Preparedness for Hazardous Materials Spills

• 9/1/2010
• Author: Kristine Miller
• Category: EC News Blog
• 4755 Views
• 0 Comments
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Sometimes while I’m driving home on the interstate that runs within a mile of my house, I’ll see these dark, murky-looking semis barreling along. If there were a Darth Vader of trucking, they would be it. And I wonder: what’s in those things? Some kind of toxic waste? Hazardous chemicals? Nothing good, that’s for sure.

And then I think the next ugly thought. What if one of those things careened off the road or into the concrete median and split wide open? What kind of toxic cloud would be released? And how long would it take to float over to my house? And what would I do?

Well, that’s the kind of thinking and planning that health care organizations need to engage in, on a bigger scale, as part of their Emergency Operations Plan. They need to look around and see what’s nearby that could be a possible source of contamination. Are there factories? What kinds of hazardous materials could they spill or release? How about major highways (like near me) or train lines. What gets shipped on them? What about nuclear reactors, chemical plants, airports—and so on.

Environment of Care® News has just published an article called “Poison in the Air: Preparing for an External Hazmat Spill or Release” that can help in preparation. It’s the cover story of the September issue, and it discusses preparedness strategies and offers resource suggestions. One great resource is a spill preparedness guidebook used by fire fighters, police, and other emergency services personnel to quickly identify the dangers of and first responses to a host of specific hazardous substances. Click here to read the article.