An Off-site emergency plan focuses on:

Question

An Off-site emergency plan focuses on:

1. A. Only internal housekeeping
2. B. Coordination with local fire-services, police, hospitals and local authorities during a major accident (Correct answer)
3. C. Internal quality-control audits
4. D. Only traffic-movement inside the plant

Correct Answer

Option B — Coordination with local fire-services, police, hospitals and local authorities during a major accident

Detailed Solution & Explanation

The correct answer is Coordination with local fire-services, police, hospitals and local authorities during a major accident.

Key Points

• An Off-Site Emergency Plan addresses an accident whose effects extend beyond the factory boundary into the surrounding community. Its essence is therefore multi-agency coordination — fire services, police, hospitals, district administration and the public.
• Because it involves agencies outside the company, it is prepared by the District Collector or district authority, not by the occupier, using hazard information supplied by the factory.
• The other options describe internal housekeeping, quality control or traffic movement, all confined within the plant.

Additional Information

• The plan covers public warning systems, evacuation of surrounding habitations, traffic control and access routes for emergency services, medical response and hospital readiness, and public information to prevent rumour and panic.
• Its preparation depends on the factory disclosing credible accident scenarios and vulnerability zones, which is exactly what the on-site plan and the MAH rules require the occupier to provide.
• The Disaster Management Act, 2005 supplies the wider institutional structure — the NDMA at national level, SDMAs in States and District Disaster Management Authorities chaired by the Collector.
• The clean division to remember: on-site is the occupier's responsibility and stops at the fence; off-site is the district administration's and begins there.