Category: Emergency Preparedness and Response

No one wants it to happen, but an emergency, natural or manmade, can strike at anytime, 24/7. What’s more, it need not be a major, nationally-televised incident, such as a hurricane, earthquake, or act of political terror. An event as common as a local building fire can present just as large a challenge to you. These resources will help you create a plan for handling such crises, whatever their scope, and to carry it out in a way that best protects your employees and your company.

Free Special Report: 50 Tips for More Effective Safety Training

TRI—the Now and Future Things

A TRI Recap TRI reports are required to be submitted by facilities with 10 or more full-time employees, in specified Standard Industrial Classification (SIC) and North American Industry Classification System (NAICS) codes, that manufacture, process, or otherwise use listed TRI chemicals in excess of the established thresholds.  The thresholds per calendar year are: 25,000 pounds (lb) per […]

Are You Ready for … Workplace Violence?

Twenty-six-year-old Takita Mathieu worked as a leasing agent for Greenbriar Apartments in Houston, Texas. She was at work on February 19, 2015, when her ex-boyfriend, who had been harassing her by phone, walked into the leasing office and fatally shot her—and then shot himself in the head. Each year, there are nearly 400 stories like […]

Are You Ready for a … Natural Disaster?

A series of storms raged across Mexico, Texas, and Oklahoma over Memorial Day weekend, 2015, killing as they went. Among the dead were some who were washed away by floodwaters, others who died in tornadoes, and at least three people who were working on post-storm cleanup. Is your workplace prepared for a natural disaster? The […]

Are You Ready for a … Workplace Fire?

At 5:50 p.m. on May 9, 2015, a transformer exploded at the Indian Point nuclear power plant in Westchester, New York, 50 miles north of Manhattan. Sprinkler systems activated as emergency response crews scrambled, working to keep the fire from the nuclear installation just 200 yards away. The crews poured specially designed fire-fighting foam on […]

15 More BMPs for Storing Anhydrous Ammonia

BMPs for Storing Anhydrous Ammonia Good Housekeeping Maintain good housekeeping practices. Ensure good housekeeping procedures are followed in the compressor/recycle rooms and in the immediate vicinity of the evaporators. Accumulated supplies, equipment, and debris delay detection of equipment damage or ammonia leaks.  Maintain complete and accurate piping and instrumentation diagrams (P&IDs) of the ammonia refrigeration […]

Six Best Management Practices for Storing Anhydrous Ammonia

Anhydrous ammonia is ammonia gas—the anhydrous part means “without water.” It is colorless, but has a very pungent smell. It can be irritating at lower levels, but very damaging at higher levels. Exposure to anhydrous ammonia between 5 and 50 parts per million (ppm) can cause headaches, loss of the sense of smell, nausea, and […]

What Is an EHS and Why Would I Want to Know?

The CAA’s Chemical Accident Prevention Program requires that any facility that has listed substances above threshold quantities in any single process prepare a Risk Management Plan (RMP). The listed substances contain 77 toxic chemicals with thresholds ranging from 500 pounds (lb) to 20,000 lb and 63 flammable substances with a threshold quantity of 10,000 lb. […]

Long Hours Put Emergency Responders at Risk: What Managers Can Do

After a large-scale disaster, workers often work longer shifts and more consecutive shifts than they would typically work. The fatigue and stress that may arise from strenuous work schedules can be compounded by the physical and environmental conditions in the affected area after a disaster: nonexistent, damaged, or limited critical infrastructure (roads/traffic signals, utility lines, […]

Long Hours Put Emergency Responders at Risk of Fatigue

Emergency workers who deploy to work at disaster sites caused by weather, earthquakes, epidemics, and other catastrophic events often put in much longer than 8-hour shifts. Although workers in these fields are generally highly committed to their jobs and find the jobs rewarding in ways that make long hours seem bearable, they are at substantially […]