National Academies Press: OpenBook
Page i
Suggested Citation:"Front Matter." National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine. 2011. A Guide for Assessing Community Emergency Response Needs and Capabilities for Hazardous Materials Releases. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/14502.
×
Page R1
Page ii
Suggested Citation:"Front Matter." National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine. 2011. A Guide for Assessing Community Emergency Response Needs and Capabilities for Hazardous Materials Releases. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/14502.
×
Page R2
Page iii
Suggested Citation:"Front Matter." National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine. 2011. A Guide for Assessing Community Emergency Response Needs and Capabilities for Hazardous Materials Releases. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/14502.
×
Page R3
Page iv
Suggested Citation:"Front Matter." National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine. 2011. A Guide for Assessing Community Emergency Response Needs and Capabilities for Hazardous Materials Releases. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/14502.
×
Page R4
Page v
Suggested Citation:"Front Matter." National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine. 2011. A Guide for Assessing Community Emergency Response Needs and Capabilities for Hazardous Materials Releases. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/14502.
×
Page R5
Page vi
Suggested Citation:"Front Matter." National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine. 2011. A Guide for Assessing Community Emergency Response Needs and Capabilities for Hazardous Materials Releases. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/14502.
×
Page R6
Page vii
Suggested Citation:"Front Matter." National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine. 2011. A Guide for Assessing Community Emergency Response Needs and Capabilities for Hazardous Materials Releases. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/14502.
×
Page R7

Below is the uncorrected machine-read text of this chapter, intended to provide our own search engines and external engines with highly rich, chapter-representative searchable text of each book. Because it is UNCORRECTED material, please consider the following text as a useful but insufficient proxy for the authoritative book pages.

H A Z A R D O U S M A T E R I A L S C O O P E R A T I V E R E S E A R C H P R O G R A M HMCRP REPORT 5 A Guide for Assessing Community Emergency Response Needs and Capabilities for Hazardous Materials Releases BATTELLE MEMORIAL INSTITUTE Columbus, OH TRANSPORTAT ION RESEARCH BOARD WASHINGTON, D.C. 2011 www.TRB.org Subscriber Categories Administration and Management • Education and Training • Environment • Highways • Marine Transportation • Motor Carriers • Planning and Forecasting • Public Transportation • Railroads • Security and Emergencies Research sponsored by the Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration

HAZARDOUS MATERIALS COOPERATIVE RESEARCH PROGRAM The safety, security, and environmental concerns associated with transportation of hazardous materials are growing in number and complexity. Hazardous materials are substances that are flammable, explosive, or toxic or that, if released, produce effects that would threaten human safety, health, the environment, or property. Hazardous materials are moved throughout the country by all modes of freight transportation, including ships, trucks, trains, airplanes, and pipelines. The private sector and a diverse mix of government agencies at all levels are responsible for controlling the transport of hazardous materials and for ensuring that hazardous cargoes move without incident. This shared goal has spurred the creation of several venues for organizations with related interests to work together in preventing and responding to hazardous materials incidents. The freight transportation and chemical industries; government regulatory and enforcement agencies at the federal and state levels; and local emergency planners and responders routinely share information, resources, and expertise. Nevertheless, there has been a long- standing gap in the system for conducting hazardous materials safety and security research. Industry organizations and government agencies have their own research programs to support their mission needs. Collaborative research to address shared problems takes place occasionally, but mostly occurs on an ad hoc basis. Acknowledging this gap in 2004, the U.S. DOT Office of Hazardous Materials Safety, the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration, the Federal Railroad Administration, and the U.S. Coast Guard pooled their resources for a study. Under the auspices of the Transportation Research Board (TRB), the National Research Council of the National Academies appointed a committee to examine the feasibility of creating a cooperative research program for hazardous materials transportation, similar in concept to the National Cooperative Highway Research Program (NCHRP) and the Transit Cooperative Research Program (TCRP). The committee concluded, in TRB Special Report 283: Cooperative Research for Hazardous Materials Transportation: Defining the Need, Converging on Solutions, that the need for cooperative research in this field is significant and growing, and the committee recommended establishing an ongoing program of cooperative research. In 2005, based in part on the findings of that report, the Safe, Accountable, Flexible, Efficient Transportation Equity Act: A Legacy for Users (SAFETEA-LU) authorized the Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration (PHMSA) to contract with the National Academy of Sciences to conduct the Hazardous Materials Cooperative Research Program (HMCRP). The HMCRP is intended to complement other U.S. DOT research programs as a stakeholder-driven, problem-solving program, researching real-world, day-to-day operational issues with near- to mid- term time frames. Published reports of the HAZARDOUS MATERIALS COOPERATIVE RESEARCH PROGRAM are available from: Transportation Research Board Business Office 500 Fifth Street, NW Washington, DC 20001 and can be ordered through the Internet at: http://www.national-academies.org/trb/bookstore Printed in the United States of America HMCRP REPORT 5 Project HM-03 ISSN 2150-4849 ISBN: 978-0-309-15545-8 Library of Congress Control Number 2011923463 © 2011 National Academy of Sciences. All rights reserved. COPYRIGHT INFORMATION Authors herein are responsible for the authenticity of their materials and for obtaining written permissions from publishers or persons who own the copyright to any previously published or copyrighted material used herein. Cooperative Research Programs (CRP) grants permission to reproduce material in this publication for classroom and not-for-profit purposes. Permission is given with the understanding that none of the material will be used to imply TRB, AASHTO, FAA, FHWA, FMCSA, FTA, RITA, or PHMSA endorsement of a particular product, method, or practice. It is expected that those reproducing the material in this document for educational and not- for-profit uses will give appropriate acknowledgment of the source of any reprinted or reproduced material. For other uses of the material, request permission from CRP. NOTICE The project that is the subject of this report was a part of the Hazardous Materials Cooperative Research Program, conducted by the Transportation Research Board with the approval of the Governing Board of the National Research Council. The members of the technical panel selected to monitor this project and to review this report were chosen for their special competencies and with regard for appropriate balance. The report was reviewed by the technical panel and accepted for publication according to procedures established and overseen by the Transportation Research Board and approved by the Governing Board of the National Research Council. The opinions and conclusions expressed or implied in this report are those of the researchers who performed the research and are not necessarily those of the Transportation Research Board, the National Research Council, or the program sponsors. The Transportation Research Board of the National Academies, the National Research Council, and the sponsors of the Hazardous Materials Cooperative Research Program do not endorse products or manufacturers. Trade or manufacturers’ names appear herein solely because they are considered essential to the object of the report.

The National Academy of Sciences is a private, nonprofit, self-perpetuating society of distinguished scholars engaged in scientific and engineering research, dedicated to the furtherance of science and technology and to their use for the general welfare. On the authority of the charter granted to it by the Congress in 1863, the Academy has a mandate that requires it to advise the federal government on scientific and technical matters. Dr. Ralph J. Cicerone is president of the National Academy of Sciences. The National Academy of Engineering was established in 1964, under the charter of the National Academy of Sciences, as a parallel organization of outstanding engineers. It is autonomous in its administration and in the selection of its members, sharing with the National Academy of Sciences the responsibility for advising the federal government. The National Academy of Engineering also sponsors engineering programs aimed at meeting national needs, encourages education and research, and recognizes the superior achievements of engineers. Dr. Charles M. Vest is president of the National Academy of Engineering. The Institute of Medicine was established in 1970 by the National Academy of Sciences to secure the services of eminent members of appropriate professions in the examination of policy matters pertaining to the health of the public. The Institute acts under the responsibility given to the National Academy of Sciences by its congressional charter to be an adviser to the federal government and, on its own initiative, to identify issues of medical care, research, and education. Dr. Harvey V. Fineberg is president of the Institute of Medicine. The National Research Council was organized by the National Academy of Sciences in 1916 to associate the broad community of science and technology with the Academy’s purposes of furthering knowledge and advising the federal government. Functioning in accordance with general policies determined by the Academy, the Council has become the principal operating agency of both the National Academy of Sciences and the National Academy of Engineering in providing services to the government, the public, and the scientific and engineering communities. The Council is administered jointly by both Academies and the Institute of Medicine. Dr. Ralph J. Cicerone and Dr. Charles M. Vest are chair and vice chair, respectively, of the National Research Council. The Transportation Research Board is one of six major divisions of the National Research Council. The mission of the Transporta- tion Research Board is to provide leadership in transportation innovation and progress through research and information exchange, conducted within a setting that is objective, interdisciplinary, and multimodal. The Board’s varied activities annually engage about 7,000 engineers, scientists, and other transportation researchers and practitioners from the public and private sectors and academia, all of whom contribute their expertise in the public interest. The program is supported by state transportation departments, federal agencies including the component administrations of the U.S. Department of Transportation, and other organizations and individu- als interested in the development of transportation. www.TRB.org www.national-academies.org

CRP STAFF FOR HMCRP REPORT 5 Christopher W. Jenks, Director, Cooperative Research Programs Crawford F. Jencks, Deputy Director, Cooperative Research Programs William C. Rogers, Senior Program Officer Eileen P. Delaney, Director of Publications Natalie Barnes, Editor HMCRP PROJECT 03 PANEL Gordon L. Veerman, New Lenox, IL (Chair) Timothy P. Butters, City of Fairfax Fire Department, Fairfax, VA Stanley Kimura, Northbrook Fire Department, Northbrook, IL Phil Olekszyk, World Wide Rail, Inc., Gloucester, VA Mariana Ruiz-Temple, Oregon Office of State Fire Marshal, Salem, OR Robert D. Jaffin, International Association of Emergency Managers Liaison Richard Moskowitz, American Trucking Associations Liaison Richard Raksnis, CHEMTREC Liaison Ann Purdue, TRB Liaison AUTHOR ACKNOWLEDGMENTS Battelle Columbus, Ohio, along with team members Visual Risk Assessment and Virginia Tech Univer- sity, prepared A Guide for Assessing Community Emergency Response Needs and Capabilities for Hazardous Materials Releases (Guide) under HMCRP Project 03. Dr. Arthur Greenberg was the project manager for Battelle. Contributing authors for this Guide are Dr. Mark Lepofsky of Visual Risk Assessment, Dr. Kitty Hancock of Virginia Tech University, and Dr. Tom McSweeney of Battelle. Battelle acknowledges the guidance and support of the HMCRP Project 03 panel members. C O O P E R A T I V E R E S E A R C H P R O G R A M S

HMCRP Report 5: A Guide for Assessing Community Emergency Response Needs and Capa- bilities for Hazardous Materials Releases presents comprehensive, step-by-step guidance on assessing hazardous materials emergency response needs at state, regional, and local levels; matching state, regional, and local capabilities with potential emergencies involving differ- ent types of hazardous materials; and assessing how quickly resources can be brought to bear in an emergency. The methodology described in the Guide is designed to be scalable, allow- ing the implementation results to be aggregated at the local level up through regional, state, and national levels. Also, the Guide is designed to connect as many components as possible to already-established standards, guidelines, regulations, and laws, so that the Guide will remain current as these underlying components are updated. In addition, the Guide dis- cusses appropriate means for maintaining currency of the information over time. The Guide and accompanying spreadsheet tool (on the attached CD-ROM), which leads planners through the assessment process, will be most useful for local jurisdictions that have limited resources and expertise in hazardous materials emergency response planning. Federal health, safety, and environmental regulations address emergency response plan- ning and preparations in the event of a hazardous materials release. The Emergency Pre- paredness and Community Right-to-Know Act of 1986 (EPCRA), enacted as Title III of the Superfund Amendments and Reauthorization Act of 1986 (SARA), calls for State Emer- gency Response Committees (SERCs) and their designated Local Emergency Planning Committees (LEPCs) to plan and prepare for such hazardous materials releases. However, few efforts have been made at the national, state, or regional levels to identify capable response teams, to match their capabilities with potential emergencies involving different types of hazardous materials, or to assess how quickly resources can be brought to bear in an emergency. Under HMCRP Project 03, Battelle was asked to develop a guide to address (1) conducting state, regional, and local hazardous material emergency needs assessments; (2) developing, maintaining, and sharing capability assessments; (3) aligning assessed needs with various levels of capability; and (4) identifying shortfalls where additional or different capabilities are warranted. The Guide addresses materials that are transported commercially under the auspices of the U.S.DOT Hazardous Materials Regulations as found in Title 49 of the Code of Federal Regulations. The scope of the Guide includes the storage of materials incidental to trans- portation (including at facilities at both the origin and destination) as well as along any trans- portation corridor and the storage, handling, and processing of materials at fixed facilities. F O R E W O R D By William C. Rogers Staff Officer Transportation Research Board

1 Introduction 3 How to Use This Document 5 Chapter 1 Overview of the Approach 5 Use of the Risk Assessment Tool 5 Balancing Assessment with Planning Capabilities of a Local Emergency Response Organization 7 Developing a Hazmat Portfolio 7 Defining the Risk Metric 8 Hazard 8 Vulnerability 9 Consequence 9 Emergency Response Capability 9 Response Time 9 Summary of Risk Metric Evaluation Steps 11 Chapter 2 Assessing Emergency Response Capability 11 Team Definition/Organization 11 Terminology to Represent Emergency Response Capability 12 Defining Emergency Response Capability Tiers 15 Determining Your Teams’ Capability Tiers 16 Chapter 3 Defining Your Jurisdictional Emergency Response Objectives 16 Determining Your Jurisdictional Class 16 Establishing Your Performance Objectives 22 Chapter 4 Identifying Hazardous Materials in Your Jurisdiction 22 Hazardous Materials Covered 22 Material Categorization—Incident Release Types 24 Performing a Hazard Survey 24 Additional Sources of Information 25 Documentation—Creating a Hazardous Materials Portfolio 26 Facilities (Fixed Sources) 26 Transportation Corridors (Mobile Sources) 28 Chapter 5 Potential Consequences of Incidents Involving the Identified Hazardous Materials 28 Defining Consequences C O N T E N T S

29 Estimating Consequences 29 Estimating Human-Health Consequences 31 Estimating Environmental Consequences 32 Selecting the Consequence Value 33 Chapter 6 The Mitigating Effects of Emergency Response 33 Determining the Response Capability Tier 33 Emergency Response Capability Factor 35 Response Time 35 Response Time Objectives 35 Response Time Factor 36 Quantifying the Mitigating Effects 37 Chapter 7 Aligning Hazardous Materials with Varying Levels of Capability 37 Adding Risk to the Hazardous Materials Portfolio 39 Hazardous Materials Portfolio Example 41 Chapter 8 Identifying Shortfalls where Additional/Different Capabilities Are Warranted 42 Chapter 9 Approaches for Addressing Identified Shortfalls 42 Improving Emergency Response Capabilities 42 Reallocating Resources 43 Mutual-Aid Agreements 43 Hazardous Materials Route Restrictions 44 Chapter 10 Sustaining the Process 44 Maintaining Emergency Response Capability Assessments 44 Sharing Emergency Response Capability Assessments 45 Acronyms A-1 Appendix A Information Sources B-1 Appendix B Estimating Vulnerability C-1 Appendix C Estimating the Consequence Term in the Risk Metric Equation D-1 Appendix D Additional Details on Capability Assessment E-1 Appendix E Estimating Emergency Response Times F-1 Appendix F Bibliography G-1 Appendix G Final Report for HMCRP Project 03 Note: Many of the photographs, figures, and tables in this report have been converted from color to grayscale for printing. The electronic version of the report (posted on the Web at www.trb.org) retains the color versions.

Next: Introduction »
A Guide for Assessing Community Emergency Response Needs and Capabilities for Hazardous Materials Releases Get This Book
×
MyNAP members save 10% online.
Login or Register to save!
Download Free PDF

TRB’s Hazardous Materials Cooperative Research Program (HMCRP) Report 5: A Guide for Assessing Community Emergency Response Needs and Capabilities for Hazardous Materials Releases provides step-by-step guidance on assessing hazardous materials emergency response needs at the state, regional, and local levels. The report also addresses matching state, regional, and local capabilities with potential emergencies involving different types of hazardous materials, and offers an assessment on how quickly resources can be expected to be brought to bear in an emergency.

The methodology described in HMCRP Report 5 is designed to be scalable, allowing the implementation results to be aggregated at the local level up through regional, state, and national levels. The guide includes a spreadsheet tool—available online and on CD-ROM with the print version of the report—that is designed to help lead planners through the assessment process.

  1. ×

    Welcome to OpenBook!

    You're looking at OpenBook, NAP.edu's online reading room since 1999. Based on feedback from you, our users, we've made some improvements that make it easier than ever to read thousands of publications on our website.

    Do you want to take a quick tour of the OpenBook's features?

    No Thanks Take a Tour »
  2. ×

    Show this book's table of contents, where you can jump to any chapter by name.

    « Back Next »
  3. ×

    ...or use these buttons to go back to the previous chapter or skip to the next one.

    « Back Next »
  4. ×

    Jump up to the previous page or down to the next one. Also, you can type in a page number and press Enter to go directly to that page in the book.

    « Back Next »
  5. ×

    To search the entire text of this book, type in your search term here and press Enter.

    « Back Next »
  6. ×

    Share a link to this book page on your preferred social network or via email.

    « Back Next »
  7. ×

    View our suggested citation for this chapter.

    « Back Next »
  8. ×

    Ready to take your reading offline? Click here to buy this book in print or download it as a free PDF, if available.

    « Back Next »
Stay Connected!