How Louisiana Chemical Plants Help Protect the Communities Around The

Louisiana is home to one of the largest concentrations of chemical and petrochemical manufacturing facilities in the country. These plants provide thousands of jobs and play an important role in the state’s economy—but operating facilities that manufacture, store, or use hazardous chemicals also requires extensive planning and coordination to protect employees, first responders, and the communities that surround them.

Community safety does not depend on a single emergency plan or a single organization. Instead, Louisiana’s approach involves chemical plants, emergency management officials, firefighters, law enforcement, healthcare professionals, state agencies, and community organizations working together to prepare for the possibility of an industrial emergency.

Here are some of the important steps involved.

1. Chemical Plants Identify the Hazards

One of the first steps in emergency preparedness is knowing what chemicals are present, where they are located, and what could happen if there were an accidental release.

Facilities subject to Louisiana and federal reporting requirements provide information about certain hazardous chemicals stored or used at their facilities. This information is incorporated into the state's Right-to-Know system and helps emergency planners understand the potential hazards in their communities.

This information is important because emergency responders need to know what they could encounter before they arrive at an incident.

2. Emergency Plans Are Developed Before an Incident Happens

Chemical facilities are not expected to simply react when an emergency occurs. Emergency planning is done in advance.

Louisiana's Local Emergency Planning Committees, or LEPCs, bring together industry representatives, emergency management officials, firefighters, law enforcement, healthcare representatives, transportation officials, community representatives and others to identify chemical hazards and develop emergency response plans.

Louisiana has an LEPC for each of its 64 parishes, providing a local structure for hazardous-material emergency planning.

In communities with large concentrations of chemical facilities, these partnerships can be particularly important because an incident at one facility may require coordination among multiple agencies and neighboring facilities.

3. Facilities Coordinate With First Responders

When an emergency occurs, firefighters, law enforcement officers, emergency medical personnel and emergency managers need accurate information quickly.

Louisiana law requires certain industrial facilities to maintain emergency plans for notification of public safety authorities when toxic substances escape or threaten to escape facility boundaries.

In Ascension Parish, for example, site-specific plans have been developed for chemical facilities so that information can be rapidly accessed by the facility, 911 center, Emergency Operations Center and responders at the scene.

That type of coordination helps establish a common operating picture during an emergency.

4. Emergency Notifications Are Designed to Reach the Public

One of the most important parts of community protection is making sure residents know when they need to take action.

Depending on the location and emergency, communities may use sirens, telephone alerts, text messages, emergency notifications, radio, television, social media and other communication methods.

Ascension Parish provides a good example. The Ascension Parish Chemical Industry's Community Awareness Emergency Response (CAER) program works with local government and the Sheriff's Office to educate residents and prepare procedures for chemical and industrial emergencies. The parish's CAER system includes community warning sirens, while telephone alerting can also be used to notify residents.

The goal is simple: get the right information to the people who may be affected as quickly as possible.

5. Communities Learn What to Do During an Emergency

Emergency preparedness isn't just about what happens inside the plant. Residents also need to know what they should do if an emergency affects their neighborhood.

For certain chemical emergencies, the appropriate protective action may be sheltering in place rather than immediately evacuating.

That means going indoors, closing doors and windows, turning off systems that bring outside air into the building when instructed, and following official emergency instructions.

Programs such as Ascension Parish CAER's community education efforts are designed to teach residents—including children—how to respond to an emergency.

Knowing what to do before an emergency occurs can make a significant difference.

6. Emergency Response Procedures Are Practiced

Plans are most valuable when the people responsible for carrying them out understand their roles.

Louisiana's emergency preparedness framework supports the development, maintenance and exercise of local hazardous-material response plans.

Exercises and training allow industry and emergency responders to identify communication problems, clarify responsibilities and improve coordination before a real emergency occurs.

In Ascension Parish, CAER Day has also provided an opportunity for industrial partners and emergency-response organizations to demonstrate capabilities and discuss emergency preparedness.

7. Information Is Shared With the Community

Emergency preparedness works best when residents understand the risks around them and know where to find reliable information.

The federal Emergency Planning and Community Right-to-Know Act—commonly called EPCRA—requires reporting related to hazardous chemicals, emergency releases and chemical inventories. Louisiana's emergency planning system uses this information to support preparedness and public access to chemical hazard information.

Residents can also participate in their local emergency planning process and seek information about hazardous materials in their communities.

8. Multiple Agencies Work Together

Perhaps the most important part of the system is that no single organization is responsible for everything.

Chemical companies provide information, personnel and specialized knowledge. Fire departments and hazardous-material teams provide emergency response capabilities. Law enforcement may assist with traffic control and public safety. Emergency management coordinates resources and public response. State agencies provide regulatory oversight and additional resources. Local officials help communicate protective actions to residents.

The Louisiana Emergency Response Commission works with LEPCs throughout the state to strengthen prevention, mitigation, response and recovery efforts related to hazardous-material incidents.

Preparedness Is a Partnership

Living near a chemical plant can naturally raise questions about safety. The important thing for residents to understand is that emergency preparedness is an ongoing process involving planning, communication, training, reporting and cooperation.

Louisiana's chemical emergency preparedness system is designed around a simple principle: prepare before an emergency happens.

Chemical plants, emergency responders, government agencies and community organizations all have different responsibilities, but they share the same objective—reducing the potential impact of an industrial emergency and helping residents know what to do if one occurs.

For residents, one of the best things you can do is learn about your community's emergency notification system, understand shelter-in-place procedures, keep your contact information current with local alert systems, and follow instructions from official emergency authorities during an incident.

Prepared communities are safer communities—and emergency preparedness begins long before the sirens ever sound.