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Each chapter of this Guide will lead you through successive steps in the process designed to deter- mine the capabilities of the emergency response organization, to determine hazmat present in the jurisdiction, and then to compare existing capabilities to the level of capabilities needed based on the hazmat either present in the area or being transported through the area. The assessment steps will be described in the body of the Guide, with the appendices providing more in-depth informa- tion. The Guide also includes, on the attached CD-ROM, a spreadsheet designed to help the user apply the assessment methodology. Following is a summary of the chapters and referenced appendices: ⢠The Introduction provides a review of the need for this Guide, defines its intended audience and scope, and provides background information on how it came to be developed. ⢠Chapter 1: Overview of the Approach provides an overview of the hazmat emergency response planning process. It presents the risk equation that drives the process and defines some important terms and how they affect the overall risk to your community. ⢠Chapter 2: Assessing Emergency Response Capability defines a hazmat emergency response team and outlines how to assess each teamâs response capability. Appendix D provides more detail on related efforts that were considered in developing this Guide. ⢠Chapter 3: Defining Your Jurisdictional Emergency Response Objectives presents an approach for tailoring response objectives to your specific jurisdiction, understanding that reasonable response capability and response times may differ between urban and rural areas, as one example. ⢠Chapter 4: Identifying Hazardous Materials in Your Jurisdiction focuses on determining the hazards in your planning jurisdiction for which emergency response may be needed. This includes identifying the specific materials and the concentration/volume/amount in which each is present. Appendix B provides additional detail on determining hazards and vulnerability. ⢠Chapter 5: Potential Consequences of Incidents Involving the Identified Hazardous Materi- als provides guidance to help you assess the potential human health and environmental conse- quences from releases in your jurisdiction. Appendix C describes the consequence estimation process in more detail. ⢠Chapter 6: The Mitigating Effects of Emergency Response describes how to consider the impacts of both response capability and response time as they relate to potential consequences. Appendix E provides additional detail on response time calculations. ⢠Chapter 7: Aligning Hazardous Materials with Varying Levels of Capability brings together the results of your hazard identification and emergency response capability assessments into a measure of risk that can be used by planning organizations to determine where to focus resources. Keeping these capability assessments current over time is also discussed. 3 How to Use This Document
⢠Chapter 8: Identifying Shortfalls where Additional/Different Capabilities Are Warranted provides a simple process for prioritizing mitigation efforts to improve and balance response coverage throughout your jurisdiction. ⢠Chapter 9: Approaches for Addressing Identified Shortfalls discusses potential approaches for filling shortfalls in desired response coverage that were identified in earlier steps. ⢠Chapter 10: Sustaining the Process provides strategies for keeping the assessments current over time and sharing them with other jurisdictions. 4 A Guide for Assessing Community Emergency Response Needs and Capabilities for Hazardous Materials Releases