Railroad Hazardous Materials
Accident Mitigation & Response
Article and Photos by Stephen L. Hermann
| Stephen L. Hermann is past National Chairman of Cooperative Hazardous Materials Enforcement Development (COHMED), and is Hazardous Materials Unit Coordinator for the Arizona Department of Public Safety. He is on the Editorial Advisory Board of 9-1-1 Magazine. |
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This article can be found on page 42 of the Nov/Dec 1998 issue of 9-1-1 Magazine. |
The simple fact is, police and fire departments just aren't equipped, trained, or in most instances, capable of handling a derailment. As first-responders, they should immediately notify the railroad, if they aren't already en-route with massive resources. In the interim, the best thing for them to do is usually - nothing.
A derailment can involve damaged and leaking containers and a scope of operations outside the experience and capabilities of all but a handful of public safety hazardous materials teams. Our most significant contribution is usually the rapid notification to the railroad, and then blocking off the area to keep anyone else from further endangerment.
The primary saving grace is that most serious derailments tend to occur in relatively rural areas. A high speed, serious chemical train incident hardly ever occurs in the middle of anyone's downtown. Populated area incidents do occur in switching yards or plant sites, but they're usually very low-risk affairs where one or two cars quietly fall off a track. The railroad usually quickly re-rails them without losing a drop of product, and no one knows about it.
However, several times a year in this country, there will be a serious rail accident, where the abilities of police, fire, and ambulance agencies will be taxed to the maximum. First, let's examine the reasons why these incidents are such challenges, then address what we can do about it:
Most agencies don't have readily available emergency contact telephone numbers for railroads.
Lack of familiarity with railroad procedures complicates coordination.
Due to the flammable or toxic properties of chemicals frequently hauled in railroad tank cars, hundreds of people can be affected in an evacuation.
The typical heavy damage to railroad cars can result in numerous spills or leaks.
Access to the immediate scene, or damaged cars literally buried under other derailed equipment, usually makes initial assessment hard.
Due to historical on-scene conflicts, some railroads are perceived by emergency response agencies as being difficult to work with.
Railroad tracks are private property, and railroads usually vigorously assert their desire to "be in charge."
The costs or potential costs can be staggering. Track blockage can cost a major line as much as hundreds-of-thousands of dollars an hour in lost revenues.
Absolutely the first priority, and the most important thing you can do, is to notify the railroad immediately. Remember, this is their problem, not yours. Unless you have 200-ton cranes, D-9 caterpillars, and side-boom cats on call, you're bringing rocks to a gunfight. Only the railroads have standing agreements with major clean-up contractors and heavy equipment providers. A timely response by the railroad and the massive equipment pools they control is the best public safety protection there is.
Your dispatch center, and hazardous materials personnel, should be required to have up-to-date 24-hour contact numbers for the railroads. You need to contact all railroads that run through your area, and get their 24-hour contact numbers. And every six months or so, verify that they're current. Two of the most common are:
Burlington Northern/Santa Fe 1-800-285-2164
Union Pacific/Southern Pacific 1-800-892-1283
The railroads are very experienced at handling derailments. With just one phone call, they'll start the usually massive process of responding hundreds of people and millions of dollars worth of equipment to your scene.
If you're not already doing it, you need to train with the railroads. Invite them to your training sessions, and ask them to invite you to theirs. Unless you understand their procedures, a major derailment will be one big mystery and surprise after another. The best way to insure a smooth operation is for the people involved to know each other, and to train together.
Some fifteen years ago in Arizona, we did not have a good working relationship with one of our major railroads. At one serious LPG tank car derailment, where 2,500 people had to be evacuated, we almost arrested the senior rail official at the scene over a misunderstanding. From that day on, we both cleaned up our acts. We train together, and know the people we'll be working with on a first name basis. Remember, the scene of a scary train derailment is a poor place to try to develop a trust relationship with strangers. Plans and procedures that work best are those that have been worked out and practiced in advance by all the participants.
Because of the violence of major incidents, and the large numbers of loaded tank cars, the chances of toxic or flammable major leaks are very real. But because of the possibility that damaged cars may be buried under other cars, we may not know about it, or have a good chance of finding out in a timely manner. Just another reason to get the railroad and their equipment there as soon as possible. Again, bad incidents will be resolved with millions of dollars worth of caterpillar tractors and cranes. Until they get there, everybody is usually just standing around.
If there are leaks or spills that require damming or diking, it is well to remember:
"If much is to be gained, much may be risked.
If little is to be gained, little should be risked."
We have yet to find a tree or an acre of ground that is worth one of our people getting hurt over. With train derailments, multiple casualties are possible if we're in trying to do heroic stuff. In all but the most desperate of circumstances, it's usually best to cordon off the area, keep people out, and follow the U.S. DOT North American Emergency Response Guide Protective Action Distances recommendations. Only if you have people who have done it before, and can properly assess the risks and benefits, should you get involved in heroics.
Due to the lack of established working relationships, many public safety agencies will have their favorite "horror story" of a confrontation with a railroad. What they fail to understand is that the railroad guys tell the same type of stories about on-scene conflicts with police and fire departments. In my experience over a thirty-year career encountering dozens of derailments, the public safety agency folks were usually wrong. Yes, we are charged with protecting the public, but remember, railroad tracks are private property. Tough to keep in mind at three in the morning when you're scared.
Railroad officials are strong, forceful men, who by-God make the trains run on time. The very experienced senior ones sometimes don't suffer fools gladly. Remember we previously mentioned the truly staggering costs involved in derailments? If you're losing one-million-dollars an hour in revenue, you probably wouldn't be too interested either in listening to a local, inexperienced responder talk about how this is his jurisdiction and his scene.
We're all there for the same reason. The railroad guys did not get out of bed that morning thinking, "What can I screw up today?" Quickly establishing a unified command and getting on with things is the order of the day. The painful truth is that most public safety agencies are so out of their league at a major chemical incident, they just aren't too helpful. If you haven't established that comfortable working relationship with the railroad, you just have to bite the bullet, and carefully listen to everything they say. Remember, they know what they're talking about, and you probably don't.
Handling major derailments is not something you learn about in a classroom, or master by reading books. You have to do it out in the real world, and find out the hard way what works and what doesn't work. You have to discover, on the ground, how chemicals actually perform in a field environment. Remember, most of what you've been taught came from guys who were experienced with a few ounces of this and a few ounces of that. They've never worked an incident involving thousands of gallons of stuff running over the ground, or propane tank cars blowing hundreds of gallons-a-minute of liquid into the air.
The best question for rail and public safety agency responders is "How can I help?" In other words, what do each of the participants bring to the table? If all you have is jurisdiction and good intentions, you had better listen to the guys for whom this is just another day at the office. The fact is, these railroad people have done this dozens of times before. They are dealing with real world experience, and not some theoretical classroom knowledge. Only in our arrogance would we presume to know more about the chemicals or tank cars than the guys who do this for a living. Avoid rectal/cranial inversion. Listen to the railroad, and let each participant do what they do best.
Public safety agencies can immediately assist with scene isolation, air monitoring, obtaining local area maps and information, preparing for or conducting evacuations, etc. The railroad people can focus on how to turn this into a stable scene, and end the emergency. Once the scene is stabilized, this is just a cleanup and track rebuilding operation. Let the people with the resources and experience do what they do best. Again, we did not create this mess, and it is not our responsibility to mitigate it or clean it up.
Another new experience will be the amount of time involved. Major derailments can take a week or more to resolve. If people have to be evacuated, the public safety agencies need to get their jurisdiction's Emergency Operations Center up and functioning. They need to realize they may still be working this thing seven days from now, and start preparing for long-term operations. The departmental chain-of command needs to prepare to run on a continuous 24-hour basis for a week, and still maintain service to the rest of the jurisdiction.
Planning for recalling off-duty personnel, forward command post establishment, possible near-scene sleeping arrangements, massive public information duties, and coordinating with possibly dozens of agencies are significant tasks. The department's senior management needs to try to get ahead of events, and anticipate requirements. Shift into a proactive rather than a reactive operation. Remember, the railroad guys do this all the time, and they'll just get on with it. They don't have time to be holding your hand, and leading you through routine stuff.
Of paramount importance is for the Incident Commander to have a clear vision of what constitutes success. He has to have the over-arching vision of the desirable end state. Usually the best way to do this is through the unified command structure. Ask the railroad what goals they envision, and their anticipated milestones. Remember, if you don't know where you're going, it's difficult to measure progress, or know when you're there. Unless there is a clear concept of the operation, things will be confused, and roles and missions blurred.
Finally, you need to be prepared to get pro-active, today. If you don't routinely train with the railroad people who will respond to your area, today is the day to start to remedy that. Your agency has to avoid the "black-hat white-hat mentality" which can poison a relationship at a derailment. Find out today who to contact at the railroad to start planning for mutual training and planning.
By being prepared, and knowing the people you'll work with, you can avoid the most common problems encountered at railroad hazardous materials accidents.
