HSE Emergency Response and Preparedness 3 — Questions and Answers
Question 1: NFPA 1600, the Standard on Continuity, Emergency, and Crisis Management, primarily addresses:
- Fire suppression system design specifications
- A comprehensive framework for emergency management programs (Correct answer)
- Personal protective equipment selection criteria
- Hazardous materials transportation regulations
Correct answer: A comprehensive framework for emergency management programs
NFPA 1600 provides a unified framework for developing, implementing, and maintaining programs for prevention, mitigation, preparedness, response, and recovery.
Question 2: The 'warm zone' (contamination reduction zone) in a hazmat response is used primarily for:
- Staging unprotected bystanders and media
- Performing decontamination of personnel and equipment (Correct answer)
- Housing the incident command post
- Storing backup PPE and response equipment only
Correct answer: Performing decontamination of personnel and equipment
The warm zone is where decontamination corridors are established to reduce contamination levels before personnel enter the cold zone.
Question 3: Under OSHA 29 CFR 1910.120 (HAZWOPER), employees who are only expected to evacuate in a hazardous materials emergency must complete a minimum of:
- 8 hours of first responder operations-level training
- 24 hours of hazardous waste site worker training
- First responder awareness-level training (Correct answer)
- 40 hours of initial training
Correct answer: First responder awareness-level training
HAZWOPER requires awareness-level training for those whose only action is to initiate an emergency response by notifying authorities and evacuating.
Question 4: During a building evacuation, a designated 'warden' or 'floor marshal' is primarily responsible for:
- Fighting incipient-stage fires before the fire department arrives
- Accounting for all personnel in their assigned area and reporting to assembly point (Correct answer)
- Calling 911 and notifying the local fire department
- Providing first aid to injured employees in the evacuation path
Correct answer: Accounting for all personnel in their assigned area and reporting to assembly point
Floor wardens are responsible for ensuring orderly evacuation, sweeping their assigned areas, and reporting headcounts at the designated assembly point.
Question 5: A shelter-in-place order is MOST appropriate during which type of emergency?
- Active structural fire within the building
- Outdoor release of a toxic airborne chemical plume (Correct answer)
- Earthquake with confirmed building structural damage
- Flooding with water entering the ground floor
Correct answer: Outdoor release of a toxic airborne chemical plume
Shelter-in-place is used when an outdoor atmospheric release makes evacuation more dangerous than remaining indoors with openings sealed.
Question 6: The Emergency Planning and Community Right-to-Know Act (EPCRA) requires facilities to notify their Local Emergency Planning Committee (LEPC) when:
- Any quantity of a hazardous chemical is used on-site
- A reportable quantity of an extremely hazardous substance is released (Correct answer)
- Annual chemical inventory exceeds $10,000 in value
- More than 10 employees are exposed to chemical hazards
Correct answer: A reportable quantity of an extremely hazardous substance is released
EPCRA Section 304 requires immediate notification to the LEPC and State Emergency Response Commission when a reportable quantity of a listed EHS is released.
Question 7: In the context of Business Continuity Planning (BCP), a Recovery Time Objective (RTO) defines:
- The maximum tolerable data loss measured in time
- The target time to restore a business function after disruption (Correct answer)
- The cost of downtime per hour of an outage
- The minimum backup frequency required for critical systems
Correct answer: The target time to restore a business function after disruption
RTO is the maximum acceptable time between a disruption and restoration of service to an acceptable level of functionality.
HSE Emergency Response and Preparedness 3
NFPA 1600, the Standard on Continuity, Emergency, and Crisis Management, primarily addresses: