ENVIRONMENTAL EMERGENCIES AND EMERGENCY PREPAREDNESS - Environmental Engineering: Prevention and Response to Water-,Food-,Soil-,And Air-Borne Disease and Illness - page 362

Public Emergency Notification
When an emergency does occur, the local emergency response team must be
promptly notified, and a public warning must be issued to all who may be affected.
A standardized notification message form should be available to both sender and
receiver of the initial information. How the media are treated while an emer-
gency is in progress determines, to a large extent, public perception and reaction.
Establishment of a media-briefing center or public information center is impor-
tant. Here the local designated spokesperson can coordinate the timely provision
of accurate, detailed, and meaningful information to media representatives.
CONCLUSION
Industrial emergencies are a byproduct of many of the technologies that perme-
ate any industrialized society. Since the risk associated with them, like the risk
associated with any other human activity, can never be completely reduced to
zero, society has to learn to live with the finite possibility that industrial emer-
gency situations can occur if it wants to benefit from the technologies that can
generate them. What one can do, however, is to learn how to reduce the fre-
quency with which such events can occur, learn how to cope with them, and
minimize their consequences on people, environment, and property once they
have occurred. Emergency preparedness and emergency planning are the tools
that can be effectively used to do just that.
REFERENCES
1. 42 USC, “Emergency Planning and Community Right-to-Know Act of 1986,” Sections
110011-11050, Public Law 99 - 499, October 17, 1986, as amended.
2. 29 CFR 1910.1200, “Occupational Safety and Health Standards,” Section 1910.1200,
“Hazard Communication,” 52 FR 38152, August 24, 1987; as amended by 56 FR 5507,
February 13, 1996.
3. 29 CFR Part 1910.120, “Occupational Safety and Health Standard,” Section 1910.120,
“Hazardous Waste Operations and Emergency Response,” 54 FR 9294, March 6, 1989,
as amended by 61 FR 9227, March 7, 1996.
4. 29 CFR Part 1910.38, “Occupational Safety and Health Standard,” Section 1910.38(a),
“Emergency Action Plan.” “Hazardous Waste Operations and Emergency Response,”
54 FR 9294, March 6, 1989, as amended by 61 FR 9227, March 7, 1996.
5. 29 CFR 1910.165, “Occupational Safety and Health Standards.” Section 1910.165,
“Employee Alarm Systems.” “Hazardous Waste Operations and Emergency Response,”
54 FR 9294, March 6, 1989, as amended by 61 FR 9227, March 7, 1996.
6. New Jersey Register , June 20, 1988, Chapter 31, “Toxic Catastrophe Prevention Act
Program,” Cite 20 N.J.R. 1402.
7. D. S. Katz, Ready for Anything: Emergency Response Planning, Security Technology
and Design , www.securityinfowatch.com, 2006.