| ACRONYM | MEANING |
| ACCP | Access Control Coordinate Point |
| AHPS | Advanced Hydrological Prediction System |
| ALCOSAN | Allegheny County Sanitary Authority |
| AML | Arc Macro Language |
| AP | assembly point |
| ARCHIE | Automated Resource for Chemical Hazard Incident Evaluation |
| BBK | blackboard kernel |
| C | base camp |
| CAER | Community Awareness & Emergency Response |
| CAMEO | Computer-Aided Management of Emergency Operations |
| CAR | Capability Assessment for Readiness |
| CAS | Chemical Abstracts Service |
| CDRG | Catastrophic Disaster Response Group |
| CEPP | Chemical Emergency Preparedness Program |
| CERCLA | Comprehensive Environmental Recovery, Compensation, and Liability Act |
| CGI | common gateway interface |
| CHRIS/HACS | Chemical Hazards Response Information System/Hazard Assessment Computer System |
| CMA | Chemical Manufacturers Association |
| DA | decontamination area |
| DBA | data base administrator |
| DCM | disaster class manager |
| DFO | disaster field office |
| DRS | Disaster Reduction Systems |
| EHS | environmental health & safety OR extremely hazardous substance |
| EICC | emergency information & coordination center |
| EIIP | Emergency Information Infrastructure Partnership |
| EIS/C | Emergency Information System/Chemical |
| EMI | Emergency Management Institute (FEMA) |
| EMS | emergency management system |
| EOC | emergency operations center |
| EPCRA | Emergency Planning & Community Right to Know Act of 1986 |
| EPZ | Emergency Planning Zone |
| ERLink | Emergency Response Link |
| ERT | emergency response team |
| ESF | emergency support functions |
| ESRI | Environmental Systems Research Institute |
| FCO | federal coordinating officer |
| FECC | Federal Emergency Communications Coordinator |
| FEMA | Federal Emergency Management Agency |
| FERC | Federal Emergency Response Capability |
| FRERP | Federal Radiological Emergency Response Plan |
| FRP | Federal Response Plan |
| FTP | file transfer protocol |
| GIS | geographic information systems |
| GSPIA | Graduate School of Public & International Affairs (The University of Pittsburgh) |
| GSR | graduate student researcher |
| GUI | graphical user interface |
| HAZOP | Hazard & Operability Study |
| HIT | Hazard Information Transmission |
| HMAC | Hazardous Materials Advisory Council |
| HTML | hyper text markup language |
| ICS | incident command system |
| IDLH | Immediately Dangerous to Life or Health |
| IDNDR | United Nations International Decade for Natural Disaster Reduction |
| IISIS | Interactive, Intelligent, Spatial Information System |
| JIC | joint information center |
| LEPC | Local Emergency Planning Committee |
| LOC | level of concern |
| M | marshalling area |
| MACS | multi-agency coordination system |
| MARPLOT | Mapping Application for Response and Planning of Local Operational Tasks |
| MC | mobilization center |
| MSDS | material safety data sheet |
| NCCEM | National Coordinating Council of Emergency Management |
| NCP | National Oil & Hazardous Substances Pollution Control Plan |
| NCS | National Communications System |
| NDIS | Natural Disaster Information Systems |
| NECC | National Emergency Coordination Center |
| NEIS | National Earthquake Information Service |
| NEMA | National Emergency Management Association |
| NFPA | National Fire Protection Association |
| NGO | non-governmental organization |
| NOAA | National Oceanic & Atmospheric Administration |
| NPL | National Priority List |
| NRC | National Response Center |
| NRT | National Response Team |
| NSF | National Science Foundation |
| NTP | National Toxicology Program |
| NVFC | National Volunteer Fire Council |
| NWS | National Weather Service |
| OASIS | Operational Area Satellite Information System (California) |
| OHMTADS | Oil and Hazardous Materials Technical Assistance Data System |
| OSHA | Occupational Safety & Health Administration |
| PEMA | Pennsylvania Emergency Management Agency |
| PIP | pollution incident prevention |
| POA | point of arrival |
| POD | point of departure |
| PPB | parts per billion |
| PPC | preparedness, preparation & contingency plan |
| PPM | parts per million |
| RA | Restricted Area |
| RCRA | Resource Conservation & Recovery Act of 1976 |
| RDBMS | relational data base management system |
| REC | Rescue Engineering Council |
| RIDS | Response Information Data Sheets |
| ROC | regional operations center |
| RPC | remote procedure calls |
| RQ | reportable quantity |
| RTECS | Registry of Toxic Effects of Chemicals |
| S | staging area |
| SALEMDUG | State & Local Emergency Management Data Users Group |
| SAR | search and rescue |
| SARA | Superfund Amendments and Reauthorization Act of 1986 |
| SEMS | Standardized Emergency Management System (California) |
| SERC | State Emergency Response Commission |
| SIC | standard industrial classification |
| SNDR | Subcommittee on Natural Disaster Reduction of the Committee on Environment & Natural Resources of the president's National Science & Technology Council |
| SP | Security Perimeter |
| SPCC | spill prevention control & countermeasure |
| SPR | spill prevention response |
| SQL | system query language |
| STCC | Standard Transportation Commodity Code |
| STEL | Short-term Exposure Limit |
| TIGER | Topologically Integrated Geographic Encoding and Referencing |
| TLV | threshold limit value |
| TPQ | threshold planning quantity |
| TWA | time-weighted average |
| UCSUR | University Center for Social & Urban Research (The University of Pittsburgh) |
| USGS | United States Geological Service |
| WWW | world wide web |