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LOCAL EMERGENCY PLANNING COMMITTEE
(LEPC) |
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| The Local Emergency Planning Committee (LEPC) is a broad-based collaborative effort to prepare the communities in Pima County to respond to emergencies and incidents involving hazardous chemicals, as well as other hazards and emergencies. |
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| We live in an industrialized society surrounded by products made with chemicals and chemical processes. We all use chemicals and products that are made with them. Our lifestyles depend on chemicals. We forget the risks and hazards involved with chemicals because we are so used to them being around. But it makes sense that we would have to be ready to respond to an incident, small or large, involving the spill or release of these chemicals. The more we look at the big picture, we realize there is much to know and much to do to be able to respond and recover from accidents and emergencies, especially if we want to protect the health and safety of the public, our responders, businesses that form the economic basis of our communities, and our environment. |
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| Normally, LEPCs do not directly respond to emergencies involving chemicals. LEPCs are tasked with the broad planning for the response to an incident involving dangerous chemicals, and will be thinking in advance of the incident what the different response entities will do during the response, will be assisting with arranging the appropriate training, equipment and drills for such an incident, and many other pieces of the emergency planning puzzle, but the LEPC itself is not normally a response agency. |
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| The role of the LEPC is to form partnerships with: local governments, communities, academia and industries as a resouce for enhancing hazardous materials preparedness. Local governments are responsible for the integration of HAZMAT planning and response within their jurisdiction. This includes ensuring the local hazard analysis adequately addresses hazmat incidents; incorporating planning for hazmat incidents into the local emergency management plan and annexes; assessing capabilities and developing hazmat response capability using local resources, mutual aid and contractors; training responders; and exercising the plan. |
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