Environmental Engineering Reference
In-Depth Information
CHAPTER 5
ENVIRONMENTAL EMERGENCIES
AND EMERGENCY PREPAREDNESS
Piero M. Armenante and James P. Mack
New Jersey Institute of Technology, Newark, New Jersey
INTRODUCTION
The objective of this chapter is to present the basic concepts associated with
emergency preparedness and the preparation of emergency response plans for
industrial contingencies, which can result in toxic releases of contaminants in air,
water and soil, as well as, more generally, in other industrial emergency situations
such as fire and explosions. Emergency preparedness is not only limited to the
prevention, contingency planning, and emergency activities within the boundary
of an industrial facility, but it may extend to the federal government, state and
local officials, as well as local communities, especially if the release of hazardous
materials is involved, or if it involves transportation emergencies. Therefore, the
scope of this chapter is to examine the main aspects of emergency preparedness
first at the facility level (i.e., concerning the industrial plant) and then at the local
level (i.e., within the community but outside the facilities).
The impact of the release of hazardous and toxic materials may be different
depending not only on the type and physical state of the material being released,
but also on the medium in which the material is released. In general, toxic gaseous
or vapor emissions have the potential for causing more acute, and possibly catas-
trophic, effects, especially on humans and animal populations, but are typically
less severe on the environment. If the materials being released as well as the
receiving medium are denser (e.g., an oil spill in a waterway or in soil), the
consequences are typically less potentially lethal for human populations, because
This chapter is based in part on “Emergency Preparedness” by C. C. Burns and P. M. Armenante,
in
Risk Assessment and Risk Management for the Chemical Process Industry
, H. R. Greenberg and
J. J. Cramer (Eds.), John Wiley & Sons, New York, 1991, pp. 263 - 304. Grateful acknowledgment
is made to Carolyn Burns, on whose work several sections of this chapter are based.
