- Author
-
Firefighter Safety Study Act Working Group
- Title
- Firefighter Safety Study: Review of Adequacy of Response Information on Hazardous Materials. Preliminary Report.
- Coporate
- Firefighter Safety Study Act Working Group
- Report
-
Preliminary Report
October 1992
55 p.
- Keywords
-
fire fighters
|
safety
|
hazardous materials
|
response time
|
decision making
|
emergencies
|
methodology
|
evaluation
- Abstract
- This preliminary report is the result of the efforts of a group of experienced professionals from federal, state, and local governments and from the private sector who volunteered their time and experience over a 2-year period. The report focuses on the recommendations from the Technical and Field Applications Committees--the two principal working committees--with additional insight from the Coordinating Committee. This report is not intended as a scientific analysis in the tradition sense. Instead, it largely represents the collective judgment of the experts who served on the three committees, backed by a review of literature and collection of data. These individuals occupy positions of responsibility and authority in the fields of hazardous materials, hazardous materials incidents, and the consequences of hazardous materials incidents. The committees worked independently, but reached similar conclusions, which were refined at a joint meeting. The objectives of the study were to: Define the nature and role of first responders (i.e., those first on the scene of an emergency involving hazardous materials who have decisionmaking authority for the initial cource of action); Clarify understanding of the needs that response guidance for first responder is intended to fulfill (i.e., the information that emergency responders require, the level of detail, and the best means of transmitting this information); Develop a practicable methodology for evaluating the technical accuracy of the existing response guidance and information sources; Evaluate the information available in light of the above, and comment on the appropriateness, clarity, and completeness of existing response information; Develop recommendations generally achievable within the constraints of existing resources and authorities.