U.S. Senate Minority Leader Charles E. Schumer, D-NY, has unveiled that, after his intervention, representatives from the U.S. Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA), the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) are working to create new protocols for communicating and training with local governments and first responders. OSHA, EPA and DHS will convene the Chemical Facility Security and Safety Working Group, which will coordinate strategies, activities, policies, and communication to address concerns that there should be an immediate and more thorough improvement of OSHA's coordination and communication systems between local municipalities and their respective stakeholders. Specifically, the Working Group is moving forward with a new partnership between the agencies regarding the coordination of communication between state and local governments when there is a serious violation cited. The protocol will address the lack of communication with local first responders, safety and training agreements, and coordination on sharing information about all the relevant agencies when a local company is cited for serious violations -- like the reported mishandling of Verla International's use of flammable liquids in New Windsor, New York.
The new protocol is intended to ensure emergency response agencies are notified when a facility receives a serious health or environmental violation so they can proactively prevent accidents and prepare to respond when accidents and fires occur. Specifically, the Working Group is tasked with:
- Developing appropriate means for sharing information with first responders to enhance their ability to safely and effectively plan for and respond to incidents in their jurisdiction.
- Developing tools, training and resources to strengthen State Emergency Response Commissions and Local Emergency Planning Committees.
- Coordinating with agencies beyond DHS, EPA and OSHA by working with the U.S. Department of Justice, the U.S. Department of Transportation and the U.S. Food and Drug Administration, as appropriate, to address incidents involving hazardous materials and the effects these incidents have on workers and communities.
- Coordinating information sharing across the interagency community and with state, local, tribal, territorial and private sector partners.
- Leveraging limited resources across all levels of government by conducting and facilitating cross-training to raise awareness of other programs.
"These new protocols will provide technical expertise and tighter coordination with federal and regional first responder operations to try to make sure the lack of communication and awareness of preexisting issues faced by first responders back in November is a thing of the past," said Sen. Schumer. "I urge the interagency Chemical Facility Security and Safety Working Group to immediately finalize this proposal so federal and local agencies can begin working armin- arm to identify and address serious violations before tragedies happen."
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