Jul/Aug 2005: ACCN, the Canadian Chemical News

l’actualité chimique canadienne canadian chemical news ACCN

JULY/AUGUST JUILLET/AOÛT • 2005 • Vol. 57, No./no 7

transportation and security

transportation and security

transportation and security

transportation and security

ACCN

JULY/AUGUST JUILLET//AOÛT • 2005 • Vol. 57, No./no 7

A publication of the CIC/Une publication de l’ICC

Ta ble of Contents/Ta ble des matièr es

Guest Column Chroniqueur invité . . 2 The Evolution of the CSCT Tom Sutton, FCIC Personals/Personnalités . . . . . . . 3 News Briefs/Nouvelles en bref . . . . 4 Chemputing . . . . . . . . . . . . . 12 The Pivoting Monitor Marvin D. Silbert, FCIC

Feature Ar ticles/Ar ticles de fond

10 R E M E M B E R W H E N 14 “Sign” Language

Regulated classification and identification of goods are required prior to transportation.

16 In a Different Light

The implications of terrorism for dangerous goods emergency response planning Peter Arthur

Chemfusion . . . . . . . . . . . . . 13 Biodiesel Transport Joe Schwarcz, MCIC CSC Bulletin SCC . . . . . . . . . . 28 Employment Wanted/ Demandes d’emploi . . . . . . . . . 29 Careers/Carrières . . . . . . 29 and 32 Division News/ Nouvelles des divisions . . . . . . . 30 NCW News/Nouvelles de la SNC . . 31

18 On the Right Track

New short line railways across Canada add an extra dimension to the safe transportation of hazardous goods.

Alex Binkley

22 A Day in the Life of a TC Inspector 24 Doing the Right Thing A brief history of Responsible Care® Harvey F. Chartrand

26 A Cut Above

Leadership—the 13th element of risk optimization in process facilities R. Thomas Boughner, MCIC

Student News/ Nouvelles des étudiants . . . . . . . 31 Events/Événements . . . . . . . . . 33

GUEST COLUMN CHRONIQUEUR INVITÉ

Editor-in-Chief/Rédactrice en chef Michelle Piquette Managing Editor/Directrice de la rédaction Heather Dana Munroe Graphic Designer/Infographiste Krista Leroux

THE EVOLUTION OF THE CSCT

Editorial Board/Conseil de rédaction Terrance Rummery, FCIC, chair/président Catherine A. Cardy, MCIC Cathleen Crudden, MCIC John Margeson, MCIC Milena Sejnoha, MCIC Bernard West, MCIC

Tom Sutton, FCIC

T

he Canadian Society for Chemical Technology (CSCT) started 30 years ago as an organization within The Chemical Institute of Canada. It was designed to provide identification for the growing group of professionals graduating from community colleges that have chemistry as their focus.

During my career, I taught these graduates at Mohawk College and worked with them in industry. They are a valuable addition to the chemical professional team.

The college programs are changing to include new chemically related areas.

Mohawk College started with a three-year chemical engineering technology diploma program with the first graduates in 1971.

Laterally, the two-year chemical technician diploma program was introduced.

Currently, we have the chemical engineering technology program with a third-year option in environmental technology. The technician program has been replaced by an environmental science technician program.

A biotechnology technician program was added last year and there is now a new player in the college system—the applied degree.

Our venture is in process automation.

If you examine other colleges in Canada, a similar picture emerges. Some schools specialized immediately with biochemical, environmental, or biomedical programs.

Others have programs specific to chemical lab practices or chemical engineering.

With the diversity of programs across the country from the traditional to the specialist, the CSCT is active in four areas: • Student Chapters; • Career Days—held in conjunction with the CSChE’s annual conference to provide an opportunity for students to hear chemical technology graduates describe their various career paths. It is also an opportunity

for the CSCT Board to meet the students and faculty; • Student Symposia—organized regionally by a participating college and varying from half-day to two-day events. They have been held in BC, AB, ON, and NB. The purpose is to encourage students to make poster or oral presentations. Board members are encouraged to attend.

• Professional Development—courses run concurrently with the two major conferences (CSC and CSChE). This provides an opportunity to fundraise and give members access to PD. Students can attend at a reduced fee.

Funding for the CSCT has occupied the Board agenda for many years. We are the smallest society and have no opportunity to raise money. Paying our apportioned cost to National Office leaves little budget to do things for our members.

I am asking the CIC members for help. The particular society you belong to makes very little difference in member services, however, it makes a large difference to the CSCT budget. I am asking college professors to make the change to the CSCT. This will help us financially and encourage more students to join. If you are already a member of the CSCT, please maintain your membership.

We ask faculty advisors and department chairs to encourage students to become CSCT members. Student memberships are $25, which covers the cost of ACCN. Also, if your college does not have an active student chapter, form one and apply to have a student conference at your college. Help this worthwhile organization!

Advertising/Publicité advertising@accn.ca Subscription Rates/Tarifs d’abonnement Non CIC members/Non-membres de l’ICC : in/au Canada CAN$55; outside/à l’extérieur du Canada US$50. Single copy/Un exemplaire CAN$8 or US$7.

L’Actualité chimique canadienne/Canadian Chemical News (ACCN) is published 10 times a year by The Chemical Institute of Canada / est publié 10 fois par année par l’Institut de chimie du Canada. www.cheminst.ca.

Recommended by The Chemical Institute of Canada, the Canadian Society for Chemistry, the Canadian Society for Chemical Engineering, and the Canadian Society for Chemical Technology. Views expressed do not necessarily represent the official position of the Institute, or of the societies that recommend the magazine.

Recommandé par l’Institut de chimie du Canada, la Société canadienne de chimie, la Société canadienne de génie chimique et la Société canadienne de technologie chimique. Les opinions exprimées ne reflètent pas nécessairement la position officielle de l’Institut ou des sociétés constituantes qui soutiennent la revue.

Change of Address/Changement d’adresse circulation@cheminst.ca Printed in Canada by Gilmore Printing Services Inc. and postage paid in Ottawa, ON./ Imprimé au Canada par Gilmore Printing Services Inc. et port payé à Ottawa, ON. Publications Mail Agreement Number/ No de convention de la Poste-publications : 40021620. (USPS# 0007-718) Indexed in the Canadian Business Index and available on-line in the Canadian Business and Current Affairs database. / Répertorié dans la Canadian Business Index et accessible en ligne dans la banque de données Canadian Business and Current Affairs.

ISSN 0823-5228

Tom Sutton, FCIC, is president of the CSCT. He worked at CIP Research Ltd and then taught statistics and chemical engineering at Mohawk College in Hamilton, ON. He retired this past May.

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Editorial Office/Bureau de la rédaction 130, rue Slater Street, Suite/bureau 550 Ottawa, ON K1P 6E2 613-232-6252 • Fax/Téléc. 613-232-5862 editorial@accn.ca • www.accn.ca

www.accn.ca

PERSONALS PERSONNALITÉS

Industry

Government

Distinction

Scott Kroeker, MCIC

Melanie O’Neill, MCIC

René Roy

Scott Kroeker, MCIC, of the University of Manitoba department of chemistry, received an Rh Award in April 2005 for his work in establishing an internationally recognized centre for solid-state nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR). The annual Rh Awards, presented by the Winnipeg Rh Institute Foundation, recognize researchers in the early stages of their careers who display exceptional innovation, leadership, and promise.

Kroeker received the award in the natural sciences category.

Melanie O’Neill, MCIC, is a recipient of NSERC’s latest Discovery Grant. She is an assistant professor of chemistry at Simon Fraser University. The prize funding will enable O’Neill to continue investigating a window that the human eye provides into how certain molecules use light to regulate gene expression. O’Neill is one of a few scientists researching how humans use light to synchronize their circadian rhythm (metabolic and behavioural patterns) with the outside world.

Douglas Stephan, FCIC, was awarded the LeSueur Memorial Award by the Society of Chemical Industry (SCI) Canada. He is head of the chemistry and biochemistry department at the University of Windsor. The award was given in recognition of Stephan’s significant contribution to polymerization of ethylene. A leading organometallic chemist, Stephan and his research group discovered a new family of compounds that polymerize ethylene under laboratory conditions. This initial finding has since been developed into a commercially viable catalyst system at the NOVA Chemicals Research and Technology Centre in Calgary, AB.

University

L’Université du Québec à Montréal (UQAM) est heureuse d’annoncer que René Roy, professeur au département de chimie de l’UQAM et titulaire d’une Chaire de recherche du Canada en chimie thérapeutique a reçu le Prix et la Médaille d’or de l’Organisation mondiale de la propriété intellectuelle (OMPI). Cet honneur, qu’il mérite conjointement avec Vicente Vérez Bencomo, directeur du centre d’études des antigènes synthétiques de la faculté de chimie de la Universidad de La Habana, Cuba, lui a été remis lors d’une cérémonie officielle le 27 avril dernier à la Havane. C’est la mise au point du premier vaccin synthétique contre la pneumonie et la méningite de type Haemophilus influenzae (type b) qui a valu aux deux chercheurs cette importante distinction.

Principalement conçu à l’intention des enfants des pays en voie de développement et de personnes ayant des défaillances au niveau du système immunitaire, ce nouveau vaccin présente l’avantage de pouvoir être produit à un coût minime. De plus, contrairement aux vaccins déjà existants pour cette maladie, la nature synthétique du vaccin réduit les effets secondaires possibles. D’ailleurs, depuis janvier 2005, tous les nouveaux-nés cubains sont immunisés gratuitement contre la méningite puisque le nouveau vaccin a déjà été incorporé à la panoplie du système cubain de santé. Rappelons également que l’Haemophilus influenzae du type b provoque chaque année un demi million de décès dans le monde entier parmi les enfants de moins de cinq ans.

Bruce Arndtsen, MCIC, was named a William Dawson Scholar by McGill University. He is director of graduate studies in the department of chemistry at McGill.

T h e o d o re S c h a e f e r, FC IC , ha s b een appointed a Distinguished Professor Emeritus at the University of Manitoba. This is an honour given after retirement to individuals who have rendered distinguished service to the university and who have significant records in teaching, research, and scholarship. Schaefer is a specialist in spectroscopy.

His research helped establish nuclear magnetic resonance as an important technique in chemistry and structural biology.

JULY/AUGUST 2005 CANADIAN CHEMICAL NEWS 3

PERSONALS PERSONNALITÉS

In Memoriam Roger Moore Butler, FCIC, passed away peacefully on May 19, 2005 at the Foothills Medical Centre in Calgary, AB. Butler was born on October 14, 1927 in Ilford, England. Butler lived in Canada during WWII and returned to England where he studied chemical engineering. He earned his PhD in chemical engineering at London’s Imperial College of Science and Technology in 1951. Butler returned to Canada and taught chemical engineering at Queen’s University in Kingston, ON, and joined Imperial Oil in 1955. He worked in the petroleum industry with Imperial Oil in Sarnia, ON, Calgary, AB, and NY, and until the end of 1982. Butler then became director of technical programs for AOSTRA until he accepted the Endowed Chair of Petroleum Engineering at the University of Calgary from its inception in 1983 until the end of 1995.

Following his retirement from the University of Calgary, he was founder and president of GravDrain Inc., a research and consulting company for the heavy oil industry.

Butler’s experience covers a wide range of petroleum industry research, engineering, and development activities including heavy oil and tar sands production, refining, computer control, and transportation. From 1987 to 1988, he was a distinguished lecturer for the Society of Petroleum Engineers (SPE) and spoke worldwide on the subject of horizontal wells. He made a second lecture tour for the SPE from 1992 to 1993 and spoke on Steam Assisted Gravity Drainage (SAGD), the process he invented in 1978. Since this introduction, 330 billion barrels of oil have been rendered accessible. In 1987, he was awarded the R. S. Jane Memorial Lecture Award, the premium award of the CSChE. Butler is the author or co-author of over 100 scientific papers and patents and of two books, Thermal Recovery of Oil and Bitumen, and Horizontal Wells for the Recovery of Oil, Gas and Bitumen. Butler’s passions were many and included his family, science, mathematics, computers, electronics, short wave radio, sailing, travel, painting, and woodworking.

Butler had a wonderful life, and to his family

and his achievements he would be known to say, “Jolly Good Show!”

The family of Roger Moore Butler, FCIC

Errata The statements of policy were reversed for the CSChE Board of Directors Nominations for president and vice-president on pp. 39 and 40 of the May 2005 issue of ACCN. Our sincere apologies to Paul Stuart, MCIC, and David T. Fung, FCIC. The correction has been made at www.cheminst.ca/about/directors/ csche_directors_e.htm.

CIC 2005 Chemical Education Award winner, Ron Martin, FCIC, was linked with the University of Waterloo on p. 41. He is, in fact, associate professor of chemistry at The University of Western Ontario.

NEWS BRIEFS NOUVELLES EN BREF

First Client for CLS Synodon Inc., of Edmonton, AB, manufacturers of an advanced airborne sensor system to detect leaks in natural gas pipelines, will be the first paying customer of the Canadian Light Source Inc. (CLS) synchrotron facility.

The contract for the first commercial applied science project in the facility was signed in midApril. The company plans to use the synchrotron’s infrared beamline to do spectroscopic analyses of gases in order to refine its detection technology.

Leak detection has relied on handheld gas detectors carried by workers who walked kilometres of pipeline.

Synodon’s new technology will be mounted under a helicopter and will allow more than 100 kilometres of pipeline to be inspected in an hour. Matthew Dalzell, communications coordinator for the CLS, said the beamline required for Synodon’s work is expected to be running by late this summer.

For more information, contact communications.office@usask.ca.

On Campus News, University of Saskatchewan

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NEWS BRIEFS NOUVELLES EN BREF

Federal Funding for Sustainable Transportation Eleven projects designed to contribute to a more environmentally friendly transportation system have been selected to receive funding under the Moving on Sustainable Transportation program.

The Honourable Jim Karygiannis, Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister of Transport, on behalf of Transport Minister Jean-C. Lapierre, announced that the selected projects will receive funding totalling $407,000. These projects represent many initiatives from launching a cycle to work challenge to developing a mobile facility capable of processing waste vegetable oil into biodiesel fuel.

“These projects demonstrate the wide range of possibilities that exist for developing more sustainable transportation in Canada,” said Karygiannis. “They also provide an important benchmark for other communities looking for innovative ways of reducing the impact of transportation on their environment.”

Since it began in 1999, the Moving on Sustainable Transportation program has funded 73 projects aimed at encouraging sustainable transportation practices among Canadians.

Originally slated to last three years with more than $1 million to be allocated, the program was extended to 2007 in response to ongoing demand, and was given $2.5 million in additional funding. This is the tenth round of projects to receive funding under the program.

Funding for Moving on Sustainable Transportation was provided for in the March 2004 federal budget.

Transport Canada

Survey on HR in the Chemical Industries National Silicates will receive nearly a quarter of a million dollars in funding for an employment project to conduct a study that will identify current issues, skills shortages, and training opportunities in the Canadian chemical industry. The financial support is being granted through

Photo by Marcel Hol

the Labour Market Partnerships (LMP) program that encourages, supports, and facilitates human resource planning and labour market adjustments that are in the public interest. The LMP program provides funding to help employers, employee and/ or employer associations, and geographic communities to improve their capacity for dealing with human resource requirements, and to implement labour force adjustments by actively involving community partners.

National Silicates will produce a report summarizing its findings and identifying minimum skills requirements and provide recommendations on training.

Canada’s Chemical Producers

JULY/AUGUST 2005 CANADIAN CHEMICAL NEWS 5

NEWS BRIEFS NOUVELLES EN BREF

Trucking Crisis Impacts Chemical Industry— Dow Responds Fundamental changes within the North American economy and the trucking industry have prompted companies to re-evaluate their trucking and transportation policies.

Overcapacity in the trucking industry through the last recession resulted in significant capacity rationalization. As the economy improved in 2004, demand for truck capacity increased substantially, leading to severe shortages within the industry, with availability of drivers being the limiting factor. High fuel costs, consolidation within the industry, and

a strict regulatory environment following 9/11 have placed additional pressure on transportation—particularly for chemical companies.

The Dow Chemical Company has established new transactional service standards for its chemicals customers in Canada and the U.S. “The chemical industry as a whole is facing a crisis due to the shrinking of shared transportation resources,” said Tim King, vice-president of sales for Dow’s Chemicals & Intermediates and Performance Chemicals & Thermosets businesses in North America. “Dow is taking the lead in addressing this crisis by establishing consistent standards that will enable us to continue to provide valuable transportation logistics services for our customers.”

King noted that a number of factors have contributed to the current transportation services crisis in the chemical industry, namely a

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shrinking of shared transportation resources due to an acute shortage of truck drivers, fewer transport carriers, and carrier industry consolidation. Transportation industry operating costs, especially for diesel fuel, also have increased dramatically over the past several years, impacting the industry’s cost to serve. In addition, the strengthening economy in Canada and the U.S. has created an increase in volume demand, further depleting the already diminished pool of shared transportation resources.

The new policies set standards on a number of Dow’s service offerings—including lead times, full vehicle loading requirements, minimum order quantities, and detention policies.

In the past, these service offerings could vary from business to business for the same Dow customer. A new less-than-truckload (LTL) offering and liquid drum price schedule has

Photo by Zela

NEWS BRIEFS NOUVELLES EN BREF

also been introduced to simplify Dow’s price schedules and the order placement process.

In addition, Dow is providing information on typical delivery window expectations and clarification on standard truck equipment.

Dow designed its transactional service standards to match current transportation industry norms. For example, the new transportation lead time for Dow-arranged bulk liquid truck and packaged truck will be two business days or 48 hours. There is additional flexibility for customer-arranged transportation for customers that have their own logistics capabilities.

“The new transactional service standards follow an extensive analysis that Dow conducted on the capabilities of the company’s internal supply organization, as well as those of transportation carriers and distributors,” said Rob Broomham, Dow’s director of distribution sales and project leader for Transactional Service Standards. “Based on this analysis, Dow has set standards designed to make the most efficient use of the shrinking shared transportation industry resources, while minimizing the impact of the crisis on our customers. Importantly, our new standards create consistency and offer customers choices in how they manage transportation costs.”

Broomham noted that for customers whose orders fall within the standards, the impact will be minimal. He estimated that most customers will only be affected by one or a few of the new standards. Those customers whose orders fall below minimum standards will have a choice of how they want to handle their transportation services. For example, they can choose to increase their order size to the minimum, arrange transportation through a carrier of their choice, or they can order from a Dow pre-approved distributor.

“Dow distributors play a critical role in helping the industry face this crisis in chemical industry transportation services,” Broomham stated. “We recently completed an extensive review and optimization of our distribution channel, including a thorough analysis of our distributors’ capabilities, offerings, and expertise. Our distributors understand the valuable role they play and we are confident that they are prepared to meet the needs of customers who choose that option.”

Dow is the first company to publicly announce a comprehensive set of service standards across all its chemicals product

lines in North America, although a number of chemical companies have announced changes in a smaller number of policies.

“Given that all chemical companies are facing the same transportation industry dynamics, such as shortage of trucking capacity and rising fuel costs, it’s not surprising that changes are occurring across the industry,” said King. “It is our belief that as the economy continues to recover and demand for chemicals increases, the crisis is only going to get worse. Since transportation resources in the chemical industry are shared, we are all affected by these industry dynamics,” he added.

The new policies will apply to chemical products from Dow’s Chemicals & Intermediates and Performance Chemicals & Thermosets portfolios sold to customers in Canada and the U.S. For details of each policy, visit the Transactional Service Standards Web site at www.dowtss.com.

The Dow Chemical Company

Nano Applications in the Pulp Sector NanoQuébec and the Pulp and Paper Research Institute of Canada (Paprican) have signed an agreement targeting the development of nanotechnology applications for the forestry sector.

Paprican sees nanotechnology development as one of the keys in improving the competitiveness of the Canadian forestry sector in very challenging world markets.

Under this agreement, the two organizations will bring together their networks of relationships. Both NanoQuébec and Paprican have strategic links with universities, industry, and government. In addition, Paprican will involve its sister institutes, Forintek and the Forest Engineering Research Institute of Canada.

With an initial time frame of three years, the agreement aims to optimize the impact of nanotechnology on the forestry sector and to reinforce the competitive position of the key companies in the sector.

Shipments and Trade Statistics for the Canadian Chemical Industry in 2004 Statistics Canada has released its 2004 shipments, imports, and exports, by industry. The data is shown below in billions of dollars.

The change compared to 2003 is shown in brackets. This data will be up on the Strategis chemicals home page at www.strategis.ic.gc. ca/chemicals.

Overall, the industry showed strong growth in shipments and exports in 2004, and reasonably strong growth in imports. Since this data is reported in dollar terms, a good part of this growth will have been due to increased commodity prices rather than increased volumes.

Sub-industries that showed growth stronger than the industry average in 2004 were petrochemicals, other organic chemicals, synthetic resins, pesticides, and explosives. Sub-industries that experienced a decline in shipments in 2004 were dyes and pigments, and soaps and cleaning compounds.

Chemical industry (total) Shipments: $46.7 (11.2%) Imports: $35.5 (6.7%) Exports: $24.3 (18.9%) Petrochemicals Shipments: $6.1 (22.5%) Imports: $0.55 (100.4%) Exports: $2.0 (43.7%) Industrial gases Shipments: $0.63 (7.5%) Imports: $0.12 (–28.0%) Exports: $0.13 (–17.4%) Dyes and pigments Shipments: $0.61 (–4.1%) Imports: $0.74 (1.2%) Exports: $0.39 (4.1%) Chlor-alkali Shipments: $0.71 (8.4%) Imports: $0.17 (–1.6%) Exports: $0.19 (5.6%)

Camford Chemical Report

JULY/AUGUST 2005 CANADIAN CHEMICAL NEWS 7

NEWS BRIEFS NOUVELLES EN BREF

Other inorganics Shipments: $2.7 (8.4%) Imports: $1.3 (10.3%) Exports: $2.1 (13.0%)

Toilet preparations Shipments: $1.5 (9.7%) Imports: $1.7 (4.7%) Exports: $1.2 (13.7%)

Other organics Shipments: $3.9 (13.0%) Imports: $5.9 (16.8%) Exports: $3.2 (45.5%)

Printing inks Shipments: $0.43 (0.4%) Imports: $0.15 (–3.8%) Exports: $0.07 (–2.6%)

Synthetic resins and rubbers Shipments: $8.7 (18.7%) Imports: $5.9 (6.4%) Exports: $6.1 (14.0%)

Explosives Shipments: $0.27 (20.2%) Imports: $0.14 (32.6%) Exports: $0.13 (26.0%)

Synthetic fibres Shipments: $0.83 (4.8%) Imports: $0.76 (–0.2%) Exports: $0.71 (1.6%)

Custom compounding of resins Shipments: $0.99 (10.3%) Imports: $0.49 (1.9%) Exports: $0.03 (0.6%)

Chemical fertilizer (excl. potash) Shipments: $2.2 (9.3%) Imports: $0.35 (–17.3%) Exports: $1.2 (26.8%)

Other chemicals Shipments: $3.4 (10.3%) Imports: $3.3 (–0.7%) Exports: $1.2 (6.3%)

Mixed fertilizers Shipments: $0.60 (9.3%) Imports: $0.27 (–7.8%) Exports: $0.05 (32.9%) Pesticides Shipments: $0.55 (23.5%) Imports: $0.87 (6.3%) Exports: $0.15 (–5.0%) Pharmaceuticals Shipments: $8.5 (7.4%) Imports: $9.5 (5.5%) Exports: $4.0 (17.8%)

Industry Canada

McMaster Solar Car Races Team members of the McMaster Solar Car Project unveiled one of Canada’s entries into the first-ever North American Solar Car Challenge. Named Phoenix, the solar car features a redesigned aerodynamic shell, a three-wheel chassis system for reduced road resistance, a more efficient solar array

Paints and coatings Shipments: $2.1 (5.3%) Imports: $0.98 (–2.9%) Exports: $0.43 (4.5%) Adhesives and sealants Shipments: $0.73 (7.0%) Imports: $0.48 (1.6%) Exports: $0.22 (13.6%) Soap and cleaning compounds Shipments: $1.4 (–6.9%) Imports: $1.8 (9.2%) Exports: $0.78 (16.9%)

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with 479 solar cells, and new suspension, steering, and braking systems for improved performance and handling.

“We’ve engineered Phoenix based on what we’ve learned from our previous two cars, Fireball 1 and Fireball 2,” explained Avery Yuen, project manager, McMaster Solar Car Project. “We’ve found better ways to tap the sun’s energy and overcome the earth’s natural resistances to make Phoenix travel faster over a longer period of time while making it easier to drive.” The North American Solar Challenge is a special edition of the biannual American Solar Car Challenge. More than 30 teams from across North America will race on a highway route that starts in Austin, TX, crosses the Canadian border into Manitoba and finishes in Calgary, AB. Cars will reach speeds of over 100 km/h while using the equivalent electrical output of a toaster.”

“Engineering a solar car lets us put into practice what we’ve learned,” said Karleen Dudeck, business manager, McMaster Solar Car Project. “It also lets us explore engineering solutions in areas such as alternative energy and environmental protection.” The team spent the last 12 months working on designing, manufacturing, and fundraising for Phoenix. More than 50 local organizations and individuals have contributed to the development of the car, which is valued at over $300,000.

Further information about Phoenix and the McMaster Solar Car Project can be found at www.solarcar.mcmaster.ca.

McMaster Solar Car Project

NEWS BRIEFS NOUVELLES EN BREF

BWC Expert Meeting Concludes

A Short Line’s Superior Service Working in partnership is paying off for Superior Propane and Ottawa Central Railway (OCR), as both businesses continue to revel in the success of a joint project they undertook in Ottawa, ON. A steady customer of OCR’s, Superior was looking to expand its volume by rail, especially in eastern Ontario. Before a new rail siding was built in May 2004 along with infrastructure improvements in summer and fall, Superior was handling approximately 150 to 200 cars per year on the OCR property.

“They wanted to set up a distribution centre for propane. The facilities they had in place would not be able to accommodate what they were looking at—75 million litres of propane—that translates into about 700 rail cars of propane annually—a large increase,” says James Allen, general manager for OCR. “Leigh Scott, OCR manager of sales and marketing and Greg Booth, national transportation manager for Superior Propane put their heads together and came up with the idea that we could increase the capacity they had by adding additional unloading capabilities on existing towers, constructing another siding, and putting in the track to serve the new tank,” Allen said.

Greg Booth says the partnership worked beautifully. “When we looked at expanding the Ottawa terminal, given the existing siding capacity, it would have created a bunch of operational hurdles. They were able to think outside the box and say, what if we contributed to the expansion? It’s a win-win

scenario. It improved our operations as well as their own.”

The new track and switch connecting the OCR mainline to the Superior yard ended up being a three-way partnership between OCR, Superior, and CN. OCR picks up the propane cars being shipped by CN from Sarnia, ON, and other origins at an interchange point in Coteau, QC. “It’s an example of a partnership that we see from time to time where you had a Class One railway, a short line, and a client, with each one of the parties contributing something and each of the parties benefiting from the end results,” Allen says. OCR now services Superior twice a day, and has been able to handle the new cars without adding any new trains. This new business has allowed OCR to make some moves towards strengthening its position in the market too.

“Not only is it a major increase in business, but it also gave us the opportunity to increase our number of employees. The time we’re serving this client necessitates another yard switcher, and engineer,” Allen says.

“It has worked fantastically,” says Booth.

“It seems to have improved our operations; it has certainly improved our capacity. It’s been an overall success, absolutely made easier by working with OCR. Everything we do with them makes our lives easier. They’re customer service-oriented, and when there’s an issue, they’re willing to address it.”

Allen says the growth, though impressive, is still easily handled by OCR. “That’s how we like to build a business from a short line perspective, one car at a time.”

The third United Nations Meeting of Experts from States parties to the Convention on the Prohibition of the Development, Production and Stockpiling of Bacteriological (Biological) and Toxin Weapons and on their Destruction was held in Geneva from June 13 to 24, 2005. The Convention, generally known as the Biological Weapons Convention (BWC), prohibits the development, production, and stockpiling of biological and toxin weapons.

The Meeting of Experts convened to discuss and promote common understanding and effective action on “the content, promulgation, and adoption of codes of conduct for scientists.” Experts discussed ways in which the development and implementation of codes of conduct for scientists could help prevent the use of science in ways that might lead to contravention of the BWC. The meeting further addressed how raising awareness and educating scientists on the BWC’s prohibitions can strengthen barriers against the development and proliferation of pathogenic micro-organisms and toxins, and related materials and technology, for hostile use.

Participants debated the overall benefit of codes of conduct, and generated a variety of approaches to developing them. Experts discussed the relative merits of a universal code versus multiple codes, and the relationship of voluntary or contract-based codes of conduct to enforceable legislation and regulations that govern the handling, transfer, transport and use of pathogenic micro-organisms and toxins for peaceful purposes.

While many experts agreed on the general need to raise awareness and increase education amongst the scientific community and the public at large on biological weapons issues, participants varied in their opinion of who should be responsible for promulgating codes of conduct and on whether a “topdown” or “bottom-up” strategy should be pursued. Moreover, participants discussed how limiting the scope of a code or codes to scientists alone would exclude decision makers, facility managers, technicians, transport staff, and other relevant actors.

For further information visit www.un.org/

Erin Spicer, Rail Canada

News/Press/docs/2005/dc2973.doc.htm.

JULY/AUGUST 2005 CANADIAN CHEMICAL NEWS 9

REMEMBERWHEN 10 L’ACTUALITÉ CHIMIQUE CANADIENNE JUILLET/AOÛT 2005

To celebrate the CIC’s 60th anniversary this year, ACCN will feature photos, articles, stories, letters, and other memorabilia related to the chemical industries.

This special retrospective will appear in each issue in this section called REMEMBERWHEN.

Submit YOUR memories to editorial@accn.ca.

REMEMBERWHEN JULY/AUGUST 2005 CANADIAN CHEMICAL NEWS 11

CHEMPUTING

The Pivoting Monitor

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ost of my work involves preparing documentation. I thought one of those premium-priced 19" LCD monitors that pivot from landscape to portrait mode might get rid of that annoying scrolling up and down the page. As no dealer I visited could show me a pivoting monitor and no review I saw ever said what they could do, I decided to teach a standard 19" to pivot. What I achieved has changed the way I use my computer.

The original stand was typical of standard equipment. It was the wrong height and could tilt only a few degrees. The Neo-Flex stand from Ergotron (www.ergotron.com) can pivot 90 degrees. It can also turn left or right to display the screen to someone seated beside me. The height is adjustable with the touch of a finger to accommodate different sizes of people, desks, and chairs … and the fact that our posture often changes over the course of the day. Most LCD monitors are VESA compliant with four mounting holes in the back, so it only took a couple minutes with a screwdriver to replace the stand.

While a few high-end graphics cards may provide a rotation capability, most computers require software. I used Pivot Pro from Portrait Displays (www.portrait.com), the identical software that comes bundled with the expensive pivoting monitors. After a simple one-click installation, the computer

now boots up with Pivot Pro set to the last orientation used. The screen orientation can be set from a task bar icon or a set of hot key combinations. <Ctrl><Shift>9 rotates 90 degrees, 8 goes to 180 degrees, 7 goes to 270 degrees, and 0 returns to landscape.

To test everything, I set a Word document to full-page view. I could barely read it. I pivoted my Neo-Flex stand into portrait mode and pressed the Portrait Pro hot keys to rotate the image to match it. What I saw far exceeded my expectations. I had hoped to see a so-so image that might occasionally enable me to do some editing or layout work with a whole page at a time. It was a real eye opener to suddenly see that same full page without any eye strain and no need to scroll up and down. I went through a dozen different applications and they were all better in portrait mode. I ran my old CRT at 1024 x 768 resolution. My LCD runs in portrait mode at 1024 x 1280: a 66 percent gain in height. Just for fun, I installed Pivot Pro on my notebook. If you’re sitting across the table from me, you don’t have to leave your seat to see my monitor. I can push the screen flat to the table and invert the image to let you see it right side up.

That switch to portrait mode has given me a vastly improved way to work with documentation. I previously used Word at 100 percent magnification and could only

12 L’ACTUALITÉ CHIMIQUE CANADIENNE JUILLET/AOÛT 2005

Marvin D. Silbert, FCIC see half a page at a time. Now, setting it to full page gives me a 98 percent magnification. Instead of scrolling, page up/down goes to the next full page. I’m now able to read all those multi-column Adobe pages in their entirety. No more half a page at a time and scrolling up and down the columns.

Spreadsheets display more rows, e-mails more lines, and Web sites more page.

I find myself working in portrait mode most of the time. I stopped printing drafts.

Who needs them when you can see the entire page? If I need to work with wide spreadsheets or graphics, it is just a quick flip to landscape and back again.

If you plan to buy an LCD monitor in the future, go for the pivot capability. If you already have an LCD monitor, teach it to pivot! The Neo-Flex stand and Pivot Pro software take about ten minutes to install. You will have a superior piece of equipment that will dramatically improve the way you work with documentation. Once you see what it can do, you will never go back to the old way.

You can reach our Chemputing editor, Marvin D. Silbert, FCIC, at Marvin Silbert and Associates, 23 Glenelia Avenue, Toronto, ON M2M 2K6; tel. 416-225-0226; fax: 416-225-2227; e-mail: marvin@silbert.org; Web site: www.silbert.org.

CHEMFUSION

Biodiesel Transport

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ears, it seems, are not particularly fond of French fries. We know this because of a “bear attractant analysis” conducted by researchers at Washington State University’s Bear Research Conservation and Education Facility on behalf of Yellowstone National Park. The ecologically minded administration wanted to switch the fuel used by the park’s diesel-powered vehicles to biodiesel made from used cooking oil. There was concern that bears might connect the strong French fry scent of this fuel to a food reward and be attracted to the vehicles and their human cargo. Luckily, the bears found the scent unappealing and Yellowstone Park vehicles now happily cruise around wafting compounds like methanethiol, 2,3-diethyl-5-methylpyrazine and (Z)-2-nonenal into the air. These components of French fry fragrance may sound a little ominous, but they are of less concern than the compounds and soot produced by petroleum-based diesel engines.

Indeed, a switch to biodiesel reduces potential health risks. And on top of that, biodiesel does not lead to an increase in atmospheric carbon dioxide. It is biodegradable if spilled, and unlike petroleum, it is a renewable resource!

At the Paris World’s Fair, circa 1900, one of the main attractions was Rudolf Diesel’s amazing invention. Spectators marvelled at the engine that required no spark to ignite the fuel. In a gasoline engine, the fuel—a complex mix of hydrocarbons derived from petroleum—has to be vaporized before being mixed with air and set ablaze by a spark.

Large molecules do not vaporize readily, so gasoline is made of that fraction of petroleum that contains compounds having five to ten carbon atoms. Diesel was bent on designing an engine capable of using a greater variety of fuels. He knew that quickly compressing

air causes its temperature to rise dramatically, making it hot enough to ignite any fuel that is then introduced. No spark is needed and the fuel does not have to vaporize as in a gasoline engine, meaning that thicker fuels that have 10 to 20 carbons in their molecules can be used. Components of petroleum that could not be used in a gasoline engine burned readily in Diesel’s engine, and remarkably, so did oils derived from vegetable sources. The engine that so captivated spectators at the Paris World’s Fair actually ran on peanut oil! In 1912, Diesel made the prophetic statement that in time, the use of vegetable oils for engine fuels would be as important as the use of petroleum. That time is finally approaching.

Peanut oil was not an ideal fuel for the diesel engine. It worked, but not for very long. The oil was too viscous and the engine gummed up. Hydrocarbon fractions from petroleum worked much better and could be produced more economically than gasoline.

Diesel engines also proved to be sturdier and more fuel-efficient than gasoline engines. But researchers soon began to link health problems to diesel exhaust. Much of the soot consisted of ultrafine particulate matter (less than one micron in size) capable of penetrating the cells of the lungs and exacerbating conditions such as asthma and bronchitis. The tiny particles also were found to cause inflammation in the lungs, making gas exchange more difficult and putting a strain on the heart.

Soot particles were of even greater concern.

They are far more abundant in diesel than in gasoline engines, and carry known carcinogens—such as polyaromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs)—deep into the lungs. The Clean Air Task Force in the U.S. estimates that diesel fumes are responsible for some 25,000 deaths in North America every year.

Joe Schwarcz, MCIC Studies have even shown that diesel exhaust may impair the body’s ability to fight off infection. Especially worrisome are the large numbers of diesel school buses that expose children to their exhaust. Measurements have shown that sometimes the air inside the bus can be more polluted than the surroundings.

Buses fuelled by natural gas or propane run far cleaner, but biodiesel presents a partial solution to diesel pollution. Treating vegetable oils with methanol in the presence of a sodium hydroxide catalyst produces compounds known as methyl esters that burn very efficiently in a diesel engine and produce far less pollution than petroleum fuel. Used frying oil from restaurants can be converted to biodiesel as can soy oil, rapeseed oil, or even fish oil. They are all renewable resources, unlike petroleum. We can grow fuel! These oils do produce carbon dioxide when burned, but the plants that originally synthesized them absorbed carbon dioxide from the air, meaning that with the use of biodiesel there is no net increase in atmospheric carbon dioxide.

Rudolf Diesel would certainly be pleased to see buses running on soy oil. He would have delighted in the escapades of Joshua and Kaia Tickell who crossed the U.S. in their “Veggie Van” powered by biodiesel made from used frying oil they collected along the way. An effective way to show that alternative fuels do have a practical application!

Popular science writer, Joe Schwarcz, MCIC, is a chemistry professor and the director of McGill University’s Office for Science and Society.

He hosts the Dr. Joe Show every Sunday from 3:00 to 4:00 p.m. on Montréal’s radio station CJAD and on CFRB in Toronto. The broadcast is available on the Web at www.CJAD.com.

JULY/AUGUST 2005 CANADIAN CHEMICAL NEWS 13

“SIGN” LANGUAGE Regulated classification and identification of goods are required prior to transportation.

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any different goods are transported across North America—by road, rail, marine, or air. Some goods, if improperly contained or improperly secured, can cause a transportation accident. Due to their chemical or physical properties, some goods can compound the damage resulting from an accident, regardless of the cause of the accident.

Chemical and physical characteristics of goods include: pressure, elevated temperature, low temperature (cryogenic), radiation, explosive properties, toxicity, flammability, reactivity, corrosiveness, oxidizing potential, and infectious properties.

Lessons from the past The most serious transportation accident in Canada occurred in December 1917 in Halifax, NS. Explosives transported by commercial ship detonated. The immediate result was approximately 1,900 people killed and the destruction of a large portion of Halifax. More recently, in 1998, a truck transporting 13,000 kg of the explosive ANFO (a mixture of ammonium nitrate and fuel oil) drove off the highway near Sudbury, ON, and the resulting explosion shifted the roadbed of the divided highway. The best-known accident in Canada involving toxic properties may be the Mississauga, ON, train derailment where, due to the rupture of a rail tank car of chlorine, approximately 250,000 people were evacuated from their homes and businesses for a week.

14 L’ACTUALITÉ CHIMIQUE CANADIENNE JUILLET/AOÛT 2005

Since the 1917 Halifax explosion, there has been a large increase in the number of goods developed that have the potential for causing—or contributing to the consequences of—an accident. The identification of these substances is the first step in reducing the risk to public safety.

Identifying substances The U.S. Chemical Abstracts Service (CAS) issues unique numbers to unique substances. The number of distinct CAS Numbers can be taken as an estimate of the number of distinct substances that have been produced. Currently, there are over 8,300,000 commercially available chemicals registered by the CAS. The total of all registered substances exceeds 60,000,000. Over 55,000,000 substances have been added since 1980!

Not all substances registered by the CAS have chemical or physical characteristics that pose a potential for causing serious harm during transport. Determining those that do, and the special care required, was a task assigned to the United Nations Committee of Experts on the Transport of Dangerous Goods. In 1999, the committee was divided into two sub-committees—the United Nations Sub-Committee of Experts on the Transport of Dangerous Goods and the United Nations Sub-Committee of Experts on the Globally Harmonized System (of classification and labelling).

The Committee of Experts devised a collection of tests and criteria to be used in determining which goods would be identified as “dangerous goods.” Those so identified would then be subject to specific requirements during loading, unloading, containment, and transport.

The first edition of “The United Nations Recommendations on the Transport of Dangerous Goods” was published in 1956.

The 14th edition will be published in 2005.

Formulating the UN list Once the UN Committee determined which chemical properties and physical states could cause harm if a substance were accidentally released, and thus which goods were dangerous goods, the Committee had to face three problems: • the large number of dangerous goods (and the annual growth of this number); • the unusual chemical names used to describe many of these dangerous goods; • how to respond should a dangerous good “realize, or be about to realize, its potential for harm.”

With respect to the number of distinct dangerous goods, consider the logistics of maintaining a list of chemicals together with their significant characteristics, packaging requirements, and other regulatory restrictions.

Such a list for the 8,300,000 commercially available chemicals, in English and in French, would require over 550,000 pages of regulatory text (based on the sizes of the current lists in Canada’s transportation of dangerous goods regulations and in the United Nations list).

CAS numbers increase by over 1,000,000 annually. As the number of distinct dangerous goods continues to increase, a list of dangerous goods would have to be updated frequently, re-alphabetized, translated, and republished to be useful. This was recognized by the UN Committee of Experts as impractical.

Most transporters and first responders (such as police or firefighters) are not familiar with chemical names. In international transportation, chemical names might be presented in a language other than English or French, and indeed even in a different script. It would be unreasonable to expect firefighters to be familiar with millions of distinct chemical names such as “chloroacetaldehyde dimethyl acetal, 97%” or “tetramethylammonium perchlorate.”

Even with simpler names such as “benzyl chloride” and “benzoyl chloride,” which differ by one letter. Accurate spelling may become an issue in determining response.

Categories To establish a suitable short list, and to accommodate language and spelling issues, the UN Committee devised a system of categories of substances with the object of dividing all current and future dangerous goods into these categories. Some of these categories contain thousands of substances while others contain only one substance.

The system of categories was established keeping in mind the type of containment that should be used for the substances, the chemical and physical characteristics of the substances, and response procedures that would be most appropriate in the event of an accidental release. As it turns out, and as was intended, those substances that closely agree on the three comparisons (containment, characteristics, response) are assigned to the same category.

A name and a four-digit number have been assigned to each category. These are called the UN Shipping Name (or just UN Name) and the UN Number for that category.

For example, the shipping name “liquefied petroleum gases” with the UN number UN1075 covers several different gases.

These UN shipping names and UN numbers are standardized throughout all United Nations countries, although the UN shipping names could be presented in many different languages. The UN Committee of Experts established and continues to maintain a list of less than 3,000 categories to cover all dangerous goods. While the list of 3,000 categories is only a broad division of dangerous goods, it has severe restrictions.

In many countries, including Canada, before any substance may be transported there is an obligation on the shipper (consignor) to first determine if the substance to be shipped is a dangerous good. Testing in accordance with the United Nations Manual of Tests and Criteria is used to make this determination. This publication was prepared and maintained by the United Nations Committee of Experts on the Transport of Dangerous Goods for the express purpose of assigning a substance to its appropriate category, should it be dangerous goods.

In addition, human experience with the substance can be used to enhance the manual to include situations not directly covered by the Manual of Tests and Criteria.

For example, human exposure to a specific gas, in an accidental release, may show that tests in the manual that expose albino rats to the gas do not translate accurately to humans. As there are no more than 3,000 categories into which millions of chemicals must be assigned, the result is that not all assignments are obvious, or perfect. Each year, several potential assignments are debated in the UN Sub-Committee. However, the result is outstanding in the simplicity and clarity introduced into normal transportation. Using the previous examples of chloroacetaldehyde dimethyl acetal, 97%; tetramethylammonium perchlorate; benzyl chloride; and benzoyl chloride, these are, respectively, categories UN1993, UN1479, UN1738 and UN1736.

The UN list is revised every two years by the UN Sub-Committee of Experts on the Transport of Dangerous Goods.

The use of the UN classification scheme allows a reduction of information to a reasonable size for dealing with categories of dangerous goods. It provides a more compact method for setting out how to select and use means of containment, and provides the opportunity for describing specific, initial response actions in the event of an accidental release.

Courtesy of Transport Canada

JULY/AUGUST 2005 CANADIAN CHEMICAL NEWS 15

IN A DIFFERENT LIGHT

The implications of terrorism for dangerous goods emergency response planning

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he events of September 11, 2001 caused North Americans to view emergency preparedness in a different light. Preparedness for transportation accidents involving dangerous goods is no exception. Transport Canada, through the requirements of the Transportation of Dangerous Goods Act, requires companies to plan for accidents involving dangerous goods that present a high public safety risk if they are spilled or released from their means of containment, or present significant explosive, biological, or radiological hazard.

Transport Canada also assists first responders with critical chemical information, emergency advice, on-scene response specialists, and access to industry emergency response assistance plans (ERAPs) through its emergency response centre, CANUTEC. CANUTEC is supported by the development and publication of resource materials such as the 2004 Emergency Response Guidebook.

Industry and government have already taken significant steps to plan for dangerous goods releases during transportation whether they are caused accidentally or deliberately. Pre-existing plans generally focused on the worst probable case while considering likely transportation accident scenarios. Considering the potential for a chemical’s use as a terrorist weapon in planning for a transportation incident requires the consideration of significant additional planning and response elements.

The first element is that planning must be for the worst case scenario where any intervention to mitigate the release of product is not possible because of actions taken by the terrorists to frustrate responders. Railway tank cars and tank trucks have many safety features, and a catastrophic release of the product from the tank is extremely rare, leading planners to consider more limited releases and counter measures that can be taken to stop them.

Catastrophic releases have tended to take place in lower density or isolated areas. Trucks tend to avoid and trains tend to move slower in populated or congested areas and urban centres. In a terror attack, the terrorist is likely to choose an area that will produce the largest number of casualties, and will try to organize the attack in such a way that the release is catastrophic or inflicts major damage—such as a sabotaged valve on a pressurized rail tank car that cannot be plugged or repaired.

In real life, there is no chance of a tank truck of gasoline or of fuming acid being driven into a crowded shopping mall, a crowded stadium, a

16 L’ACTUALITÉ CHIMIQUE CANADIENNE JUILLET/AOÛT 2005

Peter Arthur

large outdoor concert, or a Canada Day celebration. However, the higher the profile of the event, the more the media are present, and the larger the crowd, the higher the location’s value as a target of terror becomes.

In these cases, conventional industry planning needs to be augmented. This planning focuses on putting a fully equipped response team from the chemical manufacturer into the hot zone. The team plans for the mass treatment of casualties, and the quick assessment of potentials to rapidly create evacuation and exclusion zones. The plans include the advance completion of studies for the potential for shelter in place for the particular product so that effective information is quickly relayed to decision makers. Such information is critical in the early minutes—for example: whether to advise people to head for the second floor (a life saver in Bhopal, India) to get above a heavier than air gas cloud, or to the basement to protect against an explosion or radiation. Also critical is the knowledge of how a lethal gas cloud or blast radius would extend—given standard sets of atmospheric variables and the tank size commonly used by the company.

The second element of an act of terrorism is that the attack may come in stages through the use of a secondary device designed to cripple emergency services and spread terror, hindering a further

Photo by Paul Vaughan

Considering the potential for a chemical’s use as a terrorist weapon response. An example might be using a small explosive charge to open the vapour valve on a tank, and then detonating a larger charge under the tank or on a neighbouring tank, either by timer or remote control once emergency services have deployed at the scene.

The good news is that trains are more or less random mixes of cars and train departures are not predictable, making it difficult to use specific tank cars in a coordinated attack.

Chemical tank trucks and pressure tankers would look highly anomalous if driving around in or parked in high-profile public areas. However, security personnel and first responders should not count on the presence

of placards to warn them of the presence of dangerous goods, as these may have been removed or substituted for incorrect placards to increase confusion. For this reason, training and preparedness should include knowledge of the unique shapes and features of the different types of chemical haulers and tank cars as a guide to what sort of goods

Photo by Paul Wurzer

they may contain and the risks that would be posed. Once a terrorism incident has been identified, responders should include a security aspect to the response including elements such as establishing the command post in a protected location, and conducting searches for additional explosives or booby traps on other parts of the tank, or possibly on other tank cars in the train, outside the area that has the immediately identified problem. It is also important to note that dangerous goods can be concealed in nontraditional packaging. Beware the innocent looking cube van, trailer van, or 20 ft. shipping container. If they are part of the incident scene, they should be opened and searched as well.

A third element of responding to a terrorism incident is decontamination. Conventional emergency response planning considers decontamination in terms of a limited number of victims and a tightly controlled number of responders working in the hot zone. In a terrorism incident, hundreds or potentially thousands of people may be contaminated. The worst case scenario would be the use of a radioactive “dirty bomb,” where conventionally available radioactive sources are packed with explosives to particularize radioactive contaminants over a wide area, but other possibilities include the use of highly toxic pesticides, or products such as acids or dermally toxic phenol.

The need to decontaminate large crowds of people while moving them rapidly from the hazard area will be incredibly taxing on first responders which may lead to contaminated victims leaving the scene without a proper decontamination. A suggestion in this area is to immediately consider using local stores for supplies such as rubber gloves, plastic rain wear, garbage bags, sheets to replace clothing, and highly absorbent materials such as diapers and sanitary napkins for surface scrubbing. The decontamination should be as dry as possible to minimize cross-contamination, and efforts should be made to try to organize people who have come forward to help as ad hoc decontamination teams, crowd containment, and record keepers, freeing up properly equipped responders to deal with other aspects of the emergency. Company planning should consider a readily faxable protocol for mass rapid decontamination using common materials for their particular products.

The fourth and potentially most important element of the dangerous goods terrorism incident is that the incident site is a crime scene. Responders must balance the timeliness and effectiveness of their response with the need to preserve evidence.

If the perpetrators cannot be identified and caught, it is almost certain that they will use the knowledge they have gained to cause even greater damage the next time.

The Oklahoma City bomber was eventually identified from a serial number on a truck part found several blocks from the scene, and prevented from further attacks. Everything at the scene or near it, and its initial location and condition could be critical to the investigation.

Once a thing has been moved or altered, washed down or overturned, its usefulness as evidence that could be used to reconstruct the event, or introduced at a criminal trial is significantly reduced. Chain of custody and good note taking, including photos and sketches of locations of objects found are critical. First responders are familiar with the behaviour of arsonists and saboteurs who desire to witness what they create, and this may be true at a scene of terrorism. The difference is that at a large scale public disaster, the high level of focus on the dangerous goods aspect of the situation may lead to delays in recognizing or establishing the criminal element of the response. Just as the worst burned person at a structure fire may be the arsonist, one of the victims rushed through decontamination may have been the perpetrator. In the U.S., the FBI would quickly assert jurisdiction if the incident is a criminal act. In Canada, the local authorities are charged with this responsibility.

Planning for an act of terrorism involving dangerous goods requires consideration of the unthinkable, unlikely, or impossible. As the elements described in this article show, no matter how extreme the circumstances, awareness of how a dangerous goods terrorism incident is different from an equivalently serious dangerous goods accident will make a difference—both in mitigating the potential severity of the incident and in preventing further incidents such as secondary attacks to the initial strike, and, if the perpetrators can be identified, further attacks in the future.

Courtesy of Transport Canada

JULY/AUGUST 2005 CANADIAN CHEMICAL NEWS 17

ON THE RIGHT TRACK

New short line railways across Canada add an extra dimension to the safe transportation of hazardous goods. Alex Binkley

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oving dangerous goods is nothing new for the railways.

They have been transporting them for decades and they now account for about 12 percent of the total business of the carriers. However, the creation of some 40 new short line railways across the country in the 1990s added an extra dimension to the safe transportation of these products.

The companies lacked the trained personnel that CN and Canadian Pacific Railway (CPR) had to monitor the handling of these goods, mostly in tank cars. So the Railway Association of Canada (RAC) established a special team in 1999 to work with the short lines and the chemical producers to ensure that products were properly loaded in safe cars and moved carefully to their destination. The team has also worked with the Canadian Chemical Producers’ Association (CCPA) and communities to train first responders and others who would respond to a spill or derailment to ensure any release of these products is brought under control quickly and safely.

Mike Lowenger, vice-president of operations and regulatory affairs with the RAC, says the team members instruct short line workers

18 L’ACTUALITÉ CHIMIQUE CANADIENNE JUILLET/AOÛT 2005

on how to inspect freight cars and track to ensure they are safe and secure. The team also makes sure that loading facilities at chemical plants are in good condition, that waybills are properly prepared, and the cars have the proper placards.

They participate in special training exercises such as was held by the Ottawa Central Railway earlier this year. It brought together firefighters, police, and other emergency officials for hands-on training with railway equipment in a “mock scenario” environment.

For the first few years, the team was focused solely on promoting safe practices by the short lines and the shippers, Lowenger points out. However, its mandate has broadened, particularly related to security, with the enactment of stricter laws in the U.S. on the transportation of dangerous goods in the wake of the 2001 terrorist attacks.

Transport Canada is also evaluating new legislation in Canada that will mirror some of the U.S. requirements.

The RAC team is working to make sure the railways and shippers in Canada will continue to have transparent cross-border operations under these changing environments.

Photo by Sorin Brinzei

“Many chemicals produced in Canada are shipped south of the border, and we must keep this trade smooth and efficient. We export more to the U.S. than we import into Canada,” Lowenger points out.

The RAC is reviewing its dangerous goods program to adapt it to appropriate security requirements, he added. For example, the RAC has developed a security training and awareness program for delivery on a voluntary basis to Canadian railways that is similar to the U.S. requirements.

The transportation of dangerous goods gained a lot of prominence in the aftermath of the November 1979 Mississauga derailment.

While it was caused by a breakdown in an ordinary freight car, several cars carrying dangerous goods derailed and ruptured, leading to one of the biggest evacuations in Canadian history. While the derailment is one of those events few seem to forget, Lowenger notes that for all the attention the accident still generates, no one died or was even injured in the “Mississauga miracle.”

A judicial inquiry that followed the accident led to major changes in railway operations including the widespread deployment of detectors for overheated wheel bearings that can break and cause a car to come off the rails. The railways were also ordered to space out dangerous goods cars in a train to prevent them from being mixed together in case of an accident. As well, tank cars had to be equipped with extra protective features to prevent spills and larger couplers to help keep the cars upright in a derailment.

The responsibility for the implementation of these changes was placed on the railways and government regulators. That was fine until so many short lines appeared. They are an important source of business for CN and CPR. More than a quarter of the freight that moves by rail in Canada originates or terminates on a short line, so the major railways asked the RAC to make sure the new carriers were able to handle dangerous goods safely and to the standards imposed by Transport Canada.

Lowenger says about three-quarters of the Canadian short lines haul dangerous goods.

The chemical industry is concentrated in Ontario and Quebec, but there are producers across the country. With that geographical spread, the dangerous goods team is based in Toronto, ON and is led by manager, Andy Ash. John Lewis joins him from Calgary,

Photos courtesy of the Railway Association of Canada

AB, (the centre of many petroleum-based industries), and J. P. Couture in Montréal, QC. From Montréal, Couture can also cover carriers and shippers in New Brunswick and Nova Scotia. “We all do the same thing,” Ash says. “It means the short lines and the shippers get the same service in Calgary and in Moncton.”

Ash explains that he spent 22 years with CN working on freight car repair and inspection and dangerous goods before he was seconded to the RAC to help launch the dangerous goods team. “Basically, CN and CPR

wanted the short lines to be up to their level in terms of handling dangerous goods.”

Ash says his team represents the RAC to many employees. “We are out there with our work boots and hard hats.” That familiarity helps them deliver important messages, Ash states. “One of the basic rules for the short line employees is making sure a car is safe before pulling it from a shipper’s facility.”

Teaching workers what to look for is an essential part of the job of the dangerous good team, Ash explains. “We are safeguarding the rail system, not only by training the short line

RAC’s Andy Ash trains emergency responders in and out of a specialized tank car.

JULY/AUGUST 2005 CANADIAN CHEMICAL NEWS 19

employees but also by making sure the shippers are following the rules too. We show the people doing the loading the nuts and bolts of a railcar and what to look for and how to report defects.”

A lot of the work involves training short line and shipper employees as well as firefighters and other responders on how to deal with an incident, Ash notes. “They have to know what to do and who to notify.” The RAC and CCPA have established a community training program known as TransCAER that instructs firefighters, police, and other emergency response officials on what to do in the event of a spill of dangerous goods in a derailment.

Louis Laferriere, senior CCPA manager for logistics, says the program explains to municipal officials the kinds of goods that are moving through their community and how to respond to incidents. “We want them to know that we have response teams that they can draw on; that there are resources available to them.”

One of the features of this training program is a special tank car that can be entered through a door giving firefighters and other responders a firsthand look at the insides of

the car and the various valves and outlets that can be used on them.

Laferriere is full of praise for the dangerous goods team. He says Ash, Lewis, and Couture bring a high degree of technical expertise and a friendly manner to the job that enables them to deliver their message clearly with workers and officials and in front of a crowd or in a small group. “They can explain all the technical information so everyone understands it. They know the rules and regulations but also the practices of the railway industry. That gives them a credibility and recognition within the industry.

Ash and his partners say the community training enables them to get to know the emergency service personnel in their regions. “We are able to open the lines of communication.”

A recent TransCAER session in Viking, AB, garnered a positive response from Wainwright fire chief Keith Steele. CN, CPR, Dow Chemicals, BP, and the Edmonton fire department presented the session.

Steele said it was a real learning experience for his force. “For some of the

20 L’ACTUALITÉ CHIMIQUE CANADIENNE JUILLET/AOÛT 2005

firefighters who went, this opened up a whole new world of what a firefighter does.

It was really informative to everyone who went, and it will definitely strengthen our department even more.”

With the security program gaining importance, Ash’s team has to get to know more of the railway employees. “The security rules go beyond dangerous goods. Even the clerks will have to become involved in the security program.”

Still, as long as these chemicals and other products are required, there will be pressure on the railways and their customers to make their transportation as safe as possible. And people like Andy Ash and his partners will be kept busy.

Alex Binkley is a contributing writer for the Railway Association of Canada’s quarterly magazine Interchange and writes for several domestic and international transportation publications.

Photo by Jerrit Pruyn

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A team of chemical experts in health and safety

1.888.542.2242

of engineers, scientists and technologists

from industry, government and academia have combined their extensive knowledge to cover a wide and complete range of topics.

Subject Areas • Responsibility for safety • Recommended laboratory procedures • Storage, handling and hazards of laboratory reagents • Safety equipment and procedures • Emergency procedures • Accidental spills of hazardous products • Management of hazardous wastes • Workplace Hazardous Materials Information System (WHMIS)

A DAY IN THE LIFE OF A TC INSPECTOR

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s part of our everyday lives, we have come to rely on a variety of chemicals. We use gasoline, fuel, and propane to power our cars, and to heat our homes. Most of us use municipal water treated with chlorine. Whether it is the paint on your filing cabinet, the all-purpose bathroom cleaners at home, the safety flares aboard your boat, it is likely that a shipment of dangerous goods was required for its manufacture. Every year, there are over 30 million shipments of dangerous goods in Canada.

However, for a small group of Transport Canada (TC) employees, the safe transportation of dangerous goods is an everyday concern.

Nearly 40 Transportation of Dangerous Goods inspectors work for the Surface group located in a dozen offices across the country to ensure the safe transportation of dangerous goods by road or rail. In addition, there are Marine and Air Dangerous Goods inspectors for Transport Canada. There are also other dangerous goods inspectors in other federal government departments and government departments in all provinces and territories.

So, what do these inspectors do? Every day, TC inspectors visit persons and facilities that: • prepare dangerous goods for transport; • fill containers to transport dangerous goods; • transport and receive dangerous goods.

22 L’ACTUALITÉ CHIMIQUE CANADIENNE JUILLET/AOÛT 2005

One inspector’s day may include a morning visit to a facility that prepares, fills, and ships cylinders of propane gas that many of us use for our barbecues. Our inspector reviews the training received by employees at the facility, the documents prepared to accompany each shipment, and the use of appropriate cylinders. There could also be an interesting visit to alcohol distillers that ship tens of thousands of litres of alcohol in tank trucks, rail cars, and intermodal containers.

Another day could be spent inspecting loads of acid or a rail tank car of Butanol being cooled by a fire department during an emergency response. The morning would be followed by an afternoon at a petroleum distribution terminal. Our inspector would examine tank trucks entering the facility before loading, to ensure they meet the requirements prescribed by the regulations. Inspecting a tank truck involves verifying that it is not leaking, does not show signs of structural damage, and that each safety device—such as remote shut off mechanism or heat activated safety device—is present and functions as required.

On another day, an inspector might find herself in a rail yard inspecting dozens of rail cars transporting a variety of products travelling across North America. There, she might find rail cars from Texas, Eastern Canada, or California transporting quite a variety of products. The day would certainly include the inspection of each

Photo by Asdasd Afasfa

car’s securement, ensuring it will not leak on its long journey. The inspection of each structural component of the rail car would be essential to ensure it does not show signs of damage that might weaken its integrity.

Another day could be spent inspecting loads of hazardous waste ensuring they were classified properly, prepared for transport in containers that would be compatible with the product, and documented in accordance with the three or four different sets of regulatory requirements.

There are also stressful days, which can continue over a week, where our inspectors attend a road accident or train derailment involving dangerous goods. They would oversee the response of the emergency team, the industry response, provide technical assistance to the various responders, and examine the performance of the containers.

They would also think about answers to: • Could release from a container have been avoided and should we review the design requirements to prevent such releases in the future?

• Were all the regulatory requirements met?

• Was the required emergency response information available to police officers, firefighters, emergency medical services arriving at the scene?

Last, but certainly not least, there are those important days when our inspectors educate themselves by attending classes, conferences, seminars, training exercises, and simulations offered by our own training unit, other training organizations, other government agencies, or industry groups. It also allows each inspector to present and offer peer training to co-workers to continually develop our knowledge base and our ability to provide guidance and leadership to our clients and our partners.

Next time you are following a truck displaying placards indicating a load of dangerous goods, or waiting at a rail crossing counting rail cars with your kids, don’t forget about the work of TC’s transportation of dangerous goods inspectors in ensuring safety.

We are proud of the work we do for the safety of all Canadians and our environment.

emergency response and data compilation, and reports. It is available upon request and distributed free of charge to more than 23,000 readers in Canada and abroad.

Past issues of the TDG Newsletter are available for viewing at www.tc.gc.ca/tdg/ newsletter/menu.htm.

Courtesy of Transport Canada The Dangerous Goods Newsletter, published quarterly by the Directorate, includes information on accident flows and trends, regulatory interpretations, reports on national and international events, regulatory and compliance requirements and activities, risk management and assessment techniques,

TRANSPORTING DANGEROUS GOODS Each day nearly 80,000 shipments of dangerous goods are moved by road, rail, water, and air in Canada. The vast majority of shipments of dangerous goods reach their destinations safely—out of 30,000,000 shipments of dangerous goods in 2004, there were approximately 600 accidents.

That means over 99 percent of shipments made it safely to their destinations.

And most of the accidents were minor and occurred during the handling process, not during transportation.

In fact, very few accidents involving dangerous goods are caused by the goods themselves.

Transport Canada

Photo by Chutiporn Chaitachawong

Photo by Asdasd Afasfa

JULY/AUGUST 2005 CANADIAN CHEMICAL NEWS 23

DOING THE RIGHT THING A brief history of Responsible Care®

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esponsible Care® is the result of an evolutionary process. Its foundations probably came from three sources: the unique challenges faced by the chemical industry; the institutional innovation that characterizes Canada’s approach to issues; and the profound leadership of companies that recognized the industry had to make an unprecedented leap forward and adopt a different ethic in working with communities, governments, and society.

Fifty-two countries have adopted Responsible Care, even though it was conceived as a home-grown response to challenges faced by Canada’s chemical industry.

Responsible Care was not a direct consequence of the deadly gas leak at Bhopal, India, in 1984, which left more than 3,800 dead and 11,000 with disabilities. The seeds of Responsible Care were being sown well before Bhopal. In 1977, the board of directors of the Canadian Chemical Producers’ Association (CCPA) approved the formation of an ad-hoc group to draft a policy paper on managing hazardous chemicals. The board supported the concept of developing a set of principles to guide the chemical industry. CCPA’s directors endorsed these guiding principles in May 1978.

24 L’ACTUALITÉ CHIMIQUE CANADIENNE JUILLET/AOÛT 2005

Harvey F. Chartrand

Governments were beginning to raise questions about the health effects and safety of chemicals. The Government of Canada was considering legislation that would prevent anyone wishing to produce, import, or market chemicals in Canada from doing so without being part of a transportation emergency response network.

On July 30, 1981, Bob Boldt, a retired Dow Canada vice-president and former chair of CCPA’s Technical Management Committee (TMC), presented a report entitled, “Responsible Care in the Canadian Chemical Industry” to the news media in Sarnia, ON, site of “Canada’s Chemical Valley” cluster of plants. This is the first known public reference to Responsible Care—and the Bhopal tragedy was still more than three years away.

Shortly after the unthinkable happened at Bhopal, CCPA held an emergency meeting on December 17, 1984, to determine how its members would deal with the consequences. CCPA’s board concluded that companies needed to review their operational procedures to identify potential weaknesses. Several companies had already begun this process, but it was felt that uniform action needed to be taken across the membership. In early 1985, a task force of industry experts

Responsible Care® represented a shift from a legalistic to an ethical way of thinking was struck to develop recommendations for an action plan that would emphasize proactivity behind each guiding principle of the Statement of Policy on Responsible Care, with particular emphasis on product stewardship.

Meanwhile, political dynamics were threatening the chemical-producing sector with a legislative onslaught, fully supported by a frightened public. Something had to be done, and be seen to be done.

To that end, pollster Allan Gregg (then head of Decima Research) was invited to present to CCPA’s board data on public perceptions of the Canadian chemical industry. The national survey results found this industry to be faced with the most challenging and difficult public attitudes that Decima had ever measured relative to any industry. The level of risk associated with the chemical industry was second only to the nuclear industry. CCPA’s dialogue with senior government officials indicated that chemical producers were bound to face unprecedented regulation without significant action. This was not the determining factor in adopting Responsible Care, but it definitely helped to maintain the momentum.

In this volatile political atmosphere, the Responsible Care code development and approval process progressed, and the codes were approved in November 1988. There are those who claim that Canada’s chemical industry really didn’t know what it was getting into when it opted for Responsible Care. Had the ethic been presented to CCPA’s membership in its present-day form, it might never have happened. The codes that were so painstakingly developed did not contain static requirements; rather, they required

continuous performance improvement.

Responsible Care represented a shift from a legalistic to an ethical way of thinking. The toughest part for members was that, for the first time, they would have to report to CCPA on matters related to their internal practices.

As it was vital to be seen to be doing the right thing, CCPA’s president Jean Bélanger, FCIC, held press conferences across Canada, revealing the findings of the Decima survey and how chemical companies were responding to its damning indictments through the Responsible Care program. Bélanger told many journalists and broadcasters from coast-to-coast that CCPA’s member-companies were no longer secretive, but were instead subjecting themselves to scrutiny by outsiders, including community activists.

A fundamental corporate cultural change had definitely occurred.

CCPA’s members were conscious of the dangers of the weak link in the chain. Any incident involving chemicals reflected badly on all companies. This recognition brought peer pressure squarely into play—CCPA established a set of protocols to be followed when a member’s commitment to Responsible Care was in question. The ultimate sanction was to request a member’s resignation from CCPA, if all efforts to help either failed or were rejected. The idea was that as long as a company was a CCPA member, there was always the probability of a positive outcome.

Responsible Care leadership groups comprising member-company CEOs were formed to identify problems, share solutions, provide assistance, and maintain the corporate commitment at the very top. It was this kind of leadership that recognized the necessity of Responsible Care, especially after Bhopal.

CCPA’s members let the people in government know what they were trying to do, and were given enough time to move Responsible Care forward. The formula proved to be so successful that it has since been duplicated around the world.

It would be hard for the pioneers of Responsible Care to envision that the initiative would have grown in depth and breadth to its current form, including such elements as mandatory three-year verification by peers and the public, collective performance reporting, and extension along the chemical value chain to railroads, truckers, recyclers, upstream raw material suppliers, and users.

The ethic’s pioneers would be less surprised to know of the challenges still faced by the industry, with growing concerns about longterm health effects of minute quantities of chemicals and the use of chemicals as weapons by terrorists. These visionary pioneers would be delighted to see the growing global commitment of chemical companies and their associations to ensuring that Responsible Care addresses these concerns, and by their commitment to increasing public trust in the chemical industry and its products.

Harvey F. Chartrand is an Ottawa-based freelance writer whose stories have appeared in The Globe and Mail, the Ottawa Citizen, the National Post, and The Jerusalem Post, among other publications. Chartrand is the editor of Ottawa Life magazine.

JULY/AUGUST 2005 CANADIAN CHEMICAL NEWS 25

Leadership— the 13th element of risk optimization in process facilities

A CUT ABOVE

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he CSChE’s Process Safety Management Guide outlines the 12 elements of management discipline. “Doing the right things” becomes the 13th element.

Successful leaders understand the vital importance of trust in the workplace and among their stakeholders. They relentlessly pursue the demonstration of integrity and development of the competence it is based on.

As far back as the 1870s, William James, father of American psychology at Harvard University, claimed 40 percent effort is adequate to keep your job. Another 40 percent can be tapped through proper standards setting, and the top 20 percent is the peak performance zone.

So, the key to get from the 40 percent level to the 80 percent level is proper performance standards. To ensure accountability, performance standards answer these basic questions: who? what? and when? or how often?

The key to the final 20 percent is motivational leadership. Putting the concepts of process safety management to work and improving their performance on a sustained basis takes leadership and vision.

This discussion focuses on encouraging a deeper understanding of the characteristics of leadership.

Leadership vs. management How does leadership differ from management? John Kotter of Harvard Business School says that management: • means establishing detailed steps and timetables for achieving results and allocating the necessary resources. Leadership involves developing a vision of the future and the needed change strategies; • requires establishing structure, staffing it, delegating responsibility and authority, providing policies, procedures, and systems. Leadership means communicating the direction by words and deeds to all who need to understand and accept the vision and strategies;

26 L’ACTUALITÉ CHIMIQUE CANADIENNE JUILLET/AOÛT 2005

R. Thomas Boughner, MCIC • requires monitoring results, identifying deviations, planning and organizing actions. Leadership means energizing people to overcome major barriers to change, lifting them to a new level of performance; • produces a degree of predictability and order and has the potential of consistently producing key results expected by various stakeholders. Leadership produces change, often to a dramatic degree, adding the potential of producing extremely useful change.

So management and leadership are clearly two different entities. But don’t just choose one or the other! Management and leadership are additive and sequential, not mutually exclusive.

Over-managing an under-led team may top out at 80th percentile performance but over-leading an under-managed effort long-term is simply not stable, either!

Over five years ago, as I began work in my current position, things just jelled for the team I inherited and we went on to have the best six-month period of performance in the 26-year history of the operation. Then performance fell off and deteriorated. The ultimate assessment was that mine was the style of leadership that the local culture required, following a bitter prolonged labour dispute. But the performance management system was inadequately developed and further eroded by excessive turnover. As a result, we ran into a performance inversion.

Now, with the kind of management system and leadership style both in place, we are achieving the all-time best kind of performance our shareholders should expect. The lesson to be learned is that you need both management and leadership. With management only, you will have to forego the benefits of discretionary extra effort; with leadership only you outrun your established structure and collapse into the vacuum.

Lead by example—treating people fairly, honestly, and with respect.

Everyone must observe the golden rule and treat other people the way they would like to be treated themselves. Avoid the use of foul language and lower your voice as the other person raises theirs in an argument.

Act with courtesy and fairness. Maintain your composure and don’t let

other people determine the way you act. Practise seeing things from other people’s point of view and don’t overlook a good idea just because you don’t happen to like the person who suggested it. Truth is serious business.

Apply it lightly when criticizing others and, by all means, avoid sarcastic remarks. Be tactful.

Never purposely alienate anyone.

When giving instructions, tell people what has to be accomplished instead of how to do it. Confirm understanding by asking “do you understand?” Remember that each employee’s basic needs include having accessible boss, being called by name, and feeling appreciated.

Emotional intelligence This is not rocket science. So why should it be so hard to do? Maybe because we are professionals! In his 1995 bestseller, Daniel Goleman identified five sectors of emotional intelligence: • knowing our own emotions; • managing our own emotions; • motivating ourselves; • recognizing other peoples’ emotions; • handling relationships with other people.

Never waste an opportunity to tell good employees how important they are to the company’s success. Praise people in public.

Criticize in them private.

Every employee has a fundamental right to achieve satisfaction from his job, to the extent of his capability and interest, without feeling pressure to hold back. It is our leadership responsibility to ensure that our people are enabled to fully utilize their natural gifts and acquired skills.

Our job is to recognize that trust is vitally important. It takes trust for an employee to genuinely participate in helping his company be successful. To earn trust, you must never give people reason to regret the discretionary contributions they make. Earning their trust takes trustworthy character and relevant competence. You need both—they are critical factors in the success of a personal relationship and in the competitive performance of an industrial organization. Training and practice can overcome some shortages of competence but lack of trustworthiness in your character is fatal.

Develop your ability to gather information by being able to talk comfortably with all kinds of people, questioning gently, listen-

ing, and using your intuition to put two and two together. Develop your alertness to the mood of a group of people. Learn how to give others the benefit of your knowledge softly and effectively, giving down-to-earth insight to support trouble-shooting efforts but be the first to acknowledge what you don’t know.

Become lots better than average at translating jargon into understandable terms. Learn to coach other people to use information, classifying and organizing it in a way that makes sense to them. Work at your ability to adapt and improve information provided by other people and help them express their views so they can feel a sense of self-esteem seeing good practical use of what they’ve offered being applied in a new situation.

Never forget that no matter how many times you’re right, sometimes you’ll be wrong and your success is totally dependent on support from the people you work with. Some people are more gifted than others and therefore more able to build trust and respect is in the balance. Keep emotional reactions appropriate and proportional to the circumstances.

The concept of emotional intelligence takes for granted that we all have the intellectual ability and technical expertise to do our jobs adequately. It goes a step beyond and looks at how personal qualities such as initiative, empathy, adaptability and persuasiveness make the difference between marginal and star performance.

Our level of emotional intelligence is not fixed permanently. It continues to develop as we go through life and learn from our experiences. The old-fashioned word for this occurrence is “maturity.” The impact of emotional intelligence on on-the-job performance is broken down into 12 specific individual competencies and 13 key relational competencies.

As chemical engineers, or for those others of us with professional qualifications that are cognitively very demanding, entry screening is based almost entirely on IQ. Since those entering the profession all have high IQs, IQ provides little competitive advantage among individuals. It becomes a threshold or entrylevel competence—just something you need to get in the door in the first place. Much the same thing applies to technical expertise—it is something you need for entry or further advancement to a certain job. That makes it another threshold competence. Since

everyone has the required amount of it, it does little to distinguish among individuals.

On the other hand, emotional intelligence factors figure hardly at all in pre-screening to most professions, so there can be a whole spectrum of emotional intelligence levels among people entering into and advancing within these professions. That is why emotional intelligence becomes such a factor for success or failure. And more so, emotional intelligence and cognitive skills are more than additive—they are synergistic—you multiply them! Top performers have both. At the other end of the spectrum, out-of-control emotions can make smart people act as if they are stupid. So how does emotional intelligence lead to job competence and excellence?

Our level of emotional intelligence is what determines our ability to learn practical skills in five identified and very critical sectors: self-awareness, self-motivation, self-regulation, empathy, and social skills. Emotional competence evaluates how effectively we have translated this natural ability into results in the form of job capabilities.

Conclusion Prudent construction and installation of quality equipment and care in recruiting and staffing, alone, can result in 40th percentile performance in manufacturing process operations. Rigorous application of management discipline can elevate the performance level to the 80th percentile level. Attaining and sustaining a standing in that top 20 percent requires strong leadership that responds to the competence and credibility expectations of the internal and external stakeholders.

The ability to lead and inspire people is to a large degree instinctive and more fully acquired through life experience. In spite of that, a significant component of it is premeditated and can be learned, with focused analytical attention. Learning to attend to those visible signals of competence and integrity, and mastering as wide as possible an array of emotional competences, will help anyone to become a significantly more effective leader.

R. Thomas Boughner, MCIC, is general manager of Mackenzie Operations at Pope & Talbot Ltd. in Mackenzie, BC.

JULY/AUGUST 2005 CANADIAN CHEMICAL NEWS 27

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CNC/IUPAC TRAVEL AWARDS FOR 2006 BOURSES DE VOYAGE DU CNC/UICPA POUR 2006

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he Canadian National Committee for the International Union of Pure and Applied Chemistry (CNC/IUPAC) established a program of Travel Awards for young Canadian scientists in 1982. These Awards are financed jointly by the Canadian Society for Chemistry’s Gendron Fund and by CNC/IUPAC’s Company Associates (Boehringer Ingelheim, Bruker Biospin, Merck Frosst). The purpose of these Awards is to help young Canadian scientists and engineers, who should be within 10 years of gaining their PhDs, present a paper at an IUPAC-sponsored conference outside Canada and the U.S. Deadline for receipt of applications: October 14, 2005 Details of the applications procedures can be found at: www.cnc-iupac.org.

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e Comité national canadien de l’Union internationale de chimie pure et appliquée (CNC/UICPA) remet des bourses de voyage aux jeunes scientifiques canadiens depuis 1982. Ces bourses sont subventionées par le Fonds Gendron (administré par la Société canadienne de chimie) et par les compagnies associées au CNC/UICPA. (Boehringer Ingelheim, Bruker Biospin, Merck Frosst) L’objectif de ces bourses est de venir en aide aux jeunes scientifiques et ingénieurs canadiens, qui sont à moins de 10 ans de l’obtention de leur doctorat, afin de leur permettre de présenter leurs travaux lors d’une conférence commanditée par l’UICPA à l’extérieur du Canada et des États-Unis.

Date limite pour recevoir les demandes : le 14 octobre 2005 Pour de plus amples renseignements : www.cnc-iupac.org

CANADIAN CHEMISTRY AND IUPAC

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UPAC is known to all chemists, and indeed to many others. IUPAC’s activities in the naming of new elements and in nomenclature of chemical compounds often appear in the popular press and are noticed by the general public. They also appear in the curricula of many schools and higher education science courses.

Canada’s participation in IUPAC has been coordinated since 1993 by the Canadian National Committee for IUPAC (CNC/IUPAC), with a membership of nine. Six are appointed by the Canadian Society for Chemistry and three by the Steacie Institute for Molecular Sciences within the National Research Council Canada (NRC). This body advises the NRC, which is the Canadian National Adhering Organization on Canadian participation in and activities of IUPAC and to promote IUPAC activities within Canada.

IUPAC is open to all, and anyone can submit a proposal to IUPAC for support of a project. These projects are not meant to promote one’s individual research, but are intended for promotion of chemistry worldwide, and funds can be given for necessary expenses for such projects. These can be very ambitious efforts or on a smaller scale. Details for applying are available on the IUPAC Web site at www.iupac.org/index_to.html, which also lists all current IUPAC projects.

28 L’ACTUALITÉ CHIMIQUE CANADIENNE JUILLET/AOÛT 2005

Canada is known for its participation and service in international activities, and its activity in IUPAC is no exception. Canada was a member from the beginning of IUPAC, being accepted into membership at the First International Conference of Chemistry in Rome in June of 1920, joining the five founder nations (France, U.K., U.S., Belgium, and Italy), along with Greece, Poland, Denmark, The Netherlands, Spain, and Czechoslovakia.

Canada began taking a leadership role in IUPAC after World War II, with E. W. R. Steacie serving as a president of the Physical Chemistry Section from 1951 to 1955. Others who have served as presidents of this Division are Norman Jones (1973 to 1977), and Ron D. Weir, FCIC (Royal Military College, Kingston), for 2004 to 2005.

Presidents of the Organic Division have been Léo Marion (1961 to 1963), who was also an elected member of the IUPAC Bureau from 1965 to 1969, Peter Yates, FCIC (1977 to 1979), and Tom Tidwell, FCIC (2001 to 2003).

Others with leadership positions have been W. G. Schneider, FCIC, president of IUPAC from 1983 to 1985; Bryan Henry, FCIC (University of Guelph), vice-president from 2004 to 2005, to become president for 2006 to 2007; and Wilfrid Gallay, secretary general (1971 to 1975).

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In addition, Peter Mahaffy, FCIC, is chair of the Subcommittee on the Public Understanding of Chemistry. Erwin Buncel, FCIC, was co-chair of Chemrawn XIII in 1998.

Major IUPAC events in Canada have included the 21st International Chemical Conference in Montréal in 1961, and the 39th Congress together with the 42nd General Assembly in Ottawa in August 2003. Chemrawn I was held in Toronto, ON, in July 1978, with W. G. Schneider as the organizer.

The Bureau is the executive body of IUPAC, and Canadian elected members have been Léo Marion (1965 to 1969), Pierre Grendon (1969 to 1971), David Tonks, FCIC (1979 to 1987), and John Lorimer, FCIC (1994 to 1999). Nelson Wright was a non-voting member of the Bureau as chair of the Committee on Chemistry and Industry (1998 to 2001).

Division presidents also serve as ex officio members of the Bureau.

Many others have served as members and leaders on IUPAC Commissions, Working Parties, Task Groups, and Division Committees over the years.

IUPAC also sponsors prizes for the best PhD theses. Two young Canadians were recipients in the 2003 round—Gonzalo Cosa of the University of Ottawa and Martin Trent Lemaire of the University of Victoria.

The Canadian Journal of Chemical Engineering

can now accept your manuscript submissions on-line. www.cjche.ca/ submissioninstructions.htm

JULY/AUGUST 2005 CANADIAN CHEMICAL NEWS 29

DIVISION NEWS NOUVELLES DES DIVISIONS

THE CATALYSIS AWARD— APPEL DE CANDIDATURES CALL FOR NOMINATIONS POUR LE PRIX DE CATALYSE The Catalysis Award, sponsored by the Canadian Catalysis Foundation, is awarded biannually to an individual who, while resident in Canada, has made a distinguished contribution to the field of catalysis. The recipient of the award receives a rhodiumplated silver medal and travel expenses to present the award lecture at the Canadian Symposium on Catalysis or the Canadian Chemistry Conference and Exhibition or Canadian Chemical Engineering Conference.

Nominations for the award must be submitted in writing to the awards coordinator of The Chemical Institute of Canada (CIC),

by October 31, 2005, using The Chemical Institute of Canada nomination form.

Previous winners of the Catalysis Award include: R. J. Cvetanovic and Y. Amenomiya, FCIC (1977) R. B. Anderson (1979) C. H. Amberg, FCIC (1982) H. Alper, FCIC (1984) H. W. Habgood, FCIC (1986) J. B. Moffat, FCIC (1988) B. R. James, FCIC (1990) B. Wojciechowski, FCIC (1992) I. Dalla Lana (1994) M. Ternan, FCIC (1996) S. Kaliaguine, FCIC (1998) G. L. Rempel, FCIC (2000) M. C. Baird, FCIC (2002) C. A. Fyfe, MCIC (2004) For more information, please contact the division chair, Jacques Monnier, MCIC, CANMET Energy Technology Centre, Natural Resources Canada, 1 Haanel Drive, Nepean, ON, K1A 1M1; 613-995-1631; fax: 613-996-9400; jmonnier@nrcan.gc.ca, or Gale Thirlwall-Wilbee, awards coordinator, The Chemical Institute of Canada, 130 Slater Street, Suite 550, Ottawa, ON, K1P 6E2; 613-232-6252, ext.223; fax: 613-232-5862; awards@cheminst.ca.; www.cheminst.ca/awards/cic_index__e.htm.

ACD Call for Applications 30 L’ACTUALITÉ CHIMIQUE CANADIENNE JUILLET/AOÛT 2005

Le Prix de catalyse, parrainé par la Fondation canadienne de catalyse, est remis bisannuellement à un chercheur dont la contribution au domaine de la catalyse est considérée comme exceptionnelle, et ce, pour la recherche effectuée au Canada. Le récipiendaire du prix reçoit une médaille d’argent plaquée de rhodium et le remboursement de ses frais de déplacement pour présenter la conférence du prix de catalyse au Symposium canadien de catalyse ou au Congrès et exposition canadiens de chimie ou au Congrès canadien de génie chimique.

Les mises en candidature pour le prix doivent être soumises par écrit à la coordonnatrice des prix de l’Institut de chimie du Canada (ICC), d’ici le 31 octobre 2005, à l’aide du formulaire de mise en candidature pour les prix de l’ICC. Les récipiendaires précédents du prix sont : R. J. Cvetanovic et Y. Amenomiya, FICC (1977) R. B. Anderson (1979) C. H. Amberg, FICC (1982) H. Alper, FICC (1984) H. W. Habgood, FICC (1986) J. B. Moffat, FICC (1988) B. R. James, FICC (1990) B. Wojciechowski, FICC (1992) I. Dalla Lana (1994) M. Ternan, FICC (1996) S. Kaliaguine, FICC (1998) G. L. Rempel, FICC (2000) M. C. Baird, FICC (2002) C. A. Fyfe, MICC (2004) Pour tout renseignement supplémentaire, veuillez contacter le président de la division, Jacques Monnier, MICC, Centre de la technologie de l’énergie de CANMET Ressources naturelles Canada, 1, chemin Haanel, Nepean (Ontario) K1A 1M1; 613-995-1631; téléc. : 613-996-9400; jmonnier@nrcan.gc.ca. Vous pourrez également contacter Gale Thirlwall-Wilbee, coordonnatrice des prix, Institut de chimie du Canada, 130, rue Slater, bureau 550, Ottawa (Ontario) K1P 6E2; 613-232-6252, poste 223; téléc. 613-232-5862; awards@cheminst.ca; www.cheminst.ca/awards/cic_index__e.htm.

Call for Applications for the newly established Analytical Chemistry Division (ACD) Graduate Student Travel Award.

Two awards ($500 each) will be given each year—one in January and one in July. The deadline is August 1 for the summer 2005 competition.

Details regarding the application requirements and terms of reference for the travel award can be found at www.cheminst.ca/divisions/ analytical/index.htm or by contacting Ken Yeung at kyeung@uwo.ca.

NCW NEWS NOUVELLES DE LA SNC

PUBLIC UNDERSTANDING OF CHEMISTRY

STUDENT NEWS NOUVELLES DES ÉTUDIANTS

CANADA’S 2005 CHEMISTRY OLYMPIAD FINALISTS

THE SPONSORS (as of June 2005)

Gold CIC Chemical Education Fund Dow Chemical Merck Frosst Centre for Therapeutic Research

Silver Anachemia Science Boehringer Ingelheim (Canada) Ltd. H.L. Blachford Rhodia Canada Rohm and Haas Canada Inc. Syncrude Canada Syngentia Crop Protection (Canada) Inc.

Bronze Atofina Canada Inc.

The National Olympiad Finals (NOF) took place May 29–June 5, 2005, at the University of Manitoba in Winnipeg, MB. The following students, listed in order of their ranking in the competitions, have been selected to form the two teams that the Canadian Chemistry and Physics Olympiads will send to the International Olympiads in July: For chemistry • Adam Lerer (University of Toronto Schools, ON) • Kuan-Chieh Tseng (Yale Secondary, BC) • Joel Tousignant-Barnes (Western Canada High School, AB) • Diane Quan (Western Canada High School, AB) For physics • Ivan Dimitrov (Don Mills Collegiate, ON) • Michael McBreen (Collège François-Xavier Garneau, QC) • Brett Teeple (Western Canada High School, AB) • Rongtao Dan (Point Grey Secondary, BC) • Simon Viel (Collège Champlain–St. Lawrence, QC) Warm congratulations for their impressive performance!

This was the very first time that the National Finals were held in Winnipeg, and countless numbers of people in the departments of chemistry and physics at the University of Manitoba came forward and deserve the credit for making the 2005 NOF a great success.

I wish to express my deepest gratitude to them and hope that I will not leave out too many from the following list:

JULY/AUGUST 2005 CANADIAN CHEMICAL NEWS 31

STUDENT NEWS NOUVELLES DES ÉTUDIANTS

In chemistry • François Gauvin, MCIC (University of Manitoba), who coordinated the whole event and will also be leading our chemistry team to the International Chemistry Olympiad in Taipei, Taiwan; • External instructors: Catherine Filteau (Champlain-Lennoxville), who will be assistant leader in Taipei; Jean Bouffard (MIT) and Jonathan Pellicelli (The University of British Columbia); • Local instructors and assistants: George Hickling, MCIC, who helped coordinate the chemistry competition; Janis Hayward; Hélène Perreault, MCIC; and James Xidos, MCIC. In physics • Balram Bhakar, local coordinator for physics; • John Cullerne, from Winchester College, U.K., acted not only as observer from the British Physics Olympiad, but also volunteered his services as instructor and whose enthusiasm was very much appreciated by all;

CAREERS CARRIÈRES

• Local instructors and assistants: Henry Kunkel, lab coordinator; Johan van Lierop, instructor; and John Page, instructor; • I am also very grateful for help and support from assistants Lee Ferchoff, Candice Viddal, and Heather Matheson who did a painstaking job of grading almost all the physics exams; thanks also to Robert Collister and Ryan Desaultes for their help in grading the labs; • I would like to thank Guy Durocher and Mike Langelaar for providing me with brilliant computer support in physics.

It is a pleasure to thank the two departmental chairs, Norm Hunter, FCIC (chemistry), and Peter Blunden (physics and astronomy), for the unstinting support they gave the event from the very beginning of the planning process—and for allowing us to take over their facilities.

Last but not least, none of this would have been possible without the steadfast support, financial and other, of our sponsors and donors: the Faculty of Arts and Science at the University of Toronto, NSERC, Merck

Frosst Canada, the Perimeter Institute for Theoretical Physics, AstraZeneca R&D (Montréal), Boehringer Ingelheim (Canada) Ltd, the Boland Foundation, the McLean Foundation, the Imperial Oil Foundation, Recochem Inc., TRIUMF, the Chemical Education Trust Fund, The Chemical Institute of Canada, Dow Canada, the Canadian Association of Physicists, John Wiley & Sons Canada, Pearson Education Canada, the University of Alberta, The University of British Columbia, the University of Manitoba, McGill University, the Royal Military College of Canada, Champlain/Lennoxville Regional College, and the Ontario Ministry of Education.

To all, my sincerest gratitude.

Congratulations to all team members, and best of luck at the International Olympiads!

Pierre Savaria Director Canadian Chemistry and Physics Olympiads

EVENTS ÉVÉNEMENTS

Canada Conferences August 14–18, 2005. IUPAC 11th International Symposium on Novel Aromatic Compounds (ISNA-11), St. John’s, NL. Contact: Graham Bodwell; tel.: 709-737-8406; e-mail: gbodwell@mun.ca.

August 16–19, 2005. 12th Canadian Semiconductor Technology Conference, National Research Council Canada and the Electronic Materials and Processing Division of the American Vacuum Society, Ottawa, ON. Web site: www.canadiansemiconductor.org.

August 19–26, 2005. 20th International Symposium on Polycyclic Aromatic Compounds (ISPAC 20), Toronto, ON. Contact: Chris Marvin; tel.: 905-319-6919; e-mail: chris.marvin@ec.gc.ca.

August 19–26, 2005. 25th International Symposium on Halogenated Environmental Organic Pollutants and POPs (Dioxin 2005), National Water Research Institute, Toronto, ON. Contact: Mehran Alaee; tel.: 905-336-4752; e-mail: mehran.alaee@ec.gc.ca; Web site: www.dioxin2005.org.

October 16–19, 2005. 55th Canadian Chemical Engineering Conference, Toronto, ON. Web site: www.csche2005.ca.

October 17–18, 2005. CSCT professional development course— ICPES–Inductively Coupled Plasma Emission Spectroscopy.

Toronto, ON. Web site: www.cheminst.ca/profdev.

October 17–18, 2005. CSCT professional development course— Laboratory Safety. Toronto, ON. Web site: www.cheminst.ca/profdev.

May 9–12, 2006. Climate Change Conference, Ottawa, ON. Web site: www.csche2006.ca.

May 27–31, 2006. 89th Canadian Chemistry Conference and Exhibition, Halifax, NS. Web site: www.csche2006.ca.

October 15–18, 2006. 56th Canadian Chemical Engineering Conference, Sherbrooke, QC. Web site: www.csche2006.ca.

U.S. and Overseas August 13–21, 2005. IUPAC 43rd General Assembly, Beijing, China. Contact: IUPAC Secretariat; tel.: +1 919-485-8700; fax: +1 919-485-8706; e-mail: secretariat@iupac.org.

December 15–20, 2005. Pacifichem 2005 Congress, Honolulu, HI. Web site: www.pacifichem.org.

JULY/AUGUST 2005 CANADIAN CHEMICAL NEWS 33

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89e Congrès et exposition canadiens de chimie

Annonce préliminaire du 27 au 31 mai 2006

World Trade and Convention Centre Halifax (Nouvelle-Écosse) Canada Société canadienne de chimie • 1-888-542-2242 • www.csc2006.ca

89th Canadian Chemistry Conference and Exhibition

May 27–31, 2006

World Trade and Convention Centre Halifax, Nova Scotia, Canada Canadian Society for Chemistry • 1-888-542-2242 • www.csc2006.ca

PM40021620

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