Notifications in Hazmat Incidents
Who Ya' Gonna Call?
By Vance Bennett
| Vance Bennett is the Emergency Management Coordinator/Instructor for the Hazardous Materials Section of the California Specialized Training Institute, the training branch of the Governor's Office of Emergency Services. |
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This article can be found on page 46 of the Nov/Dec 1998 issue of 9-1-1 Magazine. |
Although hazardous materials incidents are a small percentage of the calls to any public service agency they can be the most taxing-both to responders on the scene and to support personnel. Even the smallest hazmat incident can involve four or five different agencies from all levels of government. It's not unusual for over thirty agencies to be involved in a major incident. This cast of thousands can cause endless headaches for the unprepared dispatch center. In addition, some of the laws governing hazmat incidents require the responding agency to notify specific agencies. Failure to do so can lead to at best, severe embarrassment or, at worst, fines.
So who does what? To make it simple, let's start from the beginning - the responsible party (RP). The person (the legal definition for this includes businesses and government agencies as well as people) who spills the stuff is the first one who has to make some notifications about this incident. Federal regulations require that person to contact the National Response Center. If the incident involves the transportation of hazardous materials the Responsible Party also has to notify the US Department of Transportation (DOT). Does it end here? Are you kidding? We're talking about government regulation! Of course it gets more complicated.
After the federal government gets through with our hapless responsible party, state laws and regulations get their turn. In California, we get to make at least two more notifications. One is to the Administering Agency and/or 9-1-1, and the other is to the State Warning Center at the Office of Emergency Services in Sacramento. Other states have similar requirements. Does it end here? You wish!
As we all remember from our entry level training about jurisdiction, there are various elements of jurisdiction. There is jurisdiction as to person, to act, to location, etc. The same is true with notifications of hazardous materials incidents. Our unfortunate responsible person may well have more notifications to make. It all depends on where the incident occurred, what product is involved and the nature of the product. Let's look at an example.
An Acme Trucking tractor/trailer rig thought to be carrying diesel fuel jackknifes on Interstate 5150. One of the trailers hits a light pole fracturing the side of the trailer. A liquid product is now leaking into a storm drain that empties into the Santa Luisa River. The river flows into the Pacific Ocean, four miles from the location of this accident. So, who does Acme Trucking have to notify? If you said "NRC and DOT" you are doing well. If you said "9-1-1 and OES" then give yourself an "A+." But, there is more! The accident occurred on a highway and it involves a possible oil product heading for coastal waters. In Texas and Arizona you would also have to notify the State Department of Public Safety (because the incident occurred on a "highway"). In California, the RP must also notify the California Highway Patrol (because it's on the "highway") and the Department of Fish and Game - Office of Oil Spill Prevention and Response (because the product leaking is "oil" and threatens "marine waters"). In Missouri you would have to notify the Department of Natural Resources because the incident involves a waterway.
Let's change some of the elements of jurisdiction and see if it changes our notification procedures.
The first responders discover that the tractor/trailer rig has somehow severed a pipeline carrying natural gas. Also, they find the truck isn't carrying diesel fuel. It's really full of hydrofluoric acid, and of course that acid is leaking (along with diesel fuel from the tractor's fuel tanks). There is also a school less than 200 yards away from location of this rapidly worsening scenario. In California, the Health & Safety Code and the Government Code mandate a couple of more notifications. Because this incident now involves a pipeline the RP has to notify the State Fire Marshal. Since the trailer is leaking an extremely hazardous substance and it's within one half mile of a school, you (not the RP!) have to contact the local superintendent of schools.
What would happen if the driver of this rig was incapacitated? For one thing, he or she wouldn't make any of these notifications! That means you will likely inherit some of this workload. Even if the driver was still alive and talking and had access to a phone, you would still have a lot of work to do. If we added pesticides or radioactive materials to this scenario we would have even more people to call (such as in Michigan or Oregon).
As you can see, life can quickly get very complicated for a dispatcher in a major hazmat incident. How do you keep your head above water? All it takes is a little planning. Find out what laws in your jurisdiction apply to hazmat releases. Determine what agencies have a statutory responsibility to respond and what agencies can provide valuable assistance. After you collect all that information, create a checklist or notification matrix so you will know who to call and when to call them. Remember, although most legal requirements apply to the responsible party, there are some that apply to responding agencies. Having an up-to-date checklist can help you quickly get the help you need in one of these infrequent, but often dangerous, incidents and can keep your agency out of hot water.
