Preparedness towards chemical, biological, radiological, nuclear, and explosive (CBRNE) threats among healthcare personnel in Pasir Gudang, Johor, Malaysia

Abstract

Chemical, Biological, Radiological, Nuclear, and Explosive (CBRNE) threats are one of the major concerns related to global security and threat. It is an unexceptional CBRNE crisis in the industrial area of Pasir Gudang, Johor Bahru, Malaysia, as the industrial sector keeps growing resulted to a crisis of toxic chemical exposure which affected 6000 lives in 2019. It is then had put more concern among healthcare personnel towards CBRNE disaster. It is of critical importance to assess the extent of preparedness in CBRNE hazards. Therefore, this article is primarily aimed to evaluate the level of preparedness among healthcare personnel toward CBRNE crises. 114 responses through questionnaire had been collected from healthcare personnel of four government agencies and was analyzed using SPSS Version 27. According to the results, progressive exposure to CBRNE knowledge with more than 5 years of working experience demonstrated an advanced level of preparedness towards CBRNE disaster. The impact of knowledge and resilience level proved to be strongly connected to CBRNE preparedness. Therefore, initiatives to improve CBRNE preparedness will provide endless CBRNE awareness. This study will enable the management to measure the readiness of other essential healthcare professionals or first responders while also assisting improving the quality of service among healthcare personnel towards disaster.