Incident Air Monitoring Services Contract

Description

The AQinMI service was established in 2009 to assess and monitor incidents generating large volumes of airborne emissions which may pose a threat to public health or sensitive features of the environment. The service was formed in response to the Buncefield Oil Depot explosion and fire of December 2005. The primary aim of the service is to quickly bring together experts at the time of a relevant major incident to assess the emissions to air and the risks they posed to people and the environment and to give advice to indent commanders, health practitioners and the public. The key element of the service is the Air Quality Cell (AQC) which is a virtual team of relevant technical experts having core members from the Environment Agency (EA), Public Health England (PHE) and the Met Office (MO). To inform their assessment of the public health and environmental risks posed by emissions from relevant major incidents, the AQC may require air quality data and samples to be obtained on a 24/7/365 response basis.