboratories. |
| 2. | To gain a detailed look on the Seibersdorf Academy (Training & Education Centre of Seibersdorf Laboratories) and the training facilities for unsealed and sealed radioactive sources. Currently the facilities are used for Consequence Management training of Austrian first responders (Austrian Armed Forces, Police Forces, Fire Brigades) and selected international partners. |
| 3. | To discuss the possible further steps of the development to open their training facilities for NATO- and EU countries with a selected course. |
| 4. | The JCBRND COE intends to provide support to the Seibersdorf Laboratories to reach the highest possible status (NATO listed, NATO selected or NATO approved) for this planned course. |
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| Managing director of Seibersdorf Laboratories Mrs. Dr. Martina SCHWAIGER conducting her introduction. | Director of the JCBRN Defence COE COL (GS) Vratislav OSVALD in the discussion with COL Franz WANKA, MSc (Forces Development Division AUT MoD) and a trainer from the Seibersdorf Academy | Introduction of the training area for unsealed and sealed sources of radiation to the delegation. |
Seibersdorf Laboratories – Seibersdorf Academy
The Seibersdorf Academy is Austria‘s largest training centre for radiation protection. They offer an extensive training programme for the civilian sectors of medicine, technology, and research, as well as a special modular training system in radiation protection and disaster control as a comprehensive approach, i.e. military, police, fire department and rescue services.They have more than 50 years of experience in providing radiation protection training. To date, more than 50,000 emergency services members have been trained in Seibersdorf.
Building on more than 75 years field experience in CBRN defence, international weapons inspection, emergency response, medicine, forensics, counter-terrorism and non-destructive investigation, Seibersdorf Laboratories offers a full spectrum service with core competencies covering the use of biological and chemical warfare agents, toxic industrial chemicals, explosives and radioactive materials.
The Seibersdorf Academy has its own facilities for providing training in dealing with unsealed and sealed sources of radiation and with X-ray equipment. A wide variety of different measuring devices, practice materials, and, of course, radiation sources are also available for training purposes.
Follow on actions: The JCBRN Defence COE will stay in contact with the Seibersdorf Laboratories in order to support their intention of the NATO course certification. Additionally, both entities will work on to intensify the relationships and to discover other fields of cooperation. This will be discussed in a re-invitation in the autumn this year.
Further information about the Seibersdorf Laboratories you can find on their homepage under the following link: https://www.seibersdorf-laboratories.at/en/home
Text: MAJ Roman LAIMER, (AUT A)
Photo: LTC Bernd ALLERT, (DEU A) DI Johannes NEUWIRTH (Seibersdorf Academy)