inXsol’s HazPrep (Hazard Preparation) Proposal wins SBIR Phase I NIH Funding
PHOENIX – May 02, 2017 – inXsol was awarded a Phase I SBIR (Small Business Innovation Research) grant to develop the unique resource HazPrep, an online training platform. This award is funded by the National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences (NIEHS), one of the many institutes at the National Institutes of Health. The goal of this project is to improve the health and safety of workers by delivering personalized high quality training that emphasizes risk-awareness and mitigation. Our approach solves two problems. The first is to serve a resource for communities about local risks. The second is to provide data so that workers and responders can prepare for local hazards. The research includes innovative use of big data to create community profiles, establish an individual Personal Hazard Profile (PHP) and advance concepts of social/crowdsourced learning.
A worker’s PHP is a function of hazards present and his/her exposure level to those hazards. Workers with an elevated level of risk include those who are of have the potential to be engaged in activities related to (or working near) hazardous materials, waste generation, removal, containment, transportation, and emergency response. inXsol believes three components are necessary to implement a sophisticated geo-personalized, role-based, all-hazards-training activity platform: 1) Personal Hazard Profile, 2) cloud-based community profile algorithms and 3) a novel social learning platform which inherently enriches the experience for learners. For more than a decade, inXsol, a Phoenix-based eLearning and simulation development company, has created simulation and training products focused on first responders and at-risk workers like chemical, hazardous material, and refinery workers. inXsol will demonstrate that community risk data can be collected as part of a pre-planning effort in an automated fashion.
Henry Ryng, inXsol’s President and Principal Investigator for this project, stated, “this project allows inXsol the opportunity to leverage today’s mobile technology, sensors, and existing community information to create a contextual application providing low-friction community risk assessment and actions for users.” Henry went on to say, “the support and guidance from multiple research partners make this project possible.” Three partner organizations are taking an active role in the project: Prevention, Preparedness and Response (P2R) Academy at the UTHealth School of Public Health, Nova Southeast University (SEAMIST and HazMIRTSI), Bshifter.com Blue Card Command Certification Program®. The P2R Academy and Nova (fellow NIEHS awardees) are eager to apply HazPrep’s preplan and worker profile concepts. Moreover, the P2R Academy and SEAMIST are already using inXsol’s simulation, eLearning and classroom management platform known as HazReady. This consistency of platform provides a significant opportunity for collaboration on modules and to review the risks and needs of local communities. Janelle Rios, PhD, Director of P2R Academy, is excited about this project. “We have to do a better job integrating known community information into the resources that responders use. HazPrep serves a significant marketplace need and has the potential to create a new approach for worker, responder and community safety.”
Development for the project will take place in Phoenix over the next year. HazPrep will be pilot tested at multiple locations across North America.
ABOUT INXSOL – inXsol, a Phoenix-based simulation, eLearning, and mobile application development company, has over 20 years of experience creating and implementing solutions for our customers’ mission-critical training and resource tracking needs. inXsol serves the aerospace, education, industrial, financial services, medical, and emergency responder markets. http://www.inxsol.com
NIEHS GRANT SUPPORT AND DISCLAIMER – The project described above is supported by Grant Number 1R43ES028145-01 from the National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences (NIEHS). Any opinions, findings, and conclusions or recommendations expressed in this material are those of the author(s) and do not necessarily reflect the views of the National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences.