Industrial Mutual Aid Plan

The purpose of the Industrial Mutual Aid Plan (Plan) is to establish a vehicle for  Santa Barbara County CAER member companies to provide and receive emergency mutual aid assistance. This is accomplished by establishing a common communication system among participants. The Plan provides procedures for the industrial sector to effectively request resources, thus reducing down time, and the ability to communicate with response agencies.

Mutual aid is a common practice for governmental response agencies such as Fire and Police Departments. The SB County CAER Industrial Mutual Aid Group is a voluntary emergency response cooperative of member companies. Any member of the group may elect to volunteer assistance to another member upon their request for aid during an emergency. The Plan contains an Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) to formalize the willingness of member companies to assist one another during emergencies to the extent they are capable, without jeopardizing emergency response at their own facility.

Participation in this Plan is voluntary. No member is obligated to release equipment, material or personnel if it elects not to do so. Members participating in this Plan should ensure the adequacy of their own resources before providing another member with mutual aid. This Plan does not obligate a member to provide mutual aid if it is unable to do so. Resources released pursuant to this Plan are made at the sole discretion of the management of each participant.

Important aspects of the SB County CAER Industrial Mutual Aid Plan The previous MOU included these participants;

The Plan assures participants;

• The necessity of industrial response teams to utilize the Incident Command System (ICS) used by all emergency response agencies.
• The importance of designating an industry representative who can report to the incident command post and relay command decisions to the impacted industrial sector.
• The establishment of a common communication system among Plan participants enabling industry to effectively request resources and communicate with response agencies.
• The development of a coordinated evacuation plan.
• That participation in the Plan is voluntary.

The Industrial Mutual Aid Plan sets forth the procedures necessary to activate and implement a written, pre-signed agreement between member companies in order to assist each other by sharing resources (personnel, equipment, expertise and technology) during an emergency which is beyond the capability of an affected facility to handle.

It is not economically feasible for each facility to purchase and store large supplies of equipment, fire fighting foam, spill control agents, etc., beyond that which may be needed for credible events in the facility.

For many years, fire departments and law enforcement agencies have shared emergency resources in order to augment local Fire and Law enforcement staffs.

Industry has a responsibility to assure that during normal operation, or during any emergency incident at the facility, the public or the environment is not adversely impacted. However, having adequate equipment, supplies, and personnel at each facility to respond to a catastrophic emergency may not be cost effective. Sharing resources through a Mutual Aid agreement is a more desirable alternative. For example, this Plan could apply to a broad spectrum of incidents requiring additional resources.

The most likely incidents which could occur at a facility and result in a need for Mutual Aid, are:

• Major flammable or toxic release

• Major brush fire threatening the facility

• Major earthquake

• Significant hazardous material spill or release

 

2. PURPOSE & SCOPE

The purpose of this Mutual Aid Plan is to establish a vehicle for CAER member companies to provide and receive mutual aid assistance. The Santa Barbara County CAER Industrial Mutual Aid Group is a voluntary emergency response cooperative of member companies and agencies as defined by the scope of this Mutual Aid Plan. Any member of the group may elect to volunteer assistance to another member upon their request for aid during an emergency. This Mutual Aid Plan serves to formalize the willingness of member companies to assist one another in times of emergency to the extent they are capable, without jeopardizing the capabilities of emergency response at their own facility.

II. SCOPE

The scope of this Mutual Aid Plan applies to members of the Santa Barbara County CAER Industrial Mutual Aid Group located within the Goleta Industrial Sector, including public entities such as UCSB and special districts.

Participation in this Mutual Aid Plan is strictly voluntary. No member is obligated to release equipment, material or personnel if it elects not to do so. Members participating in this Mutual Aid Plan should ensure the adequacy of their own resources before providing another member with mutual aid. This Mutual Aid Plan does not obligate a member to provide mutual aid if they are unable to do so. Releases of resources pursuant to this Mutual Aid Plan are made at the sole discretion of the management of each member (member refers to a member company or facility).

3. AUTHORITIES

This Plan is promulgated under the following authorities:

• State Emergency Services Act (Govt. Code Chapter 7 of Division 1 of Title 2, sections 8550 et seq);

• California Health and Safety Code:

a. Hazardous Materials (Division 20, Chapter 6.95, Sections 25500 through 25521)

b. County Health Emergencies (Division 1, Part 2, Chapter 1158, Sections 470-474)

• California Emergency Plan;

• State Hazardous Materials Incident Contingency Plan;

• State Oil Spill Contingency Plan;

• County of Santa Barbara Hazardous Materials Emergency Response Area Plan (Area Plan).

 

This Plan has been developed to improve coordination among industry and agencies in the event of an emergency. This Plan serves as an annex to the County Hazardous Materials Area Plan (Area Plan). It shall therefore be considered a part of the County Emergency Plan, with the same force and effect. This Plan shall be reviewed and updated annually to assure accuracy, adequacy and consistency with other related plans.

This Plan may be activated by a member company, or by the County Office of Emergency Services (OES), when an incident involves one or more facilities or has the potential for causing an impact upon a facility or the community. Industry participation is strictly on a voluntary basis.

This Plan does not supersede or replace the facility's emergency response plan or business plan. Activation of this Plan assumes the facility emergency response plan has been activated, and that initial emergency actions and protective actions have been taken.

This Plan is a companion plan to the Area Oil and Gas Industry Emergency Response Plan, which is also an annex to the County Area Plan.

This Plan contains certain emergency information for a facility to refer to when an emergency occurs. The information must be consistent with the facility's emergency plan. A checklist will suggest certain initial emergency actions to take, prior to requesting Mutual Aid.

The Plan also includes a section on how to activate an Incident Command System for the facility, and how such Incident Command System will interface with the government responders upon their arrival at the scene.

Levels of emergencies are defined for the purpose of communicating the magnitude of the emergency, and the urgency of the requests, to the responding companies.

The Emergency Checklist Section of the Plan, provides checklists for requesting mutual aid, and/or providing mutual aid to others.

In the Communications Section, the industrial communications system, and various communications links are described.

The Mutual Aid Plan Yellow pages, found in the Resource Section, are listings of available resources. This section lists all resources alphabetically, and will also list various agencies and entities which may be helpful during the emergency.

Examples of resources available may include:

Backhoes, dump trucks, oil spill clean up materials, Hazmat clean up materials, absorbents, fire fighting foam, generators, portable toilets, catering services, hospitals, jack hammers, cranes, lighting equipment, specialists, tractors, vacuum trucks, testing labs, etc.

The Mutual Aid Plan Yellow pages are produced as a cooperative effort of the member companies, and are updated annually.

6-A-1 Command and Control

This Plan shall utilize the Incident Command System (ICS) as required by federal, state and local legislation. The ICS is be utilized by responding agencies such as the Fire Department or Law Enforcement. Therefore, in order to assure a smooth transition into an emergency organization at the emergency, each member company shall utilize the ICS.

The ICS is a management system which can be utilized for all types of emergencies. The system utilizes functional titles for each position, and builds in modular fashion from the top down. The ICS utilizes the concepts of "unity of command", and a "span of control" of 5 to 7 workers to one boss. An Incident Commander is designated to manage the emergency, and decide upon the strategies to be utilized. A chart showing the general sections of the ICS is shown in this section. The key positions are indicated on this chart. Upon arrival of governmental responders, they may decide to assume formal command of the emergency and assume the role of Incident Commander. At that time, the facility Incident Commander may be asked to work in a "Unified Command" mode with the Incident Commander, serve as an "Industry Branch Director", or as an Industry Representative.

In the event that governmental agency has established an ICS at the incident, and requests that the facility representative become a part of the ICS as the "Industry Branch", the Industry Branch will work directly for the Operations Section Chief, who may be a Fire Department officer. In a large scale emergency, the County Emergency Operations Center may request an Industry CAER Representative to come to the County EOC. In this case, the Branch Director will assign someone to respond to the County EOC.

6-A-2 Activation of the Command Post & Staging Area (or designated safe location)

The facility activating this Plan shall activate an Incident Command Post at the Emergency. The Command Post will be located in a safe area upwind and up slope of the incident. The purpose of the Command Post is to provide a location for the management of the emergency. The Command Post may simply be a vehicle, or other mobile or portable facility.

The Command Post shall be identified by a Command Post sign and should preferably have a wind sock in use, to indicate wind direction.

The Staging Area is a designated location where responding Mutual Aid companies, or government agencies will report to. It shall be located upwind and up slope of the emergency, in an accessible but secure location away from the Command Post. The Staging Area shall be a large area, such as a parking lot where vehicles, equipment and personnel may be held at pending assignment. The Staging Area shall be identified with a sign stating "Staging Area". The facility Incident Commander shall appoint a Staging Area Manager to work for the Operations Section Chief. The Staging Area Manager logs in all responding resources, and controls them until they are requested by the Operations section chief.

6-A-3 Industrial EOC

Each member should provide a suitable EOC, or EOCs, to formulate policy decisions regarding mutual aid, incident mitigation, public relations, economic matters, care of the displaced and injured, and their return to normalcy after the incident is over. The EOC also provides a location for interface with the media and governmental agencies.

The EOC's will actually be rooms set aside at various major facilities within the County. These locations will be identified in the Resource Section of this Plan.

Suggested resources to be used in the EOC may include such equipment and/or services as:

Tables ; Chairs ; White "Ezerace" boards ; Phones, fax, copy machines ; Amateur radio ; Television and public radio ; Communications radios and scanners with industry and government frequencies ; Facility, pipeline, and area maps ; Easels, easel paper, miscellaneous writing supplies ; Emergency plans of all member facilities ; Resource listings ; Phone books ; Weather monitoring ; Hazardous materials inventories for all member facilities

Emergencies within the scope of this Plan shall be classified as a Standby Alert or a Response Mode.

The purpose for classifying emergencies is to provide a means for identifying an appropriate response posture, and organization, based upon the degree of severity of an emergency. For example, an incident may be very minor, but have a potential of becoming a major incident. Therefore, a standby alert may be called, to put other member companies on notice as to a possible need for resources should the incident escalate. Not all emergencies are of a serious nature, requiring a major response or emergency organization. However, the emergency may require some specialized piece of equipment, or a certain type of absorbent material etc., which is not in possession of the requesting company.

The Organization Transition Matrix on the following page denotes under which criteria the levels of emergency and response are indicated.

HOW TO REQUEST MUTUAL AID:

Requests for mutual aid are initiated in the following manner:

There shall be a "Mutual Aid Representative" position designated by the member companies. This person is an employee of a member company, is familiar with the mutual aid procedures as outlined in this Plan, and is familiar with the available resources.

The Mutual Aid Representative activates the Plan by initiating the following actions;

a. Direct contact with a Mutual Aid Representative from member companies who are trained to activate mutual aid.

b. Contacting the County Office of Emergency Services.

Appendix B of this Plan contains a list of the Industrial Mutual Aid Representatives.

When a need for mutual aid occurs, the requestor will contact another Mutual Aid Representative who is qualified as a Mutual Aid Coordinator by phone or pager and make the request. The recipient of the request will attempt to locate the needed resources, utilizing the Mutual Aid Plan Yellow pages in this Plan, contact the requester and initiate the response.

If resources are not available through the member companies listed in this Plan, the coordinator will contact the County Office of Emergency Services Duty Officer, who will then assist in locating the resources. The OES Duty Officer may be contacted by calling the County Sheriff Dispatch at 681-4227.

Requestors may make requests from non member companies, notwithstanding this Memorandum of Understanding. In other words, a requestor would make a direct contact with a company outside of the authority or provisions of this Plan.

The petroleum industry may be contacted for possible assistance, via the County Office of Emergency Services. The petroleum industry has a Mutual Aid Agreement which is an annex to the County Area Plan.

10. EMERGENCY CHECKLISTS

Several checklists are provided in this section for requesting and receiving mutual aid, you may jump directly to a specific list by clicking on its name. They are as follows:

1. How to Activate This Plan

2. How to Request Mutual Aid

3. Receipt of Mutual Aid

4. Response to Mutual Aid Requests

5. Reciprocal Aid from or to Other Mutual Aid Organizations

6. Requests from Non Members

7. Requests from Government Agencies

8. Mutual Aid Representative

9. Mutual Aid Coordinator

10. Industry Representative

This section contains checklists for use by the facility when requesting mutual aid during an emergency. Checklists excerpted from the facility's emergency plan may also be included in this section. The purpose of including checklists in this section is for ease of reference when an emergency, which may require mutual aid, occurs.

HOW TO ACTIVATE THIS MUTUAL AID PLAN

• Verify that an emergency has occurred, which may require Mutual Aid;

• Assure that your facility emergency plan is activated;

• Assure that 911 has been called;

• Take charge until formally relieved (or assure that someone has assumed role of Incident Commander);

• Warn employees and visitors in the immediate area. Provide for their safety. Provide for your safety also;

• Evacuate facility and neighbors, or recommend that they shelter in place (based upon type of emergency);

• Activate your Incident Command System (ICS);

• Initiate your facility emergency procedures;

• Activate a command post and designate a staging area;

• Appoint someone to meet Fire Department (or law enforcement) at the entrance;

• Assure that your Incident Command System is activated;

• Determine the level of Emergency (refer to page 10, the Organization Transition Matrix);

• Refer to mutual aid procedures to request mutual aid (page 11).;

HOW TO REQUEST MUTUAL AID

• Determine the resource that is needed. Be sure that you have exhausted your on site resources before making the request.

• Determine the quantity of the resource needed.

• Refer to the Resource Section and locate the resource.

• Contact the member company by pager or phone (follow procedures in Appendix B).

• Make the request for the needed resource. State the quality and quantity needed. Tell them where to respond to, and provide a Thomas Guide map page #. If human resources are requested, state level of training and equipment needed.

• Ascertain the expected time of arrival (ETA) for the resource.

• Notify your Staging Area Manager regarding the request and the ETA.

• Notify Staging Area Manager to log in the resource, take an inventory, and retain the resource until requested by Operations Section.

CHECKLIST #4

RESPONSE TO MUTUAL AID REQUESTS

_____	Upon receipt of a request to provide mutual aid, review the Memoranda of Understanding in the Appendix of this Plan to ascertain if the requestor is a member company. If they are not, refer to checklist 5 or 6.
_____	Utilize form in Appendix H and obtain information from requestor such as:
_____	Name, address, phone number
_____	Location and type of incident
_____	Resource requested
_____	Quantity needed
_____	Company name and address
_____	Level of training or PPE ( if applicable)
_____	Location to respond to (address, Thomas Guide map page #)
_____	Time that the resource is needed by
_____	Length of time resource will be needed
_____	Activate industry radio, if available, and respond in a safe manner obeying all traffic laws.
_____	Report in at designated location.
_____	Report to Staging Area Manager.
_____	Provide an inventory, and obtain signature of Staging Area Manager acknowledging receipt of the resources.
_____	Stand by at staging until assigned to operations by the Staging Area Manager.
_____	Advise your company as to when the resource will be released.
_____	Serve as the "Industry Representative" from your company. Report to Liaison Officer.
_____	Provide for the welfare of your company personnel (relief, food, clothing, PPE, notification of family, medical treatment, etc.).
_____	Maintain records of any injuries to your company members.
_____	Maintain records of any damage to your equipment.
_____	Maintain records of any issues which could result in future liability.
_____	Work under the direction of the Operations Section Chief. Do not make decisions on behalf of the requesting facility.
_____	Upon release of your resources by the requesting company, do the following: • take an inventory of your resources • return all equipment belonging to the requestor • ascertain if any members of your company were injured, etc. • report any damaged or missing equipment to Staging area manager, and document same. • notify your company of your release and ETA
_____	Upon arrival at your facility, document the supplies expended, hours worked, damaged equipment, etc., for submittal to the requesting company.

RECIPROCAL AID TO OTHER MUTUAL AID ORGANIZATIONS

Note: Requests from other mutual aid organizations may be honored by a member company of this mutual aid organization. Response to such requests are done outside of the scope of the Memoranda of Understanding in this Plan.

CHECKLIST #6

REQUESTS FROM NON MEMBERS

_____	Upon receipt of a request from a non member company for mutual aid, utilize form in Appendix and obtain the following information: (fill out form in Appendix) • type and quantity of resource requested • name and address of requestor(including Thomas Guide map page #) • phone number of requestor • location of the incident
_____	Ascertain if the requestor has exhausted all other means of obtaining the resource in a timely manner.
_____	Ascertain if your company will supply the resource.
_____	Contact the requestor, and report the status of the request. If request is to be honored, reaffirm the location to respond to and provide an ETA.

Note: Response to the request will be outside the scope of the Memorandum of Understanding.

REQUESTS FROM GOVERNMENTAL AGENCIES

Note: Requests from governmental agencies shall be made via the County Office of Emergency Services, under authority of the County Area Plan to which this Plan is a legal annex.

_____	Upon request by OES on behalf of a governmental agency for mutual aid, utilize form in Appendix and ascertain the following: (fill out form in Appendix) • name of agency • name, address, phone number of requestor • location and type of incident • type and quantity of resource requested • training level and PPE level needed • If a governmental agency contacts you directly, advise them to make the official request to County OES.
_____	Advise OES your ability to fill the request.
_____	Upon request from OES, contact requestor and advise that you are responding. Ascertain location to respond to, including Thomas Guide map page #.
_____	Upon arrival, report to staging and follow the directions of the Staging Area Manager.
_____	Report to Liaison Officer and serve as Industry Representative.

MUTUAL AID REPRESENTATIVE

Position duty statement:

The Mutual Aid Representative is an individual selected by the member companies who is familiar with the Plan and whose responsibility includes updating the member companies' resource list, notification list, emergency contact numbers, testing the industrial emergency communications system, assure that emergency response employee training records are accurate, and participation in Santa Barbara CAER activities as necessary.

• Upon receipt of a request for mutual aid, utilize form in Appendix H.

• Activate Mutual Aid Plan and, if requested by Incident Commander, locate Mutual Aid Coordinator.

• Brief Mutual Aid Coordinator of situation status.

• Brief Mutual Aid Coordinator of requested resources.

MUTUAL AID COORDINATOR CHECKLIST

Position duty statement:

The Mutual Aid Coordinator is selected by the member companies to be available in the event of a mutual aid request. The coordinators are listed on a roster in the appendix.

The coordinator is responsible to interface with non member companies, other mutual aid organizations and governmental agencies during emergencies.

_____	Upon receipt of a request for mutual aid, utilize form in Appendix H and obtain the following information: (fill out form in Appendix H)
_____	Name, address, phone number of requestor
_____	Company name
_____	Member status
_____	Type and location of emergency
_____	Type and quantity of resource requested
_____	Time frame for response
_____	Length of time resource will be needed
_____	Ascertain if requestor has exhausted all internal resources.
_____	Review Resource Section (Mutual Aid Yellow pages) to locate the resource.
_____	Contact the holder of the resource.
_____	Ascertain if the holder can respond to the scene.
_____	Ascertain if transportation will be needed.
_____	Ascertain the training level of the resource and PPE if applicable. _____ If holder cannot supply the resource, conduct a search for the resource utilizing the Mutual Aid Plan Yellow pages first, then by contacting the County Office of Emergency Services for assistance in locating the resource. _____ If the County OES cannot locate a resource, contact the local Oil and Gas Industry Mutual Aid Group, via OES or contact private vendors.
_____	Dispatch the resource to the location requested.
_____	Contact requestor to advise ETA of the resource. _____ When necessary, respond to the command post and report to the Liaison Officer. Serve as the Industry Representative.

CHECKLIST #10

INDUSTRY REPRESENTATIVE

Position duty statement:

The Industry Representative is a qualified individual from each member company selected to be available in the event of an emergency which requires a representative at Fire Coordinations or the County Emergency Operations Center (EOC). The representative is responsible to oversee the operations, welfare and safety of the industry people, and for the interests relative to the industrial sector that is involved in the incident. The Industry Representatives are listed on a roster in Appendix A.

The Industry Representative is responsible for interfacing with non member companies, other mutual aid organizations and governmental agencies during emergencies.

When necessary, respond to the command post with radio and report to Liaison Officer. Serve as the Industry Representative.

If a request is made by the County to respond to the County EOC, respond to the County EOC in the basement of the county jail in Goleta, unless directed otherwise.

• Bring an industry radio and this Plan.

• Report in to jail facility on first floor.

• Tell them you have been requested to report to the EOC.

• They will sign you in and direct you to the EOC.

Report in to the EOC Manager at the EOC and serve as the Industry Representative.

Attend planning meetings as required.

Determine if any special reports or documents are required.

Evaluate strategies being employed.

Determine need for assistance and availability of resources.

Maintain informational contact between the County EOC and Industry EOC (or EOCs).

Maintain contact with, and assist when necessary, the Mutual Aid Coordinator.

Have debriefing session with EOC Manager prior to departure.

11. COMMUNICATIONS SYSTEMS AND PROCEDURES

The following communications systems are provided in order to assist in implementation of this Plan and the Mutual Aid system:

• Telephones

• Cellular phones

• Car phones

• Fax machines

• Industrial radio system

• Amateur Radio Emergency Services (ARES)

• Runners

• Telephones

All member companies will provide updated phone lists for inclusion in the appendix of this Plan. Such lists shall provide 24 hour contact numbers in the event of a mutual aid request. The phone lists will be updated annually. Phone lists shall provide contact numbers for the official company representative who is authorized to respond to a Mutual Aid request, or serve as an Industry Representative.

Phone lists shall provide numbers for office phones, 24 hour phone, car phone and cellular phones.

Fax Machines:

All members shall have Fax machines, and shall provide Fax numbers for inclusion in the appendix of this Plan.

Industrial Radio System (to be described):

An industrial radio system is provided for member companies. The details of this radio system will be provided at a later date. Each member company shall purchase one hand held radio with the industrial frequency on it. Each facility shall also purchase a hand held scanner which provides the ability to scan local government frequencies.

The handsets shall be in the possession of the person authorized to provide Mutual Aid and to serve as an Industry Representative.

The radio system shall be tested at a time to be determined later. All member companies shall participate in the test.

Member companies shall maintain their radio equipment, and shall provide suitable chargers or batteries.

Radio Procedures (Conceptual)

Upon occurrence of an emergency which necessitates activation of a response mode as defined in this Plan, each member company shall be notified to activate their radio and monitor it for requests. Members shall state their company name on the radio and that they are standing by. They shall make no other transmissions unless they are contacted by the requestor.

Upon a request to respond, the responding company shall activate the radio, contact the staging area by radio and notify them upon initiating their response. Radio will accompany responder and shall be turned on.

The Staging Area Manager of the requesting company will advise the responding company as to the route to take and the location to report to.

Amateur Radio Emergency Services (ARES):

The local ARES group is available for response if requested through The County Office of Emergency Services. This group has extensive radio communications hardware, repeaters, radio-computers, etc., and can respond to the Command Post to establish radio communications. They can also activate a radio net between all member facilities, if necessary, due to a telephone system failure.

Runners

As a last resort, "runners" can be utilized to transport messages and requests between facilities. In the event of a major earthquake with ground rupture, it may be necessary for runners to utilize bicycles, motorcycles, scooters, or travel on foot.

12. RESOURCES (Mutual Aid Plan Yellow Pages)

The Resource Section of the Appendix serves as a type of "Yellow Pages" directory to assist in ordering resources and will also list all applicable agencies, facilities, and other listings which may be helpful. The listings will be numbered and will be alphabetical by name of resource.

Examples of resource listings would be:

Backhoes Lights and lighting equipment

Dump trucks

• Evacuation sites Personnel (e.g., public information firefighting officers, Hazmat spill teams, technical specialists, communications/amateur radio specialists)

• Foam

• Front end loaders

• Generators

• Heavy equipment

• Hospitals

• Jack hammers

• Lumber

• Oil spill clean up equipment

• Vacuum trucks

Welding equipment

Excerpts of Resource pages from the Area Oil and Gas Industry Emergency Response Plan are included herein as examples only.