More than 6,000 state employees are being trained online and then quizzed on how to handle themselves in the event of a terrorist attack or major natural disaster.

Department of Health and Human Resources employees have started poring over what could amount to hundreds of pages of online information about their responsibilities if the worst would happen.

Everybody from the department secretary to janitors at the state hospitals are expected to study the material and then pass a five-part test.

It's all part of a federal program, the National Incident Management System, that will be required reading for any government employee who might have a role in response and cleanup after an accident or attack.

All affected employees in the state will have to be certified sometime in the next year in order for the state to qualify for federal homeland security funds in 2007.

"People might think, why should a janitor at Hopemont Hospital have to take this test," said John Law, spokesman for the Department of Health and Human Resources. "Well, we might have to pull that worker off the job and have them do something else in an emergency. It's all about what you should do, how to make yourself safe, how you should talk to people and how you can be most effective. It's a big deal."

All DHHR employees are starting the process now of going through the online training and taking the tests when they're ready. Some other employees throughout state government -- those who could play a key role in a crisis -- already have completed the program.

Employees can complete the coursework and the corresponding tests in their own time. There's no rush to get the work done right away or pass the tests (which can be taken online) before an upcoming deadline.

There are dozens of specific guides and quizzes that have been catalogued and are now offered through the federal program. Each is tailored to a certain kind of crisis or developed for a certain group of people who might be at the center of an emergency situation.

Programs range from the smallpox prevention and intervention course developed by the Centers for Disease Control to the safe mail-handling training created by the Kansas State Fire Marshal's office.

Depending on an employee's job or their department in state government, a lot of West Virginia workers will wind up going through various levels of online training. Some are very advanced and others involve only basic emergency response skills.

DHHR employees will go through five of the programs that specifically address disaster communications, how to handle public health threats and how to recognize and cope with homeland security or terrorist threats.

Employees can study the online training guides repeatedly before taking the typically 10-question multiple-choice quizzes, or they can sit down, look at the guides and take the tests all at once.

Workers can take the tests as often as needed until they pass.

By next year, the state will have to show that all affected workers have been through or are completing the training in order to qualify for the next round of homeland security funding.