Section 5502.21. Emergency management definitions

As used in sections 5502.21 to 5502.51 of the Revised Code:

(A) "Agency" means any administrative or operational division, including an office, department, bureau, board, commission, or authority, of the state or of a political subdivision thereof, including volunteer agencies, organizations, or departments.

(B) "Attack" means any attack, either actual or imminent, or a series of attacks by an actual or potential enemy of the United States or by a foreign nation upon the United States that causes or may cause substantial damage to or destruction of life, property, or the environment within the United States or that is designed to injure the military or economic strength of the United States. "Attack" includes, without limitation, acts of sabotage, acts of terrorism, invasion, the use of bombs or shellfire, conventional, nuclear, chemical, or biological warfare, and the use of other weapons or processes.

(C) "Chief executive" means the president of the United States, the governor of this state, the board of county commissioners of any county, the board of township trustees of any township, or the mayor or city manager of any municipal corporation within this state.

(D) "Civil defense" is an integral part of emergency management that includes all those activities and measures designed or undertaken to minimize the effects upon the civilian population caused or that would be caused by any hazard and to effect emergency repairs to, or the emergency restoration of, vital equipment, resources, supplies, utilities, and facilities necessary for survival and for the public health, safety, and welfare that would be damaged or destroyed by any hazard. "Civil defense" includes, but is not limited to:

(1) Those measures to be taken during a hazard, including all of the following:

(a) The enforcement of those passive defense regulations necessary for the protection of the civilian population and prescribed by duly established military or civil authorities;

(b) The evacuation of personnel to shelter areas;

(c) The control of traffic and panic situations;

(d) The control and use of emergency communications, lighting, and warning equipment and systems.

(2) Those measures to be taken after a hazard has occurred, including all of the following:

(a) Activities necessary for firefighting, rescue, emergency, medical, health, and sanitation services;

(b) Monitoring for secondary hazards that could be caused from the initiating event;

(c) Damage assessment and disaster analysis operations;

(d) Coordination of disaster assistance programs;

(e) Monitoring for effects from weapons;

(f) Unexploded bomb reconnaissance;

(g) Essential debris clearance;

(h) Decontamination operations;

(i) Documentation of operations and financial expenses;

(j) Resource control;

(k) Any other activities that may be necessary for survival and the overall health, safety, and welfare of the civilian population.

(E) "Disaster" means any imminent threat or actual occurrence of widespread or severe damage to or loss of property, personal hardship or injury, or loss of life that results from any natural phenomenon or act of a human.

(F) Except as provided in section 5502.41 of the Revised Code, "emergency" means any period during which the congress of the United States or a chief executive has declared or proclaimed that an emergency exists.

(G) "Emergency management" includes all emergency preparedness and civil defense activities and measures, whether or not mentioned or described in sections 5502.21 to 5502.51 of the Revised Code, that are designed or undertaken to minimize the effects upon the civilian population caused or that could be caused by any hazard and that are necessary to address mitigation, emergency preparedness, response, and recovery.

(H) "Emergency preparedness" is an integral part of emergency management that includes those activities and measures designed or undertaken in preparation for any hazard, including, but not limited to, natural disasters and hazards involving hazardous materials or radiological materials, and that will enhance the probability for preservation of life, property, and the environment. "Emergency preparedness" includes, without limitation:

(1) The establishment of appropriate agencies and organizations;

(2) The development of necessary plans and standard operating procedures for mitigation, preparation, response, and recovery purposes, including, without limitation, the development of supporting agreements and memorandums of understanding;

(3) Hazard identification;

(4) Capability assessment;

(5) The recruitment, retention, and training of personnel;

(6) The development, printing, and distribution of emergency public information, education, and training materials and programs;

(7) The necessary conduct of research;

(8) The development of resource inventories;

(9) The procurement and stockpiling of equipment, food, water, medical supplies, and any other supplies necessary for survival and for the public health, safety, and welfare;

(10) The development and construction of public shelter facilities and shelter spaces;

(11) The development and construction of emergency operations centers for the conduct and support of coordination, direction, and control activities;

(12) When appropriate and considered necessary, the nonmilitary evacuation or temporary relocation of the civilian population.

(I) "Hazard" means any actual or imminent threat to the survival or overall health, safety, or welfare of the civilian population that is caused by any natural, human-made, or technological event. "Hazard" includes, without limitation, an attack, disaster, and emergency.

(J) "Hazard identification" means an identification, historical analysis, inventory, or spatial distribution of risks that could affect a specific geographical area and that would cause a threat to the survival, health, safety, or welfare of the civilian population, the property of that population, or the environment.

(K) "Law" includes a general or special statute, law, local law, ordinance, resolution, rule, order, or rule of common law.

(L) "Mitigation" means all those activities that reduce or eliminate the probability of a hazard. "Mitigation" also includes long-term activities and measures designed to reduce the effects of unavoidable hazards.

(M) Except as provided in section 5502.41 of the Revised Code, "political subdivision" means a county, township, or municipal corporation in this state.

(N) "Recovery" includes all those activities required and necessary to return an area to its former condition to the extent possible following the occurrence of any hazard.

(O) "Response" includes all those activities that occur subsequent to any hazard and that provide emergency assistance from the effects of any such hazard, reduce the probability of further injury, damage, or destruction, and are designed or undertaken to speed recovery operations.

(P) "Structure" includes shelters, additions to or alterations of existing buildings, and portions of existing buildings dedicated to public use, made and designed exclusively for protection against the shock or other effects of nuclear, biological, or chemical warfare, special housing for equipment, and all other structural means of protection of individuals and property against any hazard.

(Q) "Equipment" includes fire-fighting, first-aid, emergency medical, hospital, salvage, and rescue equipment and materials, equipment for evacuation or relocation of individuals, radiological monitoring equipment, hazardous materials response gear, communications equipment, warning equipment, and all other means, in the nature of personal property, to be used exclusively in the protection of individuals and property against the effects of any hazard.

(R) "Certifying authority" means the executive director of the emergency management agency provided for by section 5502.22 of the Revised Code.

(S) "Civil defense certificate" means a civil defense certificate of necessity issued pursuant to section 5502.42 of the Revised Code.

Amended by 129th General AssemblyFile No.95, SB 243, §1, eff. 7/3/2012.

Effective Date: 09-29-1999