In the United States, chemical emergency response plans are required by Federal law at the Federal, State and local government levels. Most of the State and local plans currently do not address chemical terrorism, and many of those that do focus on terrorist use of military nerve and blister agents, rather than on the more accessible industrial chemicals. Information obtained during the threat, mitigation, and prevention evaluations is being incorporated into emergency response plans in the two communities. The final step is to train to respond to high-priority, realistic threats. Training should include chemical protective equipment for industrial as well as military chemical agents, victim decontamination and transportation, hospital emergency room operations in a chemical environment, medical management of chemical casualties from admission to discharge, victim registration procedures, industrial security measures related to chemical terrorism, and hazardous materials spill assessment and cleanup procedures in areas that are crime scenes and require preservation of evidence.
People generally respond to emergencies in the manner in which they are trained.
Failing to train to address the specific aspects of industrial terrorism increases the vulnerabilities of industries and adjacent communities. Conclusion Industrial chemicals provide terrorists with effective and readily accessible materials to develop improvised explosives, incendiaries, and poisons. Many public and corporate emergency responders are unaware of the magnitude of the threat of terrorism to businesses and industries. The procedure described in this paper is one way to begin to address that threat. It is also adaptable to industries that may become targets in conflict zones.