Regional group prepares first responders, businesses, and residents for chemical emergencies
While emergencies involving the release of chemicals harmful to human health can occur anywhere, they are often of greater concern to industrial communities or communities that have been identified as a potential target for an intentional attack. The Franklin County Board of Commissioners manages the Chemical Emergency Preparedness Advisory Council (CEPAC) of Franklin County to plan for these and daily concerns in its central Ohio community.
While emergencies involving the release of chemicals harmful to human health can occur anywhere, they are often of greater concern to industrial communities or communities that have been identified as a potential target for an intentional attack. The Franklin County Board of Commissioners manages the Chemical Emergency Preparedness Advisory Council (CEPAC) of Franklin County to plan for these and daily concerns in its central Ohio community.
All-hazards preparedness in Ohio is generally conducted by 87 Local Emergency Planning Committees (LEPCs) located across the state. CEPAC, one of those LEPCs, is devoted exclusively to preventing and/or mitigating damage from dangerous chemicals. While much of its work centers around monitoring the legal use and disposal of industrial chemicals, it has also become significantly involved in assuring that Columbus is prepared for a chemical emergency.
CEPAC members come from a diverse array of fields and meet as a group three times per year. Organizational members include the Central Ohio Fire Chief Association; Columbus Fire Department; Columbus Public Health; Columbus Safety Department; Franklin County Health Department; Franklin County Hospital Association; Franklin County American Red Cross; and individuals from local industrial, media, transportation, and community organizations.
CEPAC's membership participates in four different committees dealing with various aspects of chemical emergency preparedness and response: 1) Public Information; 2) Planning, Exercise and Training; 3) Information Management; and 4) Hazard Analysis. The Public Information Committee educates community members, businesses, and emergency responders on requesting and providing chemical use information per the federal Emergency Planning and Community Right-to-Know Act. The committee also disseminates information on preparedness for chemical terrorism, weapons of mass destruction, and sheltering in place. Educational materials about sheltering in place and a chemical emergency information checklist recently were translated into Spanish and Somali, and eight presentations about chemical emergency preparedness were given to Somali neighborhood groups.
The Planning, Exercise and Training Committee invests much of its resources in holding courses on chemical emergency preparedness for local emergency response personnel. The committee receives annual grants from the Public Utilities Commission of Ohio to hold courses for first responders on hazardous materials, weapons of mass destruction, and a tanker rollover exercise. An additional annual grant from the Department of Transportation provides funding to offer courses on chlorine emergencies, clandestine drug labs, and the Incident Command System.
The Planning, Exercise and Training Committee also organizes and directs the annual Hazardous Materials Exercise. In 2009, the accidental release of hydrogen sulfide gas from a petroleum refinery in Columbus – an actual event – served as the annual exercise. CEPAC, Columbus Public Health, and numerous emergency responders worked to evacuate 4,000 people and close roads and businesses near the refinery for six hours following the chemical release.
The Information Management Committee and Hazard Analysis Committee assesses risk of chemical emergencies in the Columbus area. The Information Management Committee keeps a database of hazardous materials reported by businesses. The committee also assures that emergency responders have the chemical data they need to properly assess an emergency. For instance, CEPAC provides all city and county fire departments with updated chemical data and its storage locations for their computers and conducts training on how to use its hazardous material database and mapping software.
The Hazard Analysis Committee reviews hazardous materials reports and situations that could pose a chemical threat to determine the risks facing Columbus and how CEPAC can best respond to them. The committee also provides counseling and recommendations to businesses concerned about their risk assessment.
One of CEPAC's most recent projects has involved developing an emergency preparedness plan for Columbus and Franklin County. Outreach efforts have included making the plan publicly available for comment and offering speakers for community presentations on sheltering in place, chemical terrorism, and weapons of mass destruction. Other notable projects in chemical emergency preparedness conducted by CEPAC include training more than 100 emergency responders in the National Incident Command System, managing a commodity flow study of major transportation routes in the Columbus area, and participating in a mass casualty exercise held at the airport.
While CEPAC was formed to address the daily concerns of chemical use and storage in the Columbus area, its involvement in emergency preparedness has been of benefit to emergency responders and area residents. Its commitment to gathering and providing information about chemical risks in the community has resulted in well-informed fire departments, greater involvement by businesses in assessing their own risk, training opportunities for emergency responders, and an emergency plan based on years of community work in chemical emergency preparedness.
