The response to and recovery from a nationally significant or large-scale chemical incident requires substantial FSLTT and non-governmental coordination, resource support, and decision making across a variety of critical consequence management activities, including, but not limited to:
- Public Health and Safety, including Life-saving, Emergency Medical Treatment, and Mental Health and Well-being;
- Evacuation and Mass Care;
- First Responder Safety and Protection;
- Decontamination & Clearance Sampling
- Hazardous Waste (HAZMAT) Remediation and Management;
- Critical Infrastructure and Services Restoration; and
- Fatality Management.
This Decision Framework presented in this document focuses on a particular subset of consequence management activities critical to chemical incident response and recovery. Specifically, these include: 1) characterization of potential contamination of the general area and specific sites impacted by the incident; 2) general area and site-specific remediation; and 3) clearance for re-entry/re-occupation of general areas or specific sites contaminated by chemical HAZMAT.
Scenarios covered under this Framework may include multiple types of contaminants and contaminated surfaces (e.g., air, surface water, drinking water, ground water, septic systems, soil, and porous and nonporous surfaces in buildings or open areas), or they may involve a single or multiple environmental media (e.g., water, as a result of an attack on water treatment facilities). Scenario-specific factors can transport contaminants far beyond their initial release point. Decontamination of people, food, plants, and animals are specifically excluded from this framework.11
Additionally, site security plans are required for some chemical facilities under the Chemical Facility Anti- Terrorism Standards, managed by the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA). However, considerations for these plans are excluded from this framework, as they do not serve or support emergency response and recovery operations.