Safety and Responders Share the Stage
We're making the response community aware that we're a resource, if they want to use us.'
Editor's note: Safety and hazmat professionals can be and should be major contributors to overall emergency preparedness, says Steve Laughlin, CHMM, of CJ&K Training Services in Lindenhurst, Ill. Laughlin, who coordinates Emergency Response Scenarios at annual conferences of the Academy of Certified Hazardous Materials Managers, Inc., believes such events alert the response community to safety professionals' skills and knowledge. He discussed training, typical hazards, and current issues in hazmat response during an Aug. 9, 2006, conversation with Occupational Health & Safety's editor. Excerpts from the conversation follow.
What do these Emergency Response Scenarios involve?
Steve Laughlin: The first one I was in charge of was in St. Louis, back in 2005, and then I'll be responsible for the one we're doing in Orlando in September [2006]. . . . We usually look at where the conference is going to be and try to develop a scenario that ties in with the area.
Is it based on something that's produced there or transported through there?
Yes. For example, methamphetamine is a huge problem in the St. Louis area. The Midwest has probably a larger issue with methamphetamine than any other part of the country, and there are some counties outside of St. Louis that rank as the meth capitals of the country. There was a nice tie-in for our organization because meth labs use a lot of industrial chemicals and there are significant safety hazards involved with these labs. There is also a hazard for the law enforcement personnel responding to these situations.
I made a couple of phone calls; we tracked down the Missouri Drug Task Force and asked them if they'd be willing to do a demonstration. What we wanted to do was show the potential for an uncontrolled chemical reaction or detonation. The Missouri Drug Task Force did a little role play, where a couple of them acted like the drug dealers. They showed how they go in, what kind of PPE they wear when they do the initial bust, and then, down the road, how they would clean, how they would decon. After the role play, participants were able to walk up to the lab and see the kinds of chemicals they use, ask questions of the Task Force and fire department, and examine some of the equipment that is used.
In Orlando this year, we're going to be detonating a "dirty bomb." That is a very hot topic in the country these days. We'll have a lot of public-sector people: department of environmental protection people, FBI, local police, local fire departments, offices of emergency management. A lot of people are very interested in this drill we're doing this year.
These sound similar, though I'm sure not in scale, to the DHS' TOPOFF drills.
TOPOFF is intended to test the response capabilities of those that would be involved if such a thing were to happen. We're not really testing them on how well they do it. It's more a demonstration of capabilities, although our membership does complete a critique which my committee will consolidate into a report and provide to the response organizations that participate.
You've mentioned dirty bombs and methamphetamine. What other issues and problems are hazmat emergency responders encountering these days?
It's still a fairly dirty science. Hazmat always kind of tries to work its way through as they go. We always fight through the issues of air monitoring devices and having all the right equipment and having all the right PPE.
As an instructor, I worry about the level of training these hazmat teams have received and whether it was really sufficient or not. Do they really understand what kind of PPE they should be wearing? Do they realize there's more than one kind of glove? Do they really know how to operate that air monitoring device? How well they understand the principles involved with the safety side of it, is always a concern.
That's all nuts-and-bolts stuff. That's not the big picture, but the small.
Yes. And from the big picture, as you point out, terrorism is not new in this country, though a lot of people think it is. We certainly are more attuned to it, and we're trying to be one step ahead of everyone.
I mentioned air monitoring equipment. Back in the day, the standard procedure for a hazmat incident is that you would take out your four-gas meter, and your [sampling] tubes, and your PID, and you would monitor the air to make sure that it wasn't toxic and that you had the right respiratory protection. Now, the question is, "Okay, there's a white powder floating through the air. How do we know if it's anthrax or baking flour?"
Exactly: In real time--or even close to real time--how you would know that.
Until recently, we didn't have a way to do that. If you look back at the anthrax incidents in Washington with the mail services, they weren't able to identify it quickly. It took a while for it to get to the labs [and] get the labs to analyze it. There are some firms out there now that are coming up with real-time air monitoring devices for biological hazards. Events change your perspective.
This article originally appeared in the October 2006 issue of Occupational Health & Safety.