Emergency Management
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The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and scientists from the chemical industry, academia and government are developing new guidelines for protecting the public from hundreds of hazardous materials that are around us every day. The chemical warfare agents stored at Deseret Chemical Depot are included in the guidelines, called Acute Exposure Guideline Levels (AEGL).
These new guidelines will provide a common standard for organizations responding to chemical accidents. The AEGL will provide information on health effects for the general population, including infants, children, the elderly and others who may be more sensitive to hazardous chemical exposure than the healthy adult male on which current chemical warfare agent exposure standards are based. In addition, they will consider medical evidence that our bodies can withstand some nerve agent exposure.
The AEGL also will consider the amount of time over which the exposure occurs. They will provide guidance on how much chemical agent an unprotected individual may be exposed to over specific amounts of time, from 10 minutes up to eight hours. They will detail three levels of anticipated health effects. With this more-accurate exposure information, Army and local officials will be better able to determine the best actions to protect people who may be at risk if a chemical warfare agent accident occurs.
In the event of an accident at Deseret Chemical Depot, Tooele County’s emergency officials will use information from the accident site, sophisticated computer systems and weather information to determine whether chemical agent could reach your community from an accident on the Army post. They will also determine where the agent would go and how fast it would travel. The AEGL will give them additional information to determine who should evacuate, who should take shelter temporarily, and when temporary sheltering should end to protect you. Your officials will re-examine emergency preparedness plans in light of the new AEGL information to determine whether any planning changes are needed.
If you are advised that an accident has occurred, follow your community officials’ recommendations immediately. Then, listen to Emergency Alert System (EAS) TV and radio stations that broadcast emergency messages for additional instructions and information.
Your local EAS stations are KSL 1160AM radio and KSL-TV Channel 5. Get your Evacuation Kit and Shelter-in-Place Kit ready now. Talk with your family and co-workers about emergency plans and procedures. Practice sheltering-in-place and evacuating at home and at your work place. Plan with your family how each of you will carry out evacuation and shelter-in-place instructions if an emergency occurs when you are at places other than home, work or school; when you are not together; when you don’t have transportation to evacuate; when older children are not with an adult; etc. Find out more about your county’s emergency plans by contacting your local emergency management agency for other fact sheets and materials.
Be Ready and Set to Act immediately if instructed to evacuate, temporarily shelter-in-place or end temporary sheltering in the event of a chemical accident at the nearby Army post and for other emergencies in your community.
For more information, please contact your Public Information Officer at 435-843-3269
