Emergency Response
If your facility is covered by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) Risk Management Program (RMP) rule, then you need to know about new emergency preparedness requirements in 40 CFR Part 68, Subpart E. If you have a Program 2 or 3 process at your facility, 40 CFR Part 68 requires an emergency response program in place if employees respond to some releases involving regulated substances. While facilities with only Program 1 processes are not required to comply with the emergency response requirements, these sources must still ensure that emergency response actions have been coordinated with local emergency planning and response agencies and are required to comply with the Clean Air Act’s (CAA) General Duty Clause, which includes, among other obligations, a duty to minimize the consequences of accidental releases that do occur.
Responding facilities are those that will use properly trained facility employees (or contractors) to respond to accidental releases of regulated substances, whereas non-responding facilities are those whose employees will not respond to accidental releases of regulated substances. Non-responding facilities instead rely on local public responders to respond to accidental releases at the source. While both responding and non-responding facilities must conduct and document annual coordination activities and annual notification drills, only responding facilities have additional obligations for implementation of an emergency response program as summarized below.
Notification Exercise
At least once each calendar year, the owner or operator of a stationary source with any Program 2 or Program 3 process shall conduct an exercise of the stationary source’s emergency response notification mechanisms. The deadline for the first notification exercise was December 19, 2024, and notification exercises must be completed at least annually.
- Owners or operators of responding stationary sources may perform the notification exercise as part of the upcoming tabletop and field exercises. A written record of each notification exercise conducted over the last five years shall be maintained.
Tabletop Exercise
The owner or operator shall conduct a tabletop exercise involving the simulated accidental release of a regulated substance. As part of coordination with local emergency response officials required by 40 CFR 68.93, sites shall consult with these officials to establish an appropriate frequency for tabletop exercises, and shall conduct a tabletop exercise before December 21, 2026, and at a minimum of at least once every three years thereafter.
Tabletop exercises shall involve discussions of the source’s emergency response plan. The exercise should include the following:
- Procedures to notify the public and the appropriate Federal, state, and local emergency response agencies;
- Procedures and measures for emergency response including evacuations and medical treatment;
- Identification of facility emergency response personnel and/or contractors and their responsibilities;
- Coordination with local emergency responders;
- Procedures for emergency response equipment deployment; and
- Any other action identified in the emergency response plan, as appropriate.
Field Exercise
The owner or operator shall conduct field exercises involving the simulated accidental release of a regulated substance (i.e., toxic substance release or release of a regulated flammable substance involving a fire and/or explosion). As part of coordination with local emergency response officials, the owner or operator shall consult with these officials to establish an appropriate frequency for field exercises, and shall conduct a field exercise before March 15, 2027, and at a minimum at least once every ten years thereafter, unless the appropriate local emergency response agencies agree in writing that such frequency is impractical. If local emergency response agencies agree, the owner or operator shall consult with local emergency response officials to establish an alternate appropriate frequency for field exercises.
Field exercises shall involve tests of the source’s emergency response plan, including deployment of emergency response personnel and equipment. Field exercises should include:
- Tests of procedures to notify the public and the appropriate Federal, state, and local emergency response agencies about an accidental release;
- Tests of procedures and measures for emergency response actions including evacuations and medical treatment;
- Tests of communications systems;
- Mobilization of facility emergency response personnel, including contractors, as appropriate;
- Coordination with local emergency responders;
- Emergency response equipment deployment; and
- Any other action identified in the emergency response program, as appropriate.
Tabletop and Field Exercise Documentation
An evaluation report must be prepared within 90 days of each field and tabletop exercise. The report shall include a description of the exercise scenario, names and organizations of each participant, an evaluation of the exercise results including lessons learned, recommendations for improvement or revisions to the emergency response exercise program and emergency response program, and a schedule to promptly address and resolve recommendations.
What do I need to do?
Continue to complete the annual notification exercise. Start planning now on how you will accomplish the tabletop exercise and field exercise. Coordinate with applicable local emergency response agencies to determine participation and capabilities for the upcoming field exercise.
How can ALL4 assist?
ALL4 provides support for RMP, including:
- Tabletop and field exercise planning, onsite support, and report preparation
- Development of scripts for annual notification exercises and coordination meetings with local emergency planning and response organizations
- RMP Plan development and updates
- Includes RMP*eSubmit support
- RMP/PSM audits and development or updates of worst-case release scenarios and offsite consequence analyses
- RMP and PSM program development and updates
- Process Hazard Analyses (PHAs)
- Incident investigations
If you have questions about how the RMP rule emergency response exercises affect your facility’s program, or what your next steps should be, please reach out to A.J. Golding at agolding@all4inc.com, Scott Kirkpatrick at skirkpatrick@all4inc.com, or Matt Dabrowski at mdabrowski@all4inc.com. ALL4 is monitoring all updates published by the U.S. EPA on this topic, and we are here to answer your questions and assist your facility with any aspects of RMP compliance.
