Blueprint For Safety

now there's a foing [Music] how there nonstop light yet but I you [Music] the potential for tragedy is strewn along this highway whether this will be a tragedy or just another Highway accident depends on what happens next the teamwork that will be brought to bear by many different agencies responsible for serving this community can I how about calling the police how about calling the police department for me and tell them to send an ambulance and a fire truck and be sure to tell them that I'm holding methanol and it's leaking and that we could have a fire and there's one injured person up under the truck and please be careful okay there's a phone right up the road here that I can use are you sure you're going to be all right I'll be all right you just be careful all right one telephone call to this community's 911 emergency number will mobilize all essential emergency service Services the response to this telephone call will involve a high degree of coordination cooperation and communication but first there had to be a plan now and a plan forged and hammered out in meetings like this you've seen the draft on a contingency plan on transportation accidents involving hazardous materials and for starters I think you'll find that two points will come out in that one that nowhere in this plan does it try to tell any agency how to do your job that's not an objective of this plan everybody knows how to do their job the other thing is that when we talk about ha this materials you you immediately find that the whole heck of a lot of people and agencies become involved so the idea on this plan is to coordinate all these agencies and all these resources into a real effective operation with these people doing their job okay let's talk about communication since that's how we're going to have to get started with first we'll get the from the as a blueprint for emergency response to transportation accidents involving hazardous materials this plan defines the role of each agency or organization that may become involved so that each is as effective as possible but we are going to be advised by the state highway patrol are we not it sets forth clearly procedures to be followed in notifying emergency units in establishing a proper chain of command for declaring a state of emergency if conditions warrant for evacuating people and providing shelter for mobilizing Community Resources for communicating with media and reporting to proper state and federal agencies so it's important as we go on with this somebody's got to coordinate all these activities and we will end up with some single source of information an on scen coordinator will'll call him now as the last digit of the 911 number is dialed this County's plan once just so many words becomes [Music] reality 911 emergency the phone call is received here at the County Emergency Center a bad wreck on the vision Drive between a tanker and a car yes ma'am how many people's injured one it be a male is he conscious or unconscious okay the truck was carrying methanol from this Emergency Center the alarm goes out V 642 17 North about 3 mil out in R control we 1050 on Division Drive possible [Music] at the accident scene the driver of the truck is following a carefully prescribed procedure these reflectors will warn other motorists of the danger if you need to get out of this area you would could have a fire he just back right straight down Ro the truck driver knows that a spark from any Source could cause a fire the highway patrol is the first to arrive the trooper's chief concerns are for the injured driver and the protection of other motorists but before he can give Aid he must understand the dangers posed by the chemical leaking from the tank this placard required by federal regulations tells him the cargo is flammable and the number is keyed to the Hazardous Materials Emergency Response Guide book provided by the US US Department of Transportation the few seconds spent Consulting this guide book will enable the trooper to act in the best interest of everyone without endangering himself or others I got on a load of methanol and his one injured guy up under the tra and he's bleeding and unconscious you sure it's methanol yeah just one injur in it right one injured guy's up under the trail can you tell how bad he's injured no can't let's go checking he's got a strong PFF I believe that arm's broken he's got a bad head injury well he's laying his back may be broken he's up wi from that leak I think we'll to leave him here to rescue squad all right f b 642 one 642 104 I'm at the scene this tank is lo methanol is leaking pretty bad got a man on the ground with a possible broken bike just out side the city limits on the vision drive better I call the city police and Sheriff's Department to help this crowd control we might need to evacuate fire chief is rising at this time we'll make that decision later 642 temp the highway patrol dispatcher will relay the information to the County Emergency Center are you sure methanol positive I have to bill a leading right here chief that thing's leaking pretty bad we got a injured man on the ground down I don't think we should moving EMS arriv I understand you're going to be coordinating this my supervisor and out here meet you at the command post if you think we need to evacuate let me know I'll handle the traffic really in this County all of the agencies have agreed that the fire chief will be the on scene coordinator and direct the activities of all emergency units responding to the accident in other communities a different individual may be designated onene coordinator while the chief sets up the command post other essential parts of the plan are being carried out the dispatcher at the County Emergency Center calls city and county law enforcement agencies and asks for assistance in traffic and crowd control the patrol dispatcher contacts the state warning point which will alert the division of eer Mercy management and the division of Environmental Management she also will call the trucking company that owns the disabled tanker the carrier will send its Emergency Response Team to help deal with the accident and it is responsible for reporting the accident to state and federal environmental agencies is the driver all right okay thanks for advising us we'll be in route shortly the State Environmental Management division's emergency computer computer network advises State Environmental and public health agencies of the incident this agency also will dispatch a team to the scene Chief we're going to immediately set up crowd and traffic other resources are available to help a community deal with an accident involving hazardous materials one is chemtrek the chemical transportation Emergency Center which operates a 24-hour telephone Hotline in Washington DC go notify kemre that we do have a tanker involved in an accident and it does contain methanol temp notify kemra CH speaking do you have an emergency involving chemicals chem Trak is a partnership between the private and public sectors it can provide accurate emergency response information on more than 45,000 different products advising emergency services and carriers of what should and should not be done in the event of a hazardous materials emergency make sure the ignition sources are secured uh don't touch the spill material and keep all unprotected Personnel up when small spills can be taken up with sand or other non-combustible absorbant material cemre also notifies individual shippers so that they can get their expert to work on the problem we'll respond with our emergency team right away thank you for calling some chemical companies have their own emergency response teams trained and equipped to assist at accidents involving their products shipper and carrier associations can also provide help during an emergency at the scene the emergency Personnel are carrying out their parts of the plan under the direction of the fire chief to minimize the danger of fire the firemen are fogging the area the fire chief ordered this procedure after determining that water would not react with the chemical when the danger of fire is sufficiently reduced EMS Personnel remove the injured person carefully working up wind of the leaking methanol in many AC idents involving hazardous materials EMS Personnel should and do wear protective clothing to reduce the danger of environmental damage dkes are being dug de Bland I want you to meet these men from State uh Environmental Management Emergency Management we've got area DED up if this community needed additional help a team composed of members of appropriate state agencies could be assembled by the Emergency Management Area coordinator anything you need we're standing by hello chief that's not a milk truck down there what we got no it ain't we got a methanol spill there but we seem to have it under control right now we got accidents involving hazardous materials create public anxiety one responsibility of the on scen coordinator is to provide the public with accurate information through the news media to explain the danger without causing unnecessary alarm in this case he has delegated the responsibility to an assistant so he can continue to direct onscene activities situation well in hand now uh we've got it all under control uh we've got it dyed uh we've used a fog pattern in there and cut down the spray cut down the vapors and we've got the leak cut down practically nothing come on in Jen plugging the leak and transferring the cargo from the disabled tanker to another tank truck are the responsibility of the carrier you all right come on bring it [Applause] down okay James let's take a run on down there got yep often carrier and shipper work together as a team with the shipper providing information and advice about the product and the carrier handling the transfer tasks transferring a cargo such as methanol requires specialized knowledge and experience to prevent a fire after the disabled tanker has been emptied it must be sealed so that a spark won't set off the explosive Vapors inside take it away once the cargo has been transferred and the tanker sealed properly the vehicles can be moved from the seam as the immediate crisis passes there remain several tasks to be completed cleanup and proper disposal of any spilled material determination of any environmental damage and proper notification of state and federal agencies okay gentlemen finally all agency Representatives get together to share their impression of how well the plan worked based on the experience at this accident minor changes in the plan may be recommended at the formal critique which will take place later to be most effective the plan will be fine tuned continuously it looked bad but it could have been much worse it could have been except for the fact that this county has a contingency plan to deal with the transportation of hazardous cargo and the possible accidents that can happen so that's what this will remain simply a highway accident and not a tragedy for TV6 news I'm Richard Williams