Planning for protective action decision making: evacuate or shelter-in-place [An article from: Journal of Hazardous Materials]

This digital document is a journal article from Journal of Hazardous Materials, published by Elsevier in 2004. The article is delivered in HTML format and is available in your Amazon.com Media Library immediately after purchase. You can view it with any web browser.

Description:
Protecting the public from an airborne hazardous chemical release requires that appropriate protective actions be selected quickly. When deciding whether to recommend evacuation or shelter-in-place, decision makers must weigh the interaction of numerous factors that characterize the release, the meteorological conditions, and the populations that may be affected. This article examines the components of the protective action decision process and describes steps that should be taken in a planning context to prepare for efficient decision making during an emergency. Methods of organizing information to facilitate decision making are identified, and a model useful for detailed analysis of specific emergency scenarios is described.