CHRRP Training Area
Hazardous Materials & Shelter-in-Place Training
Community chemical-emergency preparedness focused on recognition, exposure reduction, shelter-in-place considerations, evacuation decision factors, and protective action.
Chemical Emergencies Require Different Decisions
People commonly associate emergency preparedness with evacuation. During some hazardous-materials incidents, however, immediately going outside or attempting to leave an area may increase exposure.
Depending on the material, location, release conditions, and instructions from authorities, the safer action may instead be to remain indoors temporarily and reduce the movement of contaminated outdoor air into the building. Other incidents may require evacuation.
Participants therefore need to understand that the correct protective action depends on the circumstances. IFCRR training focuses on helping people recognize these differences and understand the information they should use when deciding what to do.
What the Training Can Cover
Training can be adapted to the audience, community, local hazards, and partner objectives.
Hazardous-Materials Awareness
Participants develop a practical understanding of what a hazardous-materials emergency may look like from the perspective of a resident, employee, school, community organization, or other member of the public.
- Industrial chemical releases
- Transportation incidents
- Fires involving hazardous materials
- Utility or infrastructure incidents
- Smoke, vapor, gas, or airborne contaminants
- Community warning systems
- Exposure pathways
- Protective-action instructions
- Situations in which evacuation or shelter-in-place may be considered
The purpose is not to teach participants how to identify unknown chemicals or enter a hazardous area. The purpose is to help them recognize that a hazardous-materials incident may be occurring and know how to obtain reliable information and protect themselves.
Understanding Exposure Pathways
People can make better protective decisions when they understand how exposure can occur.
- Inhalation
- Skin contact
- Eye contact
- Ingestion
- Contact with contaminated surfaces or materials
Participants can then consider how actions such as moving indoors, increasing distance, avoiding a contaminated area, limiting outdoor-air entry, removing contaminated clothing when directed, or following decontamination instructions may reduce exposure in appropriate circumstances. The specific protective action always depends on the incident and official instructions.
Evacuate or Shelter-in-Place?
One of the central topics in the program is understanding the difference between evacuation and shelter-in-place.
Evacuation
- Official evacuation instructions
- Routes and alternate routes
- Transportation needs
- Family communication
- Medications and essential items
- Children, pets, and access needs
- Avoiding routes through affected areas
- Understanding that conditions may change after an evacuation begins
Shelter-in-Place
Shelter-in-place generally means remaining indoors and using the building as temporary protection from an outdoor hazard.
- Going indoors promptly
- Closing doors and windows
- Moving to an appropriate interior location
- Limiting outside-air entry
- Turning off systems that bring outside air into the building when directed and when it can be done safely
- Monitoring official emergency information
- Keeping necessary medications, communications equipment, and supplies available
- Remaining prepared to change actions if authorities issue new instructions
Shelter-in-place is generally a temporary protective action, not a universal response to every hazardous-materials incident.
Buildings and Shelter-in-Place
Not every building provides the same level of protection.
- Number and location of exterior doors and windows
- Interior rooms
- HVAC systems
- Outside-air intakes
- Exhaust fans
- Building size
- Occupancy
- Ability to communicate with occupants
- Ability to rapidly account for people
- Accessibility considerations
- Availability of emergency supplies
For workplaces, schools, healthcare settings, or other organizations, these considerations may be incorporated into broader emergency planning and exercise activities. The objective is not to convert ordinary buildings into specialized chemical shelters.
Emergency Information and Warning
During a hazardous-materials incident, reliable information is critical.
- Local emergency alerts
- Fire and law-enforcement agencies
- Emergency management agencies
- Public health agencies
- Local government
- Official websites and applications
- Radio and television
- Facility or organizational notification systems
- Other trusted emergency-information sources
Participants learn to distinguish official protective-action instructions from speculation, social-media rumors, or incomplete information. They also practice reassessing decisions when new information becomes available.
Protective Decision-Making
Hazardous-materials emergencies frequently involve uncertainty. Participants may know that an incident has occurred without immediately knowing what material is involved, how much was released, where it is moving, whether they are inside the affected area, how long conditions may last, whether a route is safe, or whether evacuation or shelter-in-place is safer.
1. Identify the protective decision that needs to be made.
2. Determine what information is known.
3. Identify what information is uncertain.
4. Consider the potential consequences of available options.
5. Follow official protective-action instructions.
6. Avoid unnecessary exposure.
7. Reassess the decision as conditions change.
The goal is not to make community members hazardous-materials experts. The goal is to help them make safer, more informed decisions.
Community Right-to-Know and Local Chemical Information
Communities may have access to information about hazardous chemicals through federal, state, and local emergency-planning systems.
The Emergency Planning and Community Right-to-Know Act (EPCRA) established a national framework for community chemical-emergency planning and public access to certain hazardous-chemical information.
Local Emergency Planning Committees and related emergency-planning organizations can be important sources of information about facilities with reportable hazardous chemicals, community emergency planning, transportation routes, emergency notification, evacuation planning, local response resources, and chemical-hazard information available to the public.
Where appropriate, IFCRR training can help participants understand how these systems relate to community preparedness.
Personal Protective Equipment
Personal protective equipment can be useful for some hazards, but community preparedness should not create false confidence about unknown chemical exposures.
- No single respirator protects against every hazardous material.
- An N95 respirator is designed primarily for particles and should not be assumed to protect against hazardous gases or vapors.
- Specialized chemical protective equipment requires appropriate selection, training, and use.
- Community members should not enter contaminated areas or attempt responder activities because they possess protective equipment.
- Avoidance, distance, sheltering, evacuation, and official protective instructions may be more important than attempting to rely on PPE.
Where respirators or other protective equipment are discussed, their limitations are addressed along with their potential uses.
What Not to Do
- Approaching the release to see what happened
- Driving through smoke, vapor, liquid, or contaminated areas
- Touching unknown materials
- Attempting cleanup without appropriate training and equipment
- Entering an evacuated area
- Ignoring official protective-action instructions
- Assuming that odor alone determines whether an area is safe
- Assuming that the absence of odor means no hazard exists
- Using inappropriate respiratory protection as a substitute for evacuation or sheltering
- Returning to an affected area before authorities indicate that it is appropriate
Who This Training Is For
- Residents and neighborhood groups
- Community organizations
- Schools and educational organizations
- Employers and workplaces
- Healthcare organizations
- Nonprofit organizations
- Emergency management agencies
- Public health agencies
- Fire-department community-risk-reduction programs
- Local governments
- Preparedness coalitions
- Local Emergency Planning Committees
- Community-benefit initiatives
- Communities located near industrial or transportation hazards
For Employers and Organizations
Organizations may have responsibilities and planning needs that differ from those of individual households.
- Emergency Action Plans
- Evacuation procedures
- Shelter-in-place procedures
- Employee notification
- Accountability
- Emergency communications
- HVAC considerations
- Visitors and contractors
- Access and functional needs
- Drills and exercises
- Coordination with public-safety agencies
IFCRR community-preparedness training does not substitute for regulatory compliance programs, required employee training, or hazardous-materials responder qualifications. Where workplace requirements apply, those requirements should be addressed separately.
Complementing Existing Emergency-Planning Systems
IFCRR does not replace local fire departments, hazardous-materials teams, emergency management, public health, Local Emergency Planning Committees, regulatory agencies, or facility emergency-response programs.
Our role is to help community members and organizations better understand and apply the protective information those systems provide.
- Emergency-management outreach
- Fire-department community-risk-reduction programs
- Public-health preparedness
- LEPC community outreach
- Employer emergency planning
- School emergency preparedness
- CERT programs
- Community preparedness initiatives
- Hazard-specific exercises
Part of the Community Hazard Readiness & Risk Reduction Program
Hazardous Materials & Shelter-in-Place Training is delivered through IFCRR's Community Hazard Readiness & Risk Reduction Program (CHRRP).
CHRRP connects: Hazard Awareness -> Exposure Understanding -> Preparedness -> Protective Decision-Making -> Action.
- Community Emergency Preparedness Training
- Emergency communications
- Household preparedness
- Protective decision-making
- Preparedness demonstrations
- Wildfire and smoke preparedness
- Community lifesaving skills
Initial Hazardous-Materials Pilot Opportunities
IFCRR is currently seeking organizations and communities interested in hosting initial hazardous-materials and shelter-in-place pilot programs.
- A community near industrial facilities
- A community near major transportation corridors
- A workplace or business campus
- A school or educational organization
- A healthcare organization
- A neighborhood group
- An emergency-management or public-health initiative
- A fire-department community outreach program
- An LEPC or preparedness coalition
- Another population with an identified chemical-emergency preparedness need
Pilot evaluation may examine participant understanding of evacuation and shelter-in-place, recognition of exposure pathways, knowledge of reliable emergency-information sources, protective decision-making, understanding of PPE limitations, participant confidence, preparedness actions initiated after training, participant and partner feedback, and delivery/logistical requirements.
For strategically appropriate initial pilots, IFCRR may provide some or all program services at no cost through volunteer instructor and staff time.
Request a Hazardous-Materials Preparedness Pilot
If your organization or community could benefit from practical hazardous-materials, shelter-in-place, and protective-action training, IFCRR would like to discuss a potential pilot.
- Who you want to reach
- Where the community or organization is located
- Which chemical or hazardous-materials concerns are most relevant
- Approximately how many participants may attend
- What you would like participants to learn
- What facilities or resources may be available
IFCRR can work with you to determine an appropriate pilot scope.
Understand the Hazard. Follow Reliable Information. Take Protective Action.
Community members do not need to become hazardous-materials responders to become better prepared for chemical emergencies.
IFCRR helps participants understand the risks that matter to them, recognize their protective options, and make informed decisions when hazardous-materials incidents affect their community.