POH407 Environment and Emergencies Presentation PDF

Introductio n POH407-Environment and Emergencies School of Occupational and Public Health Toronto Metropolitan University Fatih Sekercioglu  Today’s Agenda Introduction Environment and Emergencies –Key concepts Recognizing the Traditional Territory "T...

Introductio n POH407-Environment and Emergencies School of Occupational and Public Health Toronto Metropolitan University Fatih Sekercioglu  Today’s Agenda Introduction Environment and Emergencies –Key concepts Recognizing the Traditional Territory "Toronto is in the 'Dish With One Spoon Territory’. The Dish With One Spoon is a treaty between the Anishinaabe, Mississaugas and Haudenosaunee that bound them to share the territory and protect the land. Subsequent Indigenous Nations and peoples, Europeans and all newcomers have been invited into this treaty in the spirit of peace, friendship and respect." Couse Outline Review  Setting the context (1) In Canada, emergency management adopts an all-hazards approach to address both natural and human-induced hazards and disasters. These are increasing in both number and frequency across the world, resulting in ever growing human suffering and economic cost. Canada is not immune to these events. The all-hazards approach increases efficiency by recognizing and integrating common emergency management elements across all hazard types, and then supplementing these common elements with hazard specific sub-components to fill gaps only as required.  Setting the context (1) Most emergencies in Canada are local in nature and are managed by municipalities and communities, or at the provincial or territorial level. Accumulating risks associated with factors such as increased urbanization, critical infrastructure dependencies and interdependencies, terrorism, climate change, environmental change, animal and human diseases and the heightened movement of people and goods around the world have increased the potential for various types of catastrophes.  Emergencies and Ontario  Ontario has close to half of Canada’s population.  A large portion of Canadian chemicals are manufactured in Ontario therefore many communities have a hazardous facility located within their boundaries.  A majority of road and rail accidents involving hazardous products occur in Ontario 7  Emergencies and Ontario  40% of Ontario’s power comes from nuclear generation.  Ontario faces occurrences of severe weather every year  Earthquakes may occur in Ontario 8  Let’s change the traditional way to respond… “Everything is under control!” “Too expensive” “It would not happen here” Cost of not having a well-designed emergency management program can be immense when a disaster does strike 9  Key Concepts (2) Emergency is a situation or an impending situation that constitutes a danger of major proportions that could result in serious harm to persons or substantial damage to property and that is caused by the forces of nature, a disease or other health risk , an accident or an act whether intentional or otherwise. Hazard may be a substance, human activity or condition that may cause loss of life, injury or other health impacts, property damage, loss of livelihoods and services, social and economic disruption, or environmental damage. 10  Key Concepts (2) Emergency management is the organized activities undertaken to prevent, mitigate, prepare for, respond to and recover from actual or potential emergencies Public health emergency management is the organized activities undertaken to prevent, mitigate, prepare for, respond to and recover from actual or potential public health aspects of emergencies such as public health emergencies (e.g., infectious disease emergency) or emergencies with public health impacts (e.g., food safety concerns during power outages; safe water concerns during flooding) 11  Key Concepts (2) Emergency management program: A risk-based program consisting of prescribed elements that may include prevention, mitigation, preparedness, response and recovery activities. Emergency plan: A plan developed and maintained to direct an organization’s external and/or internal response to an emergency. Hazard Identification: A structured process for identifying those hazards which exist within a selected area and defining their causes and characteristics.  What causes an emergency? (consider these topics for your group report/presentation) Forest Fires Infectious Disease Fire Tornado Flood Blizzard Explosion Earthquake Spill Epidemic Construction Failure Ice Storm Utility Outage Foreign Animal Disease Transportation Accident Water Contamination Industrial Accident Building Collapse Mine Accident Public Disturbances Mud/ Snow Slide Nuclear Accident 13  Categories of hazards Natural Human-caused Technological Resulting from the forces of nature Direct result of human actions Resulting from the manufacture, transportation and use of technology or certain substances Avalanche Civil disturbance Airplane crash Disease outbreak Cyber incidents Dam/levee failure Drought Sabotage Hazardous materials release Earthquake School violence Power failure Epidemic Terrorist acts Radiological release Flood Train derailment Hurricane Urban conflagration Landslide Tornado Tsunami Volcanic eruption Wildfire Winter storm 14  Let’s try to classify emergencies… Slow-onset OR sudden-onset Predictable OR unpredictable/unexpected Simple OR complex Examples for each 15  Potential Effects of an Emergency There is no single measure that can capture the full scope or impact of an emergency Must consider all individuals that are affected and their losses in the short, immediate and long term Population Infrastructure, property loss Environment Economy Public perception 16  References 1. Public Safety Canada (2021). https://www.publicsafety.gc.ca/cnt/rsrcs/pblctns/2017-mrgnc-mngmnt-frmwrk/index -en.aspx 2. Ontario Ministry of the Solicitor General (2021). https://www.emergencymanagementontario.ca/english/emcommunity/response_re sources/GlossaryOfTerms/glossary_of_terms.html Many Thanks! Questions/Comments?