Meant to aid State & local emergency managers in their efforts to develop & maintain a viable all-hazard emergency operations plan. This guide clarifies the preparedness, response, & short-term recovery planning elements that warrant inclusion in emergency operations plans. It offers the best judgment & recommendations on how to deal with the entire planning process -- from forming a planning team to writing the plan. Specific topics of discussion include: preliminary considerations, the planning process, emergency operations plan format, basic plan content, functional annex content, hazard-unique planning, & linking Federal & State operations.

In 1986, after the disastrous accident at the Union Carbide plant in Bhopal, Congress passed the Emergency Planning and Community Right-To-Know Act. Under this act, many business facilities became subject to new reporting requirements with respect to the presence of hazardous substances. Hadden, an associate professor at the Lyndon B. Johnson School of Public Affairs, conducted surveys relating to this act.