GUJARAT STATE CHEMICAL DISASTER MANAGEMENT PLAN

EXECUTIVE SUMMARYINCIDENT RESPONSE SYSTEMIt is recommended to establish an Incident Response System (IRS) to provide a scalable and flexible response structurefor different types and scales of chemical emergencies managed at different levels. The IRS provides a system for allresponsible parties – government authorities, industries, offsite response agencies, NGOs, private business, communitiesto participate and respond in a coordinated way. The IRS allows for one incident command structure to prioritize andaccomplish multiple objectives. While this plan uses the guidelines for incidence response team structure at the locallevel as per NDMA guidelines on IRS, we make specific recommendations most suitable for chemical emergencies.ESTABLISH INCIDENT INTIMATION AND NOTIFICATION PROCESSESSetting up an incident intimation system that can aid rapid response by public agencies without waiting for the incidentto potentially become offsite is critical. We have recommended that the industry notify a leak as per a quantitativecriteria and proactively. We suggest that LCR and DEOC be designated as official notification points for the occupier, butthe occupier can additionally call police, 108, medical department and others for faster communication. SEOC will benotified by the DEOC as per the needs.IMPROVING CONTROL ROOM MANAGEMENTThe control room is a critical asset for effective response. We have recommended strengthening of SEOC to dothe following:• Ability to receive and direct notification of emergency• Adequate equipment to ensure the self-sufficiency of the control room• Avoiding conflicting agency-specific control rooms for coordinated response and better communication• Establishing procedures for deactivation and demobilization of the local control room• Additionally, communication among different stakeholders must be significantly improved through state-widecommunication plan and regular communication exercises.SITUATIONAL AWARENESS• It is proposed to use the CAMEO software suite developed by the USEPA and NOAA for planning the response.• The use of the Emergency Response Guidebook (2012) is also recommended to provide quick and adequateinformation to first responders and others. Basic training of users of ERG (2012) is necessary even though theguide is organized for easy understanding. First responders will need a hard copy of the same translated inGujarati.• Situational awareness is not a one time but continuous activity.HIERARCHICAL HAZMAT RESPONSE SYSTEMA hierarchical Chemical Emergency Response team structure is proposed as follows:• Level 1- The Local Emergency Response Team• Level 2 - The Regional Response Team• Level 3- The State Emergency Response TeamxxviGUJARAT STATE INDUSTRIAL CHEMICAL DISASTER MANAGEMENT PLAN