Facility emergency preparedness

SRS facilities that contain hazardous materials in quantities that exceed predetermined thresholds will complete the facility Emergency Preparedness Hazards Assessment. These documents are developed and... 

The process of careful, structured analysis and evaluation used to eliminate hazards during design and construction will also allow a chemical facility to accurately predict unplanned events that may create emergencies, and to effectively prepare to manage them should they occur. A comprehensive emergency preparedness program has all of these elements prevention, prediction, and preparation. 

The unit plan must be formal and in writing. Because the emergency procedures of each individual operating area or work unit form the foundation of the facility ERP, they should be reviewed by the Emergency Preparedness Team for completeness and consistency across the site before they are included in the facility ERP. 

Each work unit in a facility must have its own plan for headcounts as a part of its emergency preparedness program. This plan must be in writing, and it must be practiced frequently enough to ensure good execution in a time of real emergency. It should include ... 

Following the identification and evaluation of the resources available to the facility, the Emergency Preparedness Team, under the direction of the manager, develops the written ERP for the entire facility. The Emergency Preparedness Team is responsible for ensuring that the written facility ERP informs all employees of their roles in an emergency and the hazards to which they may be exposed. 

The facility manager, in cooperation with the Emergency Preparedness Team, assigns people, by their title or function at the facility, to the EMO, with designated alternates for each EMO function. The duties and responsibilities of each EMO function are defined and documented in the ERP. Because there must be a functional EMO in place regardless of when a facility emergency occurs, designated shift personnel take specific EMO responsibilities until the primary members can reach the site. 

The process should start with employee communications. In its employees, a facility has an important, informal communication link with its community that is often ignored. Employees deserve to know at least as much about their facility as their neighbors, and they deserve to know it first. They should be aware through communications (if not through actual involvement) of the facility s entire emergency preparedness program, from prevention to preparation. The employees also should be familiar with the products made and their end uses. They should understand the potential hazards of the processes and materials with which they work, and how to protect themselves and the public from those hazards. 

The European Union enacted the directive on the control of major-accident hazards involving dangerous substances in response to the 1976 dioxin release from the ICMESA facility near Seveso, Italy the United States enacted a similar Emergency Preparedness and Community Right-to-Know Act in response to the 1984 Bhopal disaster and 1989 Phillips Pasadena, Texas, refinery explosion and fire. 

Onsite and Offsite Emergency Preparedness for Chemical Facilities and Chemical Transportation... 

This capability assessment is likely to identify satisfactory levels of capability in some areas but not in others. Thus, the EP coordinator should document the capability shortfall and devise a multiyear development plan to reduce it. Emergency preparedness is often a low priority for most organizations hence, the limited funds available for this activity make it likely that a multiyear (typically five year) development plan will be needed that sets specific annual milestones. Once the annual milestones have been set, facility EP coordinators should monitor their programs achievement of these objectives. 

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