|
|
Ohio EMA, EPA
Accident
exercise at Continental Carbonic deemed “successful”
By Bob Robinson
GREENVILLE - “Attention all personnel. An emergency has happened.
Evacuate plant and go to staging area…”
It was 9:15 a.m. May 11 and the employees at Continental Carbonic
immediately left the plant in accordance with the company’s emergency
plan.
The accident exercise had begun.
“We have a mock ammonia release,” said Rocky Harrison, Continental
Carbonic Plant Manager. “Anhydrous ammonia is a water seeking gas that
will overcome you… it can kill you.”
The exercise was conducted outside while a true emergency would likely
have occurred inside the plant.
The “victims,” Greenville High School students Caleb Custer and Jamie
Thomas, were “found” under the plant’s CO2 storage tanks. For the
exercise, they were revived and taken back to the responder units for
treatment and transport to Wayne Hospital.
“Continental Carbonic did its job exactly as planned,” said Leslie
Bricker, Ohio Emergency Management Agency (Ohio EMA).
She explained that these training exercises are done in all counties on
a regular basis. Bricker said she has responsibility for 11 counties,
all in the Miami Valley area. She noted that the Ohio Environmental
Protection Agency (Ohio EPA) was the “player” participating in the
exercise while her agency was the “facilitator” that conducts and
evaluates it.
“There are trained volunteers that evaluate every single aspect of the
exercise,” she said.
Harrison said his company has training programs to handle potential
events like this and that he had volunteered Continental Carbonic for
the exercise.
While a real release inside the plant was highly unlikely, he added,
there is always a chance that a minor event could happen.
“It was a success,” said Mindy Saylor, Director of Darke County
Homeland Security & Emergency Management Office. “Darke County
should be proud of the commitment of our first responders and partner
organizations to exercise and training.”
She said there were more than 25 organizations represented, with 113
individuals in attendance. Most were volunteers. Key players included
Greenville City Fire, Greenville Police, Greenville Township Rescue,
Darke County Sheriff’s Office, local HazMat Team Members and more.
The exercise continued with HazMat teams suiting into protective gear
to stop the anhydrous ammonia leak from a broken pipe. One team member
noted that fixing the problem would likely take about two hours.
Following the exercise a “facilitated hogwash” and lunch took place at
Lighthouse Christian Center. The purpose was to evaluate the
individual, and overall, aspects of the exercise.
While some minor areas of improvement were discussed, evaluators agreed
it was a “very well run exercise.”
Particularly noted was the company following its plan, good interaction
between company and responders, great communication with the hospital
and more.
“All worked together as a team,” said one evaluator. “Great, great job.”
Two areas of needed improvement were too many volunteer participants
who didn’t get used and a tendency to overwhelm the Command Post with
questions.
“That’s why we run these exercises,” a moderator said. “They will be
fixed the next time.”
Reprinted courtesy
of The Early Bird
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
