Local Emergency Planning Committees (LEPCs) are community-based organizations that assist in preparing for

emergencies An emergency is an urgent, unexpected, and usually dangerous situation that poses an immediate risk to health, life, property, or environment and requires immediate action. Most emergencies require urgent intervention to prevent a worsening ...

, particularly those concerning

hazard A hazard is a potential source of harm Harm is a moral and legal concept. Bernard Gert construes harm as any of the following: * pain * death * disability * mortality * loss of abil ity or freedom * loss of pleasure. Joel Feinberg giv ...

ous materials. Under the

Emergency Planning and Community Right-to-Know Act The Emergency Planning and Community Right-to-Know Act of 1986 is a United States federal law passed by the 99th United States Congress located at Title 42, Chapter 116 of the U.S. Code, concerned with emergency response preparedness. On October ...

EPCRA
, Local Emergency Planning Committees (LEPCs) must develop an emergency response plan, review the plan at least annually, and provide information about hazardous materials in the community to citizens. Plans are developed by LEPCs with stakeholder participation. The LEPC membership must include (at a minimum): * Elected state and local officials *

Police The police are a constituted body of persons empowered by a state, with the aim to enforce the law, to ensure the safety, health and possessions of citizens, and to prevent crime and civil disorder. Their lawful powers include arrest and t ...

fire service A fire department (American English) or fire brigade (Commonwealth English), also known as a fire authority, fire district, fire and rescue, or fire service in some areas, is an organization that provides fire prevention and fire suppression se ...

civil defense Civil defense ( en, region=gb, civil defence) or civil protection is an effort to protect the citizens of a state (generally non-combatants) from man-made and natural disasters. It uses the principles of emergency operations: prevention, miti ...

, and

public health Public health is "the science and art of preventing disease, prolonging life and promoting health through the organized efforts and informed choices of society, organizations, public and private, communities and individuals". Analyzing the det ...

professionals * Environment, transportation, and

hospital A hospital is a health care institution providing patient treatment with specialized health science and auxiliary healthcare staff and medical equipment. The best-known type of hospital is the general hospital, which typically has an emerge ...

officials * Facility representatives * Representatives from community groups and the media Some required elements of the community emergency response plan, developed by the LEPC, include: * Identification of facilities and transportation routes of extremely hazardous substances * Description of emergency response procedures, on and off site * Designation of a community coordinator and facility emergency coordinator(s) to implement the plan * Outline of emergency notification procedures * Description of how to determine the probable affected area and population by releases * Description of local emergency equipment and facilities and the persons responsible for them * Outline of evacuation plans * A training program for

emergency responder A certified first responder is a person who has completed a course and received certification in providing pre-hospital care for medical emergencies. Certified individuals should have received much more instruction than someone who is trained ...

s (including schedules) * Methods and schedules for exercising emergency response plans Though LEPCs were created with the Federal law EPCRA, through the

U.S. Environmental Protection Agency The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) is an Independent agencies of the United States government, independent executive agency of the United States federal government tasked with environmental protection matters. President Richard Nixon pro ...

, they are often funded partially by the

U.S. Department of Transportation The United States Department of Transportation (USDOT or DOT) is one of the executive departments of the U.S. federal government. It is headed by the secretary of transportation, who reports directly to the President of the United States and ...

'
Hazardous Materials Emergency Preparedness grant program
Other sources of funding may include local

jurisdiction Jurisdiction (from Latin 'law' + 'declaration') is the legal term for the legal authority granted to a legal entity to enact justice. In federations like the United States, areas of jurisdiction apply to local, state, and federal levels. Jur ...

s, industry, businesses, NGOs, and other public or private grants.

References

Emergency management in the United States {{US-gov-stub