INDUSTRY Turning a Problem Into a Solution
MANAGEMENT
INDUSTRIES, especially those that manufacture or use dangerous chemicals, have come under close scrutiny from all levels of government and from several activist groups. We can rarely open technical industrial and fire service trade journals without reading an article about hazardous materials or Title III regulations.
Without chemicals we would not enjoy the advanced standard of living that we take for granted today. Hazardous materials must be manufactured, transported, and processed in order for us to maintain our lifestyles. Within the chemical-industrial complex, there are all types of management, ranging from the “midnight dumper” to those corporations with a burning desire to be community leaders.
In 1985 the Chemical Manufacturers Association became concerned about the image of the chemical-industrial complex and about the damage that a chemical accident can cause. It developed a new program for its members, the Community Awareness and Emergency Response (CAER) program, whose goal is to improve public health and safety protection within the community. It encourages a corporation to:
- provide local first responders with information on chemicals either manufactured or used at local chemical plants and facilities;
- review, renew, or establish emergency response plans;
- expand the chemical industry’s involvement in community response planning;
- integrate chemical facility emergency response plans with other community emergency response plans to form an overall plan for handling emergencies; and
- involve members of the local community in the development and implementation of overall emergency response planning.
The scope of a CAER program is only as limited as the vision of its members. There are no hard-and-fast limits, only encouragement to work together to achieve a safer community.
An active CAER group within a fire bureau’s jurisdiction can present many valuable opportunities in such areas as
- training in the handling of hazardous materials;
- equipment for haz-mat teams;
- technical information during emergencies;
- financial support for fireand lifesafety projects;
- improved plant safety brigades;
- improved fire bureau emergency response;
- support for fire bureau projects;
- a team approach to meet Title III requirements; and
- fire and hazardous-materials mitigation resources.
Portland, Oregon has a very large petrochemical industrial area. The City of Portland Bureau of Fire, Rescue, and Emergency Services has been developing a partnership with industry for several years. In 1980 the Willbridge Group came into being. This is a league of the 12 petroleum terminals and pipeline companies in our northwest district. All of these companies have pledged their fire suppression equipment and foam stockpiles to aid each other’s terminals or the fire bureau should there be a tanker fire on a highway. This system has been used and proved very successful. In fact, Shell Oil Company is storing, maintaining, and equipping our foam trailer unit at no cost to us. The Willbridge Group has donated several thousand dollars worth of fuel, training props, and skilled labor for our flammable liquids training grounds. In addition they have given several full paid scholarships to our members to attend the Reno Fire School.
(Photos by Portland Bureau of Fire.)
During 1984 the chemical and industrial companies in our northwest district began to be more concerned about their responsibilities outside their plant fences. The safety officers of five corporations met to discuss their mutual concerns. From this emerged the Emergency Communications for Hazardous Operations (ECHO) Group. By 1986, this group had grown well beyond 100 members from more than 70 organizations. The Willbridge Group became a member of ECHO while maintaining its own organization for petroleum issues. It occurred to us during that period that the purposes and practices of ECHO paralleled the Community Awareness and Emergency Response program — that we were in fact now one of the new CAER organizations. The group, however, voted to retain the name ECHO while generally following the guidelines of the Chemical Manufacturing Association.
ECHO is an example of what a CAER program can become. Members range from private citizens to worldwide corporations. All levels of government, industry, and some volunteer agencies are represented at our monthly meetings. Our program works because it has only two rules and a limited formal structure. The rules are: 1) politics stop at the door, and 2) if you miss two meetings in a row, you bring the doughnuts! The formal organization consists of one official, who acts as secretary. We have thereby maintained each organization’s independence and eliminated most of the politics. The meetings actually run smoothly for a “Greek democracy.”
The ECHO Group has an impressive list of accomplishments to its credit:
- A member of the ECHO Group was appointed to the city’s Technical Advisory Council that directly affects Portland’s basic emergency services plan. The council reviews the plan and ensures that the preparedness efforts by industry and volunteer groups are smoothly interfaced with government’s plan.
- Oregon has one local emergency planning committee for the entire state. Of the 20 representatives who review the emergency response plans from around the state, four are from our ECHO Group. They report on local emergency planning committee and Title III programs at our monthly meetings. These meetings are usually standing-room-only affairs.
MANAGEMENT
INDUSTRY
THE BENEFITS OF CAER
- THE SUCCESS OF CAER
Throughout the country, municipalities are realizing more and more the benefits of the Community Awareness and Emergency Response (CAER) program. Since its inception in 1985, the program has continued to attract new members, branch out into new areas of public safety and awareness, and serve as a bridge between industry, emergency response organizations, environmental groups, and general citizenry.
Attendees of a recent conference of CAER members reinforced the importance of CAER and the need to integrate it with SARA Title III. “Title III does not replace CAER,” said Tim Marriott, chairman of the Chemical Manufacturers Association’s CAER Task Group. “In fact, Title III has expanded CAER. Never has CAER been more important.”
The following are some examples of how CAER is implemented, reinforced, and expanded by various CAER groups throughout the country:
- Brazosport, Texas, recognizing that law enforcement officers are often the first ones to arrive at an emergency, has created a course to train them in basic haz-mat response whereby they can identify materials and take proper action. It is one of the first of its kind devoted exclusively to law enforcers.
The 20-hour course may be taken for one college credit and meets training requirements of the Texas Commission on Law Enforcement Standards and Education.
- An emergency awareness resource station that provides the public with videos and printed materials on CAER and SARA Title III is in the works in East Harris County, Texas. A local library has joined that county’s CAER/SARA Steering Committee in the effort to promote awareness.
- A recent CAER conference in Monterey, California stressed the importance of community involvement. Speakers representing such organizations as the Environmental Protection Agency, the Los Angeles City Fire Department, the California Office of Emergency Services, and Exxon urged the state’s CAER program to move beyond emergency planning and response and to pursue community outreach activities.
Said Dick Davis, executive director of the Chemical Industry Council of California, “The main benefit of this conference was to bring people together to share experiences and establish bonds of trust. That’s the purpose of CAER, and the conference enhanced that purpose.”
- Indeed, CAER has a way of bridging gaps between organizations that previously were at odds. An employee of Exxon recently received an award given by two Louisiana groups, Friends of the Environment and Citizens for a Clean Environment (C-FACE). Said one C-Face member of the recipient, “He built bridges…. He got people from diverse groups to work together for the betterment of the community.”
- The Calvert, Kentucky CAER group, in addition to its construction of a fire and emergency training facility that will be available to all area emergency agencies and industrial and civic groups, has charged its local emergency planning committee with focusing more of its efforts on disaster prevention.
- The East Los Angeles CAER Association’s new charter focused on, among other things, the pursuit of public education with regard to chemicals in the community and the development of contacts at the local and state levels to improve the quality of laws and regulations.
- The Midland, Michigan CAER Group proactively addressed the problem of citizen emergency preparedness by producing a video entitled “When the Siren Sounds.” The video explains what citizens should do in the event of a tornado warning, chemical emergency, flood, or blizzard and is available for free rental at local video stores. The group has also used local media to augment its efforts.
- The media was also effectively used by the West Baton Rouge Parish CAER Committee, which produced a series of radio commercials to explain what CAER is all about. Public response to the community’s siren system was recommended. The commercials are aired by the radio station that communicates information to the public when the siren system is activated.
- Residents of an apartment complex near a Baytown, Texas industrial plant were invited to “Neighborhood Night,” at which they had dinner at the plant and learned about plant activities, including end-product usage, waste minimization, personnel safety, industrial hygiene, and community involvement.
- A chemical company in Birmingham, New Jersey recently has completed an extensive survey to determine better ways to implement CAER. More than 300 neighbors of the plant elicited opinions in personal interviews conducted by a research firm. Residents within a onemile radius of the plant were reached through door-to-door solicitations, post cards, and phone calls. The company has also installed a 24-hour computerized telephone hot-line.
For information on CAER, contact the Chemical Manufacturers Association, 2501 M Street N.W., Washington, D.C. 20037, 202-887-1100.
MANAGEMENT
INDUSTRY
- Three members of ECHO serve on the local American Red Cross Disaster Services Committee. This brings a close tie that binds volunteer relief services, industrial concerns, and governmental emergency response efforts. This bonding of disciplines better serves the stricken citizen.
- The ECHO Group has shown its muscle a time or two by bringing effective pressure to bear on city, county, and state administrators when industry strongly disagreed with the wisdom of a new code, state law, street closure, or EMS policy. A subcommittee is usually formed to research and address the situation.
- The ECHO Group is the parent organization of six other CAER groups in St. Helens, Oregon; Tigard/Tualatin, Oregon; Clackamas County, Oregon; Northeast (Portland) Oregon; Springfield, Oregon; and Tacoma, Washington. Representatives from these groups give regu-
- lar monthly reports on their progress to the ECHO Group even though there is no formal tie. The whole idea is the exchange of information.
- In 1987, the ECHO Group became one of the first CAER groups in North America to receive the Chemical Manufacturers Association’s prestigious Level Two Award. Also, since 1987 the ECHO group has made available members of its speakers bureau to speak to any company, first-responder, or neighborhood group about safety and chemicals. All of the ECHO companies provide free haz-mat training for our crews on their chemicals. On a volunteer basis, the chemical companies have provided their employees for an industrial chemists list. Our haz-mat team is able to contact industrial chemists at their homes—even in the early morning hours, if necessary—for free help.
- The ECHO Group, which now consists of 165 organizations from seven counties in two states, has no budget. Each member pays its own way during a major exercise. The group has participated in several major drills. The most
- recent large-scale exercise involved 113 separate organizations; the action was spread all across the metro area. (See “A Disaster Drill, Citywide,” Fire Engineering, April 1989.)
- Last year when the Portland Fire Bureau had to take some reductions in its budget, the ECHO Group involved itself in a smoke detector campaign to reduce life loss within the inner-city area. The group raised $20,000 and expanded the program to include the whole city. While it is too early to draw hard conclusions, our fire deaths for the fiscal year 1987—88 were 13 25 per million. This is our lowest fatality rate in more than 26 years.
- Hercules Incorporated suggested dur-
The ECHO Group has flexed its muscle with government in the past when industry disagreed with a new policy or law.
- ing the August ’88 ECHO Group meeting that the group raise funds to purchase and install an Apple Macintosh (SE) on-board computer for our hazmat van, complete with a 40 megabyte hard drive, printer, and software. On October 13 of that year a ceremony was held at the Hercules plant to present Portland’s Fire Chief George Monogue with his new computer system. Hercules hosted the event, since ECHO put it in charge of the project, but several corporations donated to the cause.
Industry can be either “the problem” or “the solution.” By building strong personal relationships with responsible corporations, a fire department will be in a far better position to deal with those industries that are irresponsible. Furthermore, there is no substitute for a personal relationship with a plant safety officer when there is an incident within that plant.