Guilford County Local Emergency Planning Committee (LEPC)
Annual Report for 2003
Submitted by Clarice Garrett, CHMM, LEPC Chairperson
The Guilford County Local Emergency Planning Committee (LEPC) consists of Emergency Responders from the cities of Greensboro and High Point and Guilford County. This includes representatives from the Fire and Police/Sheriff Departments and Guilford County Emergency Management. Members and attendees include representatives from local industries, private citizens, and Officials from local government, such as City Councils, County Commissioners and the Mayor.
Meetings are held on the second Thursday of each month from 9:00 am to 12:00 pm. Various industries volunteer to host the meetings, providing the meeting locations. The Program Committee arranges for a variety of programs to inform and instruct the attendees on a wide range of emergency, environmental and safety topics. Program topics in 2003 included the following:
Other committees have been busy in various projects throughout the year. These consist of the Executive Board, TERG (Training, Equipment and Resources Group), Regulatory Review, Citizen Corps, and Education and Outreach Committees.
The 2003 Business and Industry Safety & Environmental Conference, provided free to all industries, students and responders was a success with 350 attendees. "Classes" to provide information to the attendees included:
Evaluation questionnaires were collected at the conference with feedback providing direction for the next year's conference. There were 13 (thirteen) vendors for networking with the Conference attendees. Several industries provided "give-away" items and the Regulatory Review Committee developed a "Useful Tips Sheet" of important contact information and web sites which was given to each attendee. The American Society of Safety Engineers (ASSE) conducted their monthly meeting during the lunch break at the conference with Alan McNeely from OSHA as the speaker.
The LEPC provides a Help Line telephone number (570-8085) and web site (http://www.guilford-lepc.org/) as a means for informing members, the public and all interested parties of our meetings, events and contact information.
A Voluntary Fee System is used by the Guilford County LEPC for local industries and members to contribute a voluntary fee in support of the LEPC activities. Much of these monies are used to purchase equipment for emergency response use in Guilford County where the regular county/city budgets are not enough. Suggested fees for this system are based on the Tier II reporting categories of each industry. The TERG Committee submits a list of needed equipment to the LEPC for approval. In 2003, the following equipment was purchased by LEPC from these collected funds for emergency response in Guilford County:
| QUANTITY | DESCRIPTION | PRICE | TOTAL |
| 1 | APD2000 | $8800.00 | $8800.00 |
| 8 | Interspiro Savox 400 with Mushroom Button, complete | $847.00 | $6776.00 |
| 2 | Ludlum radiological survey meter, Model 14C | $537.00 | $1074.00 |
| 2 | Pancake Probe for Model 14C, Model 44-9 | $178.00 | $356.00 |
| 2 | Case for Ludlum Model 14C Medium, #2310362 | $130.00 | $260.00 |
| 1 | Kappler Fully Encapsulating Level B Suit | $576.00 | $576.00 |
| 1 | Zumro inflatable decon shelter, 10' x 10' x 7.5', #DAT 3030 | $3997.00 | $3997.00 |
| 2 | Pair of steel-toe hazmat hip-type safety boots | $49.25 | $98.50 |
| 1 | 10' Section of conveyor roller system for decon, #F-RS | $1161.00 | $1161.00 |
| 2 | Tablet Computers | $2317.27 | $4634.54 |
| TOTAL | $27733.04 |
The majority of the monies involved the Safety & Environmental Conference and the above emergency response equipment purchases. If there are any questions concerning this report or anything else concerning LEPC activities, contact one of the officers.
Added to the agenda for LEPC meetings is a "Lessons Learned" topic. In this area, we encourage industries to share information concerning any emergency situations that have had at their facilities and what the response was to that emergency. Since hindsight is normally better than foresight, the industry can provide helpful tips on what could have been put in place to prevent the emergency or how the emergency response could have been improved. In this way, we hope to assist others in similar situations and prevent some emergencies before they have a chance to occur.
The Fire Departments share similar information with LEPC. They report what chemical releases have occurred and what the responses were to the situations. We hope to build on this in 2004, again to share "lessons learned" to benefit all of us and make the entire county safer in some way.
Nominations for LEPC officers for the next 2 (two) year term were provided by a Nominations Committee and elections were held in the October with the following results:
These officers began their official duties with the November 2003 meeting.
We have many plans for projects in 2004. One plan is to work with SERC to be accepted for Tier II chemical reporting electronically as Wake County is already doing. We want to further develop the CERT teams for the county. many things must be developed between LEPC and the new Guilford County Emergency Management Department, such as handling the Tier II data for emergency response information, reviewing and understanding the various county department responses to any chemical release emergency situation, and generally, how and where the roles of LEPC and EM should mesh to be the most effective.
There is much energy in our Guilford County Emergency Management group and with the support of the government agencies and SERC, we know we will be able to grow to the next level and help our County be a better and safer place to live.