Volunteer Hazmat Response

摘要

In 1990, the Pennsylvania legislature passed the Hazardous Materials Emergency Planning and Response Act (Act 165), which required every county in the state to maintain a hazardous materials response capability. Such an organization, whether a municipal entity or commercial contractor, was required to be state-certified and thus adhere to minimum standards of equipment, training, and medical surveillance as well as to other procedures and management functions. Act 165 did not necessarily require that every county form its own response team, just that each have a state-certified response capability available, and stipulated that this resource had to be on-scene within two hours of the initial call. Some counties developed their own teams while others contracted with commercial contractors. Rural and sparsely populated counties with limited finances would be unable to sustain a hazardous materials response capability alone; thus, the two-hour response window provided these counties with flexibility to develop contracts with state-certified teams that could respond into their county within the time frame.