A Guide to Traffic Control of Rural Roads in an Agricultural Emergency (2008)

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This guide is intended to help local law enforcement officials, emergency responders, and public works officials safely and effectively manage traffic control in the earliest stages of a sus- pected agricultural emergency with the resources immediately available in the community. The preceding chapters have provided information on the roles and responsibilities of respon- ders, traffic control plans, resource management, and mutual-aid agreements—the funda- mental elements of a successful emergency traffic control plan. Planning and coordination before an incident is suspected or reported minimizes the consequences of an agricultural incident if and when one takes place. Facilitating communication between all involved agencies and developing plans for resource sharing during the planning phase are especially important in rural areas where resources are limited. A response can only be as effective as its implementation plan. Although preparing an effective response to a foreign plant or animal disease outbreak should be a top priority in all rural agricultural areas, establishing preventive measures is just as important. Refer to Sections 5.1 and 5.2 for information on biosecurity practices in agri- cultural areas and additional resources for developing or improving your agricultural response plan. 5.1 Recommended Biosecurity Procedures The expression “the best offense is a good defense” not only holds true in the world of sports but also in emergency planning. Defending your county’s agricultural assets against the possibility of accidental or intentional disease is just as important as preparing a response once an outbreak has occurred. A good defense includes carefully adhering to biosecurity procedures that minimize the risk of unauthorized access to plants and animals and the spread of contamination between farms, ranches, sale barns, slaughterhouses, and other producer locations. When a foreign animal or plant disease is suspected, biosecurity becomes even more critical. The Environmental Protection Agency’s Office of Compliance published a memorandum (9) in late 2001 regarding routine biosecurity procedures for EPA personnel visiting farms, ranches, slaughterhouses, and other facilities with livestock and poultry. While this guide focuses on the response taking place around the perimeter of the quarantine area and not on the response ele- ments at the point of infection, many of the same biosecurity principles listed in the EPA memo apply. While those handling traffic controls will not be visiting the farm or slaughterhouse, they will be in contact with agricultural vehicles and their cargo, and similar precautions should be employed. Several of the biosecurity principles from the memo have been modified to apply to responders working at traffic checkpoints and are shown below in Table 5-1. The complete 30 C H A P T E R 5 Conclusion

memo can be found at http://www.epa.gov/compliance/resources/policies/monitoring/inspection/ biosecuritymemo.pdf. 5.2 Additional Resources The websites shown in Table 5-2 provide links to national response documents, presidential directives, and trainings. State emergency response plans can often be found at the state emergency Conclusion 31 • Individuals who have visited a foreign country and were exposed to or had contact with farm animals (with or without a known contagious disease) within the past 5 days should not inspect or be exposed to agricultural vehicles entering the quarantine area. In addition, clothing and shoes worn on foreign farm visits should be cleaned before use at other agricultural facilities or at traffic checkpoints. • Thoroughly wash hands with soap and water or antibacterial wipes or gel before and after contact with agricultural vehicles or livestock. Disposable latex gloves also may be used but not as a substitute for proper hand washing. • Park your vehicle on paved or concrete areas away from cleaning and disinfection areas and vehicle or animal holding areas to avoid contact with dirt, mud, or manure. If not possible, be certain that tires are free of dirt and debris by hosing the tires and wheel wells before leaving the premises. If this does not clean the tires adequately, take the vehicle to a nearby pressure car wash. • Designate the interior of your vehicle as a “clean area” and keep cleaning supplies in this area. • Designate a “dirty area” of your vehicle, such as the trunk of the car or a specified enclosed area of a truck bed for double bagged clothes or dirty equipment to be taken off site. • Before leaving the site, clean and disinfect boots, or tightly bag boots for later cleaning. Scrub boot bottom and sides to remove all dirt and debris, then wash with disinfectant solution. Disinfectants are not effective on dirt, manure, or other organic matter. • Clean and disinfect equipment if contaminated. • Use disinfectants that have been registered (or exempted) by EPA for the intended use. (Generally, a 10% dilution of household bleach is recommended, but recommendation may vary with specific disease). Follow all label safety precautions and dispose of empty containers, unused disinfectant solution, and used disinfectant in accordance with label instructions. • If nondisposable clothing is soiled with manure, blood, milk, or other animal secretions or if there has been close contact with livestock (actual handling or walking where animals were within reach), double bag clothing for later cleaning. Full text of the Presidential Directives can be found at at: http://www.fas.org/irp/offdocs/nspd/index.html The National Response Framework: http://www.dhs.gov/xprepresp/committees/editorial_0566.shtm Food and Agricultural incident annex to NRF: http://www.learningservices.us/pdf/emergency/nrf/nrp_foodagincidentannex.pdf NIMS training: http://www.fema.gov/emergency/nims/nims_training.shtm List of diseases and disinfectants: http://www.agr.ne.gov/homeland/monograph_004.doc Table 5-1. Biosecurity checklist. Table 5-2. Additional resources websites.

management agency’s website. Plans specific to agricultural emergencies such as foreign animal and plant diseases can sometimes be found at the state department of agriculture website. Becoming familiar with these documents can provide a framework for developing local response priorities and plans. In the development of this guide, an annotated bibliography was prepared that reviews sev- eral of these documents. This bibliography can be found at http://trb.org/news/blurb_detail. asp?id=9424 (10). 32 A Guide to Traffic Control of Rural Roads in an Agricultural Emergency