Emergency Services Specialists

CHEMTREC s Emergency Services specialists are hazardous materials professionals, many of whom are experienced in the emergency response field. They attend a 40-hour, technician-level course on hazmat response as weU as additional specialized training courses throughout their career. They have access to an extensive database of contacts with manufacturers, shippers, carriers, and contractors if further chemical or technical assistance is required. 

When CHEMTREC receives an emergency call, an Emergency Services specialist obtains the caller s name and organization, telephone and fax number, the location of the incident, the shipper, consignee, and carrier, the product name, and the nature of the incident. CHEMTREC then provides immediate emergency response information about the chemical(s) involved, often obtained from the manufacturer s product-specific MSDS in the Center s library of nearly 2.5 million such documents. These are accessed in seconds and faxed to responders on-scene at a hazardous materials incident. Other sources of information are other technical text references and computer databases. 

CHEMTREC s Emergency Services specialists are people with extensive experience in civilian and military emergency response. The current staff of 14 Emergency Services specialists includes active and retired firefighters, former U.S. Coast Guard personnel, retired military explosive ordnance disposal personnel, and a chemist. 

Most of CHEMTREC s Emergency Services specialists work a rotating shift of two 12-hour days, two 12-hour nights, and four days off. In addition to the 12 personnel assigned to shifts, two people work on weekdays during peak periods. The staffing schedule ensures that there are always enough personnel to handle the number of calls, which can be as many as 250 calls per day. 

FIGURE 5.4 A CHEMTREC Emergency Services specialist (with an industry response team member) receives training in chlorine leak control. 

CHEMTREC s Hazardous Materials Exercise Scenario form, which is included at the end of this chapter, asks for the basic details about the exercise (who, what, where, and when) and a local contact person. The expected time of the drill must be included, as well as the time that participants are expected to call CHEMTREC. Because an emergency services specialist is assigned to each exercise, it is very important that an accurate time be given for an incoming call. If a call does not come in to the center at the indicated time, the staff person will attempt to reach the drill coordinator. If CHEMTREC is unable to participate for any reason, every effort will be made to contact the coordinator in advance. 

The California Office of Emergency Services requires 160 and 240 hours of training for HAZMAT Technician and Specialists, respectively. for state certifications. However, state certifications for HAZMAT Technicians and Specialists is not required. 

These realities of the current state of healthcare have caused healthcare policy-makers to use several methods to regulate the supply and demand of health services and thereby control the cost of those serv ices. Attempts to reduce the supply of services include a reduction in the reimbursement for services or a reduction in the number of physicians and specialists. These approaches may contain the growth of healthcare costs but a reduction in the capacity of the healthcare system also limits the patient access to services, resulting in longer waits for non-emergency services. Attempts to reduce the demand for services include ... 

If breathing or heart has stopped, immediately call professional help by dialling 999 or 112 and asking for the ambulance service. Give precise directions to the scene of the accident. The casualty stands the best chance of survival if the emergency services can get a rapid response paramedic team quickly to the scene. They have extensive training and will have specialist equipment with them. 

In Illinois, for example, an authorized officer from the Illinois Department of Nuclear Safety must accompany all significant shipments of radioactive material. This officer provides the initial radiological expertise at the scene of an accident and also provides the interface between the local emergency services and the central specialist organizations. 

Identify resources (people) required to manage the response to the incident, identify resources available to ensure 24/7 cover and identify specialists who can provide information to the emergency services ... 

Committee assumes strategic control of the incident, coordinating police, military, scientific (and other specialist agencies), local authorities and emergency services responses... 

The initial response to a chemical incident would be mounted by local emergency services and coordinated by the jx)lice. Specialist agencies that would also be involved at an early stage include the... 

Provision of action lists, list of emergency contacts, details of location of specialist services and equipment. 

The streetcar suburbs of the following decades offered more land, at lower prices, to a new class of homeowner. This growth was not, however, a simple, inevitable, or natural extension of growing affluence. Rather, as Kenneth Jack-son notes in his comprehensive history of the suburbs, Crahgrass Frontier, it required the emergence of a class of suburban developers and real estate specialists who lobbied municipalities for services, directed the extension of transportation, and drew the new spacious property lines for construction. The central incentive of these entrepreneurs, needless to say, was to convert as much land... 

First movers, of course, cannot create an industry by themselves. They must develop close relationships with supporting enterprises—suppliers both of capital equipment and materials to be processed, research specialists, distributors, advertisers, and providers of financial, technical, and other services. Thus, the needs of the core firms lead to the emergence of a supporting nexus of interconnected and complementary—rather than competitive—enterprises. The nexus may contain small, medium, and even large firms in supporting lines of a wide variety of products and services. And it soon develops into a source for the creation of a wide variety of specialized firms. But only rarely do core companies emerge from the nexus. 

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