Strategic Action Plan for a Hazardous Waste Incident

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Strategic Action Plan for a Hazardous Waste Incident

1. What chemicals are we working with?
   1. Identify the chemicals from the different sources of information including labels on the packages, road shipping papers, and placards on the vehicles
   1. Determine the hazard class and division
   1. Determine whether the hazards are explosives, gases, flammable liquids, flammable solids and water, oxidizers, toxic and infectious materials, radioactive materials, corrosive materials or miscellaneous hazardous materials  
2. Interagency responsibilities and cooperation
   1. Contact the local government representatives
   1. Identify and contact the different agencies responsible for dealing with such situations
   1. Examine the safety data sheets, which are required by the community right-to-know act
3. Risk assessment
   1. Hazard assessment
      1. Recognize the type of incident
      1. Identify all the potential hazards
      1. Estimate the harm that is likely to occur from the spillage and the reaction of the hazards with different elements
      1. Establish the weather conditions
   1. Vulnerability
      1. First responders should have adequate protection
      1. Identify the vulnerable groups and determine the course of action which might include evacuation
      1. Take measures to ensure the safety of the public
      1. Identify all the vulnerable groups such as children, the old, the sick, and people with special needs and take measures to remove them from the hazard
   1. Threat
      1. Determine the natural or accidental threats that are likely to occur because of the spillage
      1. The hazardous materials from the spill may pose a threat to the environment and may cause damage of property
      1. Determine the possibility of threat to human life on the immediate area and on the surrounding regions
      1. Spill may flow to a wide area and increase its scope of damage
4. LERP based on conditions, occupancies, resources, response capabilities
   1. Some communities have organized agencies to help deal with emergencies.
   1. They have information concerning the community resources such as equipment and personnel
   1. They can be an invaluable source of information because they know the industries within their regions
   1. They have important contacts of all emergency responders
5. Helpful before incident-training, planning, exercises
   1. Provision of all suitable equipment to deal with the spill including protective clothing
   1. Ensure that all the emergency responders have adequate knowledge to deal with any incidents which is made possible through training
   1. Provide the emergency responders with the necessary resources such as the NIOSH pocket guide to chemical hazards, Merck Index, handbook of compressed gases, Sax’s dangerous properties of industrial material, and ACHIH guide
   1. Conduct routine tests and ensure that responders have updated information
   1. Conducting exercise drills for the first responders to enable them deal with the emergencies
   1. Good communication between the responders and the people responsible for the spill
   1. Sensitize the community concerning the need to be aware of all the hazards around them
6. Helpful during emergencies
   1. Contact numbers for all emergency responders including firefighters, the police, weather stations, and hospitals
   1. Information on the expected weather conditions including precipitation, temperature, wind, and humidity
   1. Contact the company responsible for the hazard spill to provide more information concerning the content incase the transport shipping papers are not available or accessible
   1. Have all the information from the transport shipping papers
7. Typical ERP include:
   1. Physical/chemical hazard evaluation
   1. Facility ER procedures
   1. ER training/equipment
   1. Emergency contact numbers
   1. Facility maps
   1. MSDS sheets
   1. Chemical storage information