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OCR for page 26
26 A Guide for Assessing Community Emergency Response Needs and Capabilities for Hazardous Materials Releases
information, contact information for updates, the container or packaging used, etc., although
this information is not needed for the methodology used in this Guide. If the assessment tool is
used, any scenarios identified with this step will be carried through all the subsequent steps. This
tool can be updated easily.
The framework in Step 7 is called the hazardous materials portfolio. Each row in the portfolio
identifies a potential hazard in the region that requires consideration in your emergency response
planning.
Facilities (Fixed Sources)
When collecting data on specific facilities containing hazmat, consider the types of businesses
listed in Table 12. Also consider abandoned facilities that may still contain sufficient quantities of
hazmat to be a concern. A community may have many other types of fixed-location hazmat, such as
dry cleaners and gas stations, among others. Knowing the specific location of each of these facilities
is not as important as knowing that they are commonly found in the community. However, it is
difficult to aggregate all hazmat locations of a certain type, because the potential consequences from
and the response time to an incident are tied directly to the actual geographic location.
Step 8
Add new rows to the hazardous materials portfolio for each material stored at each facility in
your jurisdiction. When adding hazards to Table 11 for materials at fixed location sources,
the "Shipments per Month" column would be left blank. If the hazardous material were only
present occasionally, a percentage of the time during the year the material might be present
could be placed in a "Shipments per Year" column.
Transportation Corridors (Mobile Sources)
When considering transportation routes, the best information would be from a recent local
commodity flow survey, particularly for highway transportation. If no such survey has been
done, planning organizations should consider resources available to them and consider com-
missioning such a study. If an interstate highway falls in the jurisdiction of the LEPC, the infor-
mation obtained from companies will probably have to be supplemented by such a survey
because a large number of placarded vehicles would traverse the region without ever stopping.
The number and quantity of material shipped across the region would be unknown without
the survey.
Table 12. Facilities that may contain hazardous materials.
Industrial Facilities Select Retailers
Chemical plants Agricultural
Refineries Swimming pool suppliers
Petroleum and natural gas tank farms Home supply stores
Drinking water plants Dry cleaners
Wastewater treatment plants
Nuclear facilities
Waste disposal and treatment facilities
Refrigeration plants (ammonia)
Hospitals and academic/government facilities
Storage facilities/distribution centers/warehouses/tank farms
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Identifying Hazardous Materials in Your Jurisdiction 27
As mentioned earlier, guidance for conducting local commodity flow surveys was prepared under
HMCRP Project 01 (Texas A&M University 2010). While most jurisdictions focus on highway and
rail transportation--with information on the top hazmat shipped by rail obtained directly from
the railroads--it is important to consider other modes as well. Marine transportation of haz-
mat can be significant in some areas. Generally, one barge equals approximately 46 rail tank
cars, which equals about 144 truck cargo tanks. Pipelines carry hazardous liquids or natural
gas and are distributed throughout the country. Pipeline companies or U.S.DOT's Office of
Pipeline Safety are good sources of information for response planning.
For specific hazards, such as shipments of Highway Route-Controlled Quantities (HRCQ) of
radioactive materials, in addition to providing assistance at the technical level when the incident
occurs, the national-level agencies provide specialized training and equipment to assist local
emergency response organizations, especially at the planning and assessment levels. For HRCQ
shipments, a state's governor is notified 24 hours prior to the shipment so state agencies are aware
of the shipments and their routes. This notification alerts the SERCs of their presence in the state.
The state may choose to notify local emergency responders and place them on alert as well. This
negates the need to discover such infrequent shipments using commodity flow surveys.
You should also consider fixed locations where hazmat may temporarily be found during their
movement from origin to destination. At these locations, the material would remain contained
inside the vehicle used to transport it--distinguishing these locations from the fixed locations
discussed earlier. These locations include intermodal transfer facilities, rail yards, airports, ports,
docks, truck terminals, and major truck stops, as well as rest areas that trucks commonly use.
Step 9
Add new rows to the hazardous materials portfolio for each material transported along each
transportation corridor in your jurisdiction. For these rows, add information on the typical
quantity of hazmat in a package, the estimated number of packages transported per year,
and the length of the transport link. Remember to include all modes of transportation. For
pipelines, use total length, commodities being transported, diameter, and operating conditions
(e.g., temperature and pressure). Initially, you might address the hazmat that are most prevalent
in the area or region. Subsequent assessments might address additional hazmat, gradually
making the assessment more comprehensive.
