Emergency Preparedness and Response Unit

The Workplace Health and Public Safety Programme (WHPSP)'s Emergency Preparedness and Response (EPR) Unit is responsible for preparing and responding to requests from federal departments or agencies related to suspected or actual terrorist acts. WHPSP-EPR assesses and tests federal work sites (i.e. conduct initial hazard assessments, take samples, analyse and interpret data, assess risks, and provide advice regarding decontamination, level of risk, etc.). Ultimately, WHPSP-EPR has responsibility to ensure the safety of federal workplaces prior to reoccupation and resumption of operations.

To carry out this mandate, WHPSP-EPR has a highly-trained team of industrial hygienists in three major centers in Canada, specialized in Chemical, Biological, Radiological and Nuclear (CBRN) response. At their disposal is a suite of highly sophisticated, state-of-the-art field portable analytical equipment capable of identifying CBRN agents and/or toxic industrial chemicals in air, including unknown powders and liquids.