Pollution incident response plan

The Environment Agency argues that the key to reducing the environmental risk from a fire (or other incident) is to have a contingency or pollution incident response plan in place. The plan need not be expensive to prepare, but could minimise the consequences of an incident. 

However, if reliance is placed on these secondary measures, consideration of some other form of local containment may be necessary to provide sufficient time to prepare them. Their use and location must be clearly marked in the pollution incident response plan and indicated on site with durable signs explaining their use. 

A wide variety of off-the-shelf products are available to deal with spillages or to contain spills in emergency containment areas. Any materials or equipment used must be located at accessible positions which are clearly marked with durable notices explaining their use. In addition, any equipment must be fit for the purpose and effectively well maintained ready for use. The pollution incident response plan will identify the pollution prevention equipment and materials and their location. The type of materials and equipment that may be provided to mitigate the effects of a fire on the environment include ... 

Appendix 13.2 Example of a pollution incident response plan... 

At the very least, a facility is required to develop a plan describing how it will respond to an incident that threatens human health and/or the environment. Generally, the plan includes notification, evacuation, protection of employees, and control of the incident. This emergency response plan usually must be in writing. For example, the OSHA requires a minimum of three plans emergency response, emergency action, and fire prevention. The CAA requires that the state implementation plan have an emergency air pollution episode plan. 

In many cases, major pollution incidents can be prevented if appropriate pollution prevention measures are in place or immediately available. Contingency planning is the key to success, therefore preventive and protective measures and incident response strategies should be carefully considered and impiemented. 

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