About this Guidance

This document describes a general consequence management¹ planning and decision framework for government and non-government planners, emergency managers, and decision-makers in assessing risk, planning, and executing activities required to respond to and recover from a nationally significant or large-scale hazardous chemical incident in a domestic, civilian setting.²

Originally chartered by the National Science and Technology Council (NSTC) and its Subcommittee on Decontamination Standards and Technologies, this guidance document was developed by the Chemical Incident Consequence Management Working Group, led by the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) Science and Technology Directorate (S&T) Mission Capability Support (MCS) Office.

The working group included representatives from other DHS components (Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency [CISA], Countering Weapons of Mass Destruction Directorate [CWMD], Federal Emergency Management Agency [FEMA], and the U.S. Coast Guard [USCG]; Department of Defense (DOD); Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) (Office of the Assistant Secretary for Preparedness and Response [ASPR], Centers for Disease Control and Prevention [CDC], and the National Institute of Occupational Health and Safety [NIOSH]); and the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA). Future editions of this guidance, including appropriate interagency coordination, will be sponsored by the DHS FEMA.

This Planning and Decision Framework for Chemical Incident Consequence Management is intended to complement two additional publications that support multi-jurisdictional, multi-agency planning for chemical incident response and recovery: Key Planning Factors for Recovery from a Chemical Warfare Agent Incident (DHS S&T, Summer 2012)³ and Key Planning Factors and Considerations for Response to and Recovery from a Chemical Incident (DHS FEMA, currently under final development).⁴ Together, the guidance and best practices provided in this family of documents represents a holistic approach to Whole Community all-hazards chemical incident planning.

Please refer comments and questions to the FEMA Office of Emerging Threats (OET) at oet@fema.dhs.gov.

Footnotes

1. 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 site(s) 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 hazardous chemicals.

2. For purposes of this document, the designation “nationally significant or large-scale incident” is used to distinguish such incidents from more less consequential, day-to-day responses. A “nationally significant or large-scale incident” generally refers to an incident that because of the magnitude, complexity, toxic potency or deliberate nature requires federal assets and exceeds the capability of state, local, tribal, or territorial (SLTT) agencies.

3. This document identifies and describes select Key Planning Factors to aid in recovery planning for wide-area chemical warfare incidents. Key Planning Factors represent focus areas that are most important to examine prior to the occurrence of an incident. Key Planning Factors can also substantially influence the recovery process by improving public health and safety, increasing the rate of recovery, reducing recovery costs, addressing major resource limitations, or informing critical decisions.

4. This document provides guidance and serves as a reference for federal regional and SLTT departments and agencies that are responsible for incident planning for chemical incidents. The document includes strategic, operational, and tactical for consideration in the development of response and recovery plans for a chemical incident.

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