EPA’s Emergency Responder Health and Safety Manual consists of a series of chapters that outline steps that EPA must take to protect the Agency’s emergency responders from job-related injuries, accidents, and exposures to hazardous materials. The manual promotes consistency in the way that OSHA standards, EPA policies, and other guidelines are applied across the Agency and assigns responsibilities for health and safety-related tasks.
In July 2005, EPA issued OSWER Directive 9285.3-12 (PDF, 4pp. 183KB) to announce the release of the manual’s first chapters and to instruct EPA organizations to implement the manual. This policy was reinforced on November 6, 2008, with the release of an Action Memorandum (PDF, 3pp. 853KB), which was jointly issued by the Office of Emergency Management; the Safety, Health and Environmental Management Division (SHEMD); and the Office of Superfund Remediation and Technology Innovation.
All 10 EPA regions, the Environmental Response Team (ERT), the Consequence Management Advisory Team (CMAT), and Headquarters (HQ) must implement the manual. EPA organizations must produce customized versions of each chapter, post them to the Customized Documents Web page, and review and update their customized chapters annually.
The manual and relevant administrative and training documents are available through this Web site. In addition, this site provides access to the customized versions of each EPA organization’s chapters plus other relevant organization-specific documents.
