EMERGENCY PLANNING AND

DISASTER MANAGEMENT
Emergency Preparedness

• Warning Systems must:

• Clearly Notify Employees of the
Hazardous Release
• Employees & Contractors must be
Trained in the Meaning of the
Alarm(s)
 Emergency Preparedness
• The Standard Requires You to:
• Develop a Early Warning Method for Releases (Sensors/Alarms)
• Train on the Meaning of the Alarms (May be Multiple Alarms)
• Develop Emergency Evacuation Written Plans, Evacuation Maps & Assembly
Points based on Release Characteristics
• Determine Emergency PPE Requirements
• Train Employees & Contractors in the Emergency Evacuation Plans
• Drill The Emergency Evacuation Plan At Last Once Per Year
 IDENTIFICATION OF LPG HAZARD
S.No. DESCRIPTION OF HAZARDS SIREN
1. MINOR LEAKAGE IN LPG PIPE LINE NO SIREN
2. HEAVY LEAKAGE OF LPG FROM PIPE THREE LONG SIRENS EACH OF 30
LINE / VALVES OF LPG INSTALLATION SEC. DURATION AT AN INTERVAL OF
30 SECONDS.
3. FIRE OUTSIDE LPG INSTALLATION -DO-
OR NEAR LPG PIPE LINE NETWORK
4. LEAKAGE FROM BULLET -DO-
5. LPG LEAGAGE / FIRE WHILE SIX LONG SIRENS EACH OF 30
DECANTING SECS. DURATION AT AN INTERVAL
OF 30 SECONDS.
6. FIRE IN BULLET WHICH MAY RESULT -DO-
IN BLEVE (Boiling Liquid Expanding
Vapor Explosion )
 IDENTIFICATION OF CO2 HAZARD

S.No DESCRIPTION OF SIREN

HAZARDS
1. Heavy leakage of liquid No siren
CO2 from bullet & during
decanting
2. Bursting of Storage tank Two long sirens each of 30
seconds duration after an
interval of 30 seconds.
Emergency Preparedness
Emergency PPE
• Hazardous Chemicals May
Require Emergency PPE to be
Worn
• FRP
• Escape Respirators
• Eye Protection i.e.. Refinery
Goggles
Emergency Preparedness
Drills
• At Least Annual Emergency
Preparedness Drills
• This is not Just an Emergency
Evacuation…
• but Could Include HAZWOPR
Response
• Must Document Results
CHEMICAL AND NUCLEAR EXPLOSION
*CHEMICAL DISASTER
• The Indian chemical industry contributes 2.11% to country's GDP.
• Chemical, being at the core of modern industrial systems, has
attained a very serious concern for disaster management within
government, private sector and community at large. Chemical
disasters may be traumatic in their impacts on human beings and
have resulted in the casualties and also damages nature and
property. The elements which are at highest risks due to chemical
disaster primarily include the industrial plant, its employees &
workers, hazardous chemicals vehicles, the residents of nearby
settlements, adjacent buildings, occupants and surrounding
community.
• Chemical disasters are occurrence of emission, fire or explosion involving
one or more hazardous chemicals in the course of industrial activity i.e.
handling storage or transportation or due to natural events. The Ministry of
Environment and Forest (MoEF) is the nodal ministry for the management of
chemical disasters and NDMA prepares guidelines for the various ministries
and state authorities for the preparation of disaster management plans.
• Factors Which Cause Chemical Disaster
1. Ageing of the process plants and inadequate steps to pace with modern
technologies in Indian chemical industry has increased vulnerability to
chemical disasters.
2. A majority of the industrial accidents occurs due to human errors, as a result
of non-compliance with standard operating procedure (SOP's) that have been
put into place by the company. Ex: Piper alpha accident is a classic example of
human error caused disaster.
3. Chemical disaster have also occurred due to defects in design; absence of
SOP's to mitigate an early warning in the process, poor co-ordination between
different departments within the chemical company.
4. Natural disasters such as flood and earthquakes have also caused major disasters
in chemical industry. The release of acrylonitrile at Kandla Port in Gujarat, during
an earthquake in 2001, is one of the examples.
5. Irregular improper maintenance of equipments in chemical industry, due to this
equipment gets malfunction and ultimately fails, resulting in catastrophic explosion.
The Flixborough incident is a prime example of improper maintenance which lead
to the death of 28 people and injured many.
Prevention and Response
1. Role of Industry
a) Identification of hazardous activities:
• A knowledgeable and dedicated team of qualified professionals to evaluate the
hazards and risks arising from day to day activities is essential.
• Use of appropriate hazard identifications tools such as checklists analysis, safety
audit, HAZOP etc. would help in mitigating hazards.
b) Maintenance of the Plant Facility & Equipment: Proper
maintenance, regular site safety and health inspection need to
be carried out to ensure that plant facility is safe and
equipments are operating in intended method.
c) Installation of Vapour/Gas Detection System: This with
alarms will help to detect leak even at micro levels, and ensure
that leaks are attended at the early stage.
d) Compliance with existing rules and regulations: Various
rules and regulation of the state and centre should be strictly
addressed for a sustainable & safe process.
e) Emergency preparedness: The industry must have a good
emergency response team that can react swiftly to mitigate
propagating disasters.
2. Role of Government
a) Setting up of accident investigation board and chemicals accident data
base:
• An accident investigation board on similar lines of chemical safety boards of
USA can be setup in India to investigate the chemical disasters and bring out
guideline based on lessons learnt.
• An online portal, where experts from around the world can help industries to
prevent such unforeseen circumstances.
b) Awareness Campaigns: Frequent mock drills need to be conducted so that
workers become adequately knowledgeable to react to emergency.
c) Research & Development: Research and Development to develop newer
technologies so that toxicity of by-products of chemical industries can be
minimised
d) Offsite Emergency Planning: The purpose of offsite emergency plans is to
ensure that the local authority adequately discharges his duty to minimize the
consequences of major accident to people and environment in MAH located sites
e) Emergency Response During Transportation: Swift and
timely availability of emergency response for disaster during
transportation of hazardous materials/chemicals. For this
Indian Chemical Council (ICC) has initiated a program called
"Nicerglobe" which provides GPRS tracking of trucks right
from origin to the place of destination.
3) Role of Public
• A general awareness of risk associated with any chemical
accident would help in reducing the outcome of the accident.
• A mutual aid group can be setup to organise the general
public in case of any disaster & provide training and
awareness about the potential action to be taken in case of
any chemical leakage.
Status of Chemical Disaster Risk in India
• India has witnessed the world’s worst chemical (industrial) disaster
“Bhopal Gas Tragedy” in the year 1984. The Bhopal Gas tragedy was
most devastating chemical accident in history, where over 2500 people
died due to accidental release of toxic gas Methyl Iso Cyanate (MIC).
• Such accidents are significant in terms of injuries, pain, suffering, loss of
lives, damage to property and environment. India continued to witness a
series of chemical accidents even after Bhopal had demonstrated the
vulnerability of the country.
Safety initiatives taken in India to address chemical risk
• The comprehensive legal/ institutional framework exists in our country. A
number of regulations covering the safety in transportation, liability,
insurance and compensations have been enacted.
Following are the relevant provisions on chemical disaster management,
prevailing in country:-
• Explosives Act 1884-Petroleum Act 1934
• Factories Act 1948-Insecticides Act 1968
• Environment Protection Act 1986-Motor Vehicles Act 1988
• Public Liability Insurance Act 1991-Disaster Management Act 2005
• Government of India has further reinforced the legal framework on
chemical safety and management of chemical accidents by enacting new
rules
• The National Disaster Management Authority (NDMA) of India had come
out with very specific guidelines on Chemical Disaster Management. The
guidelines have been prepared to provide the directions to ministries,
departments and state authorities for the preparation of their detailed
disaster management plans
• These guidelines call for a proactive, participatory, multi-disciplinary and
multi-sectoral approach at various levels for chemical disaster preparedness and
response
Precautions to be taken during and after the Chemical (Industrial) Accidents
• Do not panic, evacuate calmly and quickly perpendicular to wind direction
through the designated escape route
• Keep a wet handkerchief or piece of cloth/ sari on face during evacuation
• Keep the sick, elderly, weak, handicapped and other people who are unable to
evacuate inside house and close all the doors and windows tightly.
• Do not consume the uncovered food/ water etc open to the air, drink only from
bottle
• Change into fresh clothing after reaching safe place/ shelter, and wash hands
properly.
• Inform Fire & Emergency Services, Police and medical services from safe
location by calling 101, 100 and 108 respectively.
• Listen to PA (Public Addressal) System of the plant/ factory, local radio/
TV channels for advice from district administration/fire/health/police
and other concerned authorities
• Provide correct and accurate information to government official.
• Inform others on occurrence of event at public gathering places (like
school, shopping centre, theatre etc.).
• Don’t pay attention to the rumours and don’t spread rumours.
General Precautions During Normal Time
• Do not smoke, lit fire or spark in the identified hazardous area
• Sensitize the community living near the industrial units and they should
be more vigilant about the nature of industrial units and associated
risks.
• Keep the contact numbers of nearest hazardous industry, fire station,
police station, control room, health services and district control
room, for emergency use.
• Avoid housing near the industries producing or processing the
hazardous chemicals, if possible.
• Participate in all the capacity building programmes organized by the
government/ voluntary organizations / industrial units.
• Take part in preparing disaster management plan for the community
and identify safe shelter along with safe and easy access routes.
• Prepare a family disaster management plan and explain it to all the
family members.
• Make the family/ neighbours aware of the basic characteristics of
various poisonous/ hazardous chemicals and the first aid required to
treat them.
• Adequate number of personal protective equipments needs to
be made available, to deal with emergency situation.
• Prepare an emergency kit of items and essentials in the house,
including medicines, documents and valuables
• Disaster is a rarity in the chemical industry, but negligence or
misfortune can so easily result in devastating consequences.
The result of a chemical disaster has effects through
generations of populations which are almost irreparable and
the cost of that to the affected people is unimaginable.
 General principles

The following principles should be considered before preparing

plan and writing disaster manual:

a. The plan should be ‘simple’ to be understood by

everyone, so that it can be put into action immediately.

b. The plan should be ‘flexible’ to fit in different types of

disasters.

c. It should be ‘clear and concise’, so that even in panic and

confusion, staff should be able to act upon it instantaneously.
d. It should be adaptable for all hours i.e., day and night
including holidays

e. It should be an ‘extension of normal hospital and public

health working’, so that people can act on it immediately in a
routine manner.

f. It should be rehearsed before implementation and updated

according to experience gained.

g. The concept of triage, basic life support and advance life

support should be understood well and followed to determine
priority in order to manage emergency and mass casualties.
 Disaster Management Strategies in 3 Phases of Disaster

Pre-disaster Phase Post-disaster phase immediately Post-disaster phase

after the disaster (48+ hours)
(0-48 hours)

[or pre-impact phase] [also called the impact phase] [or Post Impact phase]
Risk prevention

Mitigation Response Recovery

Preparedness

PPT 1.22
“Disaster management”
• Means a continuous and integrated process of planning, organising,
coordinating and implementing measures which are necessary or
expedient for—
(i) prevention of danger or threat of any disaster;
(ii) mitigation or reduction of risk of any disaster or its severity or
consequences;

Safety First 23
“Disaster management”
(iii) capacity-building;
(iv) preparedness to deal with any disaster;
(v) prompt response to any threatening disaster situation or disaster;
(vi) assessing the severity or magnitude of effects of any disaster;
(vii) evacuation, rescue and relief;
(viii) rehabilitation and reconstruction;

Safety First 24
MOCK DRILL
PURPOSE:
Primary purpose is to test the adequacy of the emergency
management system and to ensure that all response elements are
fully capable of managing an emergency situation.

GOALS AND OBJECTIVES:

o To reveal weaknesses in the plans and procedures before emergencies

occur.
o To identify deficiencies in resources (both in manpower and equipment).
o To improve the level of co-ordination among various response personnel,
departments and agencies.
o To clarify each individual’s role and areas of responsibility.
Incidents Can Be Minor or Major - Both Require
Investigation
Incident Investigation Documentation Must
Include
• Date of incident
• Date investigation began
• Description of the incident
• Factors contributing to the incident
• Recommendations resulting from
the investigation
Questions