Re: St. Louis Post-Dispatch Placarding Article

[Doug Aitken <daitken@sugar-land.oilfield.slb.com>]

At 09:04 PM 9/3/2003 -0400, BLHamrick@AOL.COM wrote:

>In a message dated 9/3/2003 3:45:42 AM Pacific Standard Time, 

>obbugg@dmvs.ga.gov writes:

>"But the Department of Homeland Security needs to more carefully 

>understand the risk to the public and emergency responders that will 

>surely accompany

>eliminating these hazard placards."

>

>To me, this is just another example of bureaucracy gone wild.  Let's look 

>at the number of terrorist incidents that have occurred involving 

>hazardous shipments in the U.S., and the number of deaths they've caused 

>over the last 40 years...oh, NONE!

>

>Now, look at the number of hazardous materials transportation accidents 

>that have occurred just between 1993 and 2000...oh, that would be 104,516 

>(see: 

><http://hazmat.dot.gov/files/summary/2000/brindex2000.htm>http://hazmat.dot.gov/files/summary/2000/brindex2000.htm), 

>with 198 fatalities due TO the hazadous materials.



And we should be clear that the outcome of these accidents would have been 

even more serious (catastrophic?) had there not been in place a clear 

system of emergency response to Hazmat incidents, including the essential 

early response information given by placards.



I sincerely hope that the idea is quashed before it gains "political" 

momentum (i.e. it becomes pushed by persons who have a specific agenda, and 

who do not wish to look at the big picture).



It is only recently that the regulations on transport of hazardous 

materials have been pretty much unified, not only around the world, but 

even locally between US government departments (e.g. DOT and NRC in details 

of transport of radioactive materials). Suppressing placards would be a 

truly retrograde step.





Doug Aitken             Schlumberger Drilling and Measurements QHSE 

Advisor

Phone (Sugarland):      281 285-8009

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Principal E-mail: jdaitken@earthlink.net

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