Emergency and Disaster: Preparedness, Response, and Recovery

Emergency preparedness, response and recovery is an ongoing process of planning and responding effectively to the occurrence of an event (planned or unplanned), as well as addressing the issue of recovery and restoration of operations and lives following an event. Industrial Hygienists' technical expertise as part of a team on occupational and environmental health and safety issues, is applicable to a variety of natural disasters, hazardous chemical, biological or radiological releases, and terrorism events. The American Industrial Hygiene Association (AIHA) is the premier association of occupational and environmental health and safety professionals and plays a crucial role on the front line of worker health and safety every day. In emergency planning/disaster preparedness, specific local, state, and federal roles and activities are defined, with laws outlining each governmental level's responsibilities. The “all hazards” Integrated Contingency Plan (ICP) provides a mechanism to consolidate existing concepts into a single functional plan structure. Keywords: Emergency response; OSHA standards; Chemical Safety Board (CSB); pollution legal liability (PLL) policies; natural threats