2.1 Identify and Create Stakeholder Working Groups
Stakeholder working groups can help ensure coordinated and comprehensive planning processes and foster the development of relationships that improve disaster response and recovery collaboration and unified decision-making. Working groups can be tasked with identifying critical needs and capability gaps. By understanding local chemical risk assessments, current capabilities, and the complexities of local infrastructure systems, planners can identify strengths and gaps in current preparedness and can focus on areas for risk mitigation activities such as additional planning, training and exercises.
Since the response to and recovery from chemical and natural hazards incidents are similar in many ways, many of the stakeholder working groups that a jurisdiction may have in place to plan for natural hazards incidents can also serve as effective platforms for chemical incident preparedness. Members of such groups may include:
- First responders, fire, and law enforcement
- Emergency management
- Local government
- Utilities, critical infrastructure, and port officials
- Public and emergency communications, including 911
- Transportation and transit authorities
- Federal agency partners
- Local businesses, Chambers of Commerce, and large area employers
- Public health, hospitals, care facilities, and mental health providers
- School districts and academic centers
- Large public venues, arenas, and convention centers
- Community leaders and population advocates, including for disability groups
However, certain details of chemical release scenarios will require the attention of specific additional working groups and/or the addition of subject matter experts (SMEs) with specialized knowledge to existing working groups. For example:
- Local or Tribal Emergency Planning Committees (LEPCs or TEPCs) and State or Tribal Emergency Response Commissions (SERCs or TERCs) (see below)
- Hazardous materials (HazMat) Specialists
- Chemical industry
- Poison control
- Hazardous waste management
- Fatality management (including contaminated remains)
- Academic centers
- Federal agency partners (USCG, EPA, FEMA, National Guard, etc.)