|
The local committee’s
primary responsibility was to develop an emergency response plan for
Rockland County and to establish procedures for receiving and processing
public requests for information concerning chemicals and chemical spills
within the county. The county’s hazardous materials response plan was
completed in October 1988. The plan was rewritten in the fall of 1991 and
is revised annually. In developing the
emergency response plan, the local emergency planning committee (LEPC) has
identified locations at which hazardous materials are present. In
Rockland, we have approximately 103 hazardous chemical sites that fall
under the reporting requirements. Information in the plan include:
emergency notification procedures; methods for determining the occurrence
of a chemical spill and the probable affected area and population;
identification of emergency facilities and the persons responsible for
them; evacuation plans, training requirements for emergency response
personnel; and standard operating procedures for response personnel.
The emergency
notification provisions of Title III require facilities to immediately
notify the LEPC and the state emergency response commission of any
accidental spill or release into the environment of specified amounts of
any of the more than 900 designated hazardous substances. The committee
is responsible for maintaining these records and making them available to
the public.
The community
right-to-know provisions of Title III require facilities to provide
Material Safety Data Sheets (MSDS) or a list covering all hazardous
chemicals present at sites affected by the law. A MSDS contains
information about a chemical’s properties, possible health deterrents,
exposure limits and safety measures.
Annually, on March 1,
facilities must also provide information about the locations and amounts
of hazardous chemicals present at a facility, expressed both as a maximum
amount and as a daily average. This information is reviewed by the LEPC,
and presented to the county emergency services. |
