HMN- Today’s Haz-Matters are the troopers of The Louisiana State Police (LSP), Emergency Services Unit (ESU). We want to know about you! You can have your team, truck, or techs featured on hazmatnation.com by submitting your pictures and hazmat biography to [email protected]
The Louisiana State Police (LSP), Emergency Services Unit (ESU), is the primary agency in the state of Louisiana with both the regulatory and statutory authority for hazardous material and explosives. Each unit conducts enforcement activities which are supported by either administrative or criminal provisions within each set of regulations. Technicians assigned to ESU respond to, mitigate and often remediate hazardous material and explosive incidents throughout the state of Louisiana on a 24-hour basis, 365 days a year.
The job of an ESU Technician is to ensure the citizens of Louisiana are not exposed to any undue risk of hazardous materials or explosives through proactive enforcement and by strictly enforcing and investigating infractions in the hazardous material and explosives laws.
The Hazardous Materials Hotline, 1-877-925-6595, is staffed by Right-to-Know personnel and is the central repository for chemical spills or hazardous material emergency notifications. Transporters, manufacturers, storage facilities and/or persons handling regulated hazardous materials must contact the LSP Hotline immediately to report an incident.
HAZARDOUS MATERIALS
Through Act 83 of the 1979 Legislative session, the Department of Public Safety, Office of State Police was authorized to promulgate rules and regulations and to oversee compliance governing the transportation, storage and manufacturing of hazardous materials in Louisiana. The legislation specifically directed the Louisiana State Police to provide emergency response to chemical emergencies at industrial sites or sites related to transportation throughout the state. With this statute, the LSP was provided statutory authority as the on-scene coordinator for all hazardous material incidents in Louisiana.
Laws passed by the legislature also required manufacturers and storage facilities to report any releases of hazardous materials into the environment. The LSP was subsequently tasked with enforcing criminal and civil infractions of the laws regarding hazardous material releases.
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