Spill Management
By Cliff Holland*
Never assume is the first ruie with hazardous materiais
Today,more people are be
lished to instill fear in those that
coming involved with res ponding to hazardous mate
respond to spills. This fear or excite
rial incidents. The aware
use of news articles, pictures, video footage, and the demonstration of
ness ofdangerous goods has brought an influx of new personnel into such areas as police, fire, utilities, indus try, support and resource services. Many of these people have been promoted or appointed to responsible roles with little experience. As a result, the first rule in handling a hazardous material has been over looked — never assume.
Organized response teams began responding to spills long before the mandatory labelling, placarding,
and material safety data sheet sys
ment is further stimulated with the
chemical reactions.
passing overhead...but someone for got tbe "flash point". The vapor clouds or plumes tend to spread out like oil on water,and in most cases the problem is not being quantified to the volume spilled.The
Never assume
Never assume...the person has authorization to be in the area.
Never assume...the fire truck with flashing lights can provide the expertise to handle the situation.
Never assume...the worker doesn't know what the properties of the chemi cal are. Never assume...the chemical Is stable.
Never assume...the vapors are not toxic. Never assume...the leaking container is of good integrity. Never assume...the job is routine. Never assume...your instructions are fully understood.
Therefore,the first rule at a hazardous material Incident \s...Never Assume. tems made the cautionary informa tion more apparent. Training was To further enhance the sensation people making these statements for the most part, shared informa of awareness training, people begin don't have enough hands-on expe tion developed by knowledgeable to believe (not understand) state rience and knowledge to assess the individuals and taught at special ments such as: probable hazards of a substance or colleges or on site. The procedure for the potential byproducts. • Hazardous materials are going to approaching unknown chemicals The first rule in handling hazar and situations was to approach with hurt you; dous materials becomes more clou • Roll-up doors on the back of trucks a high level of awareness. Learning ded and obscure as the new responto be your own safety officer and are going to cause an explosion; and der begins his training. Few of the • Don't go near the chemical, the being aware of team members' abi "how-to-do's" are taught. Instead, lity to function clearly were also plume will knock you down (out level "A" response and sitedoors). important factors. The most impor management to the disaster level is tant rule is never assume anything, These statements may be true in the focus. As a result, spills are not including that the placards or the specific instances, but they are not handled as well as many debriefings well qualified. If you know and res label on the container are correct. would bave us believe, and the These are only indicators — human pect the properties of the chemical apprenticeship system is non-exis error may be causing the problem. you are working with, you won't get tent. The countermeasures for envi Within the last two years, promo hurt. However, if you assume you ronmental impact procedures be tional and training materials are know,and you assume nothing could come muddling processes. The leaning more to the sensational and go wrong, you could get killed. newly trained responder or site co disaster aspects of hazardous mate The truck's roll-up doors are a ordinator is best qualified to secure potential source of ignition, so is the site, not let anybody in,evacuate rial incidents. The serious common your clothing, and a thunderstorm sense approaches are being embel the area and make risk assumptions
—
based on bear-say rather than under standing and facts. Recently, at a tanktruck rollover, an individual with more than 25
years of tanktruck and railcar res ponse experience stopped at the police line and identified himself to an officer. He was told all was well
and proceeded on to work. Nine hours into the incident, the same man was phoned and asked to aid in the transfer and to do the site resto ration. The site co-ordinators and res
ponse agencies who are responding to hazardous material incidents are
assuming a lot of expertise to let a person of this calibre slip by. Remember the rules are the same.
The profile is higher. Homeowners In York Region responded enthusiastically to a 'drop off week end' for paints and other hazardous household wastes. Laldlaw staff sorted out the various wastes with courtesy and efficiency. Photo: T. Davey.
Environmental Science & Engineering, Sept. 1991
Never
assume...
'Spill Management Inc. 71