Emergency Response Capability

Threats of Concern Terrorist acts can be the most problematic to defend against since they may be more extreme or malevolent than other crimes focused on monetary gains or outcomes with less malicious intent. Plus terrorists may use military tactics not often provided for in base chemical facility design. Chemical facility security must be considered in context with local and national homeland security and law enforcement activities, as well as with emergency response capabilities. There is a practical limit to the ability of a chemical site to prevent or mitigate a terrorist act. Above a certain level of threat, the facility needs to rely on law enforcement and military services to provide physical security against extreme acts of intentional harm. The security posture must be risk-based, and so extremely robust security measures are not always applicable or necessary. 

Additional emergency response capability may be required because the fire may be larger and escalation is more likely... 

Emergency Response Capabilities Community Exposures Environmental Exposures Investment at Risk Control... 

In general, the extent of fire protection for marine terminal wharves is related to the materials handled, plant site and local emergency response capability, terminal size, location, size of ships or barges serviced, frequency of use, and adjacent exposures. 

The Chemical Stockpile Emergency Preparedness Program was established to improve emergency response capabilities in communities near the eight sites in the continental U.S. where chemical weapons are stored. 

Evolution of an improved environment for emergency response capability... 

Ensuring emergency response capabilities, as may be required for the material and mode of transportation... 

Does the change impact plant emergency response capability [e.g., EMT and ERT]... 

Generic Letter 82-33, "Supplement 1 to NUREG-0737 - Requirements for Emergency Response Capability". U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission, December 1982. 

Supplement 1 to NUREG-0737, "Requirements for emergency response capability."... 

The perception of disasters among members of the public sometimes escalates as a consequence of a breakdown in the communication process. Conversely, a well-informed public can often take action to minimize the effects of a disaster. Information must reach the end users in a comprehensible and useful form it must be perceived by them as relevant to their situation and they must have the capacity and the necessary resources to use this information to better prepare for, respond to, and recover from a hazard or disaster situation. Research to determine the most critical information to be communicated between resf>onders and to the public, and the means to gather and disseminate that information, can result in a rapid improvement in emergency response capabilities. Such research would be universally applicable to all chemical emergencies—independent of the type of incident or chemical involved. 

US NRC, Onsite Emergency Response Capabilities, Proposed Rule, in Federal Register Vol. 78, No. 221, 68774-68775, November 15,2013. 

The continuing resolution bill gives MSHA 363.8 million, an increase of 6.5 million. MSHA, which has suffered several black eyes relating to mining disasters in recent years, will use the extra funds to step up enforcement, ease the backlog of appeals cases, and improve its emergency response capability. 

---