Incident Response Plan: Effective Incident Response Planning

Effective Incident Response Planning

We believe an effective incident response plan prioritizes:

1. Protection of human life before property.
2. Protection of animal and plant health.
3. Consideration of the impact to the laboratory, the facility and surrounding community.
4. Collaboration between entity leadership, first responders, and local public health and agriculture authorities.
5. Creating of an effective communication strategy for local public health and agriculture authorities.
6. Entity training with first responders and public health and agriculture authority participation, as appropriate.
7. Addressing the primary effect of the hazard, the secondary effects, and the impact the hazard has on the facility workers.
8. Focus on areas inside the laboratory or registered space, where incidents involving select agent and toxins are likely to occur.

There are other statutes (federal, state, and local government) that address emergency and incident response. The select agent incident response plan is not intended to preempt or supersede other response agreements or written plans provided that other plans and agreements address the requirements of section 14 of the select agent regulations. If an entity chooses to use other plans as a means of meeting these requirements, section 18 of the select agent regulations requires that this information be made available to FSAP inspectors when on-site inspections are conducted.