emergency response

[Lester.Slaback@nist.gov]

The situation could be much worse than that (described below). When any
doubt exists responders will not risk lives.  They will literally research
the problem (i.e., consult multiple 
reference sources and sort out conflicting information*) which can take a
lot of time, even in the case of an obviously worsening  situation.  Real
life examples** of this (both radiological and chemical) are abundant.  So
the best we can do is establish a good relationship with those personnel
and be as available as possible.  In most cases that in essense is what
the DoT emergency guides consist of - waiting for expert advice.

* While discussing the poor MSDS info with my fire chief he
acknowldged this and ststed that it is routine to check multiple sources
of information.  It is not clear to me how a higher pile of bad info gives
them any better basis for action.

** Two of my favorites are....
 1. the truck carrying new reactor fuel that had a headon collision with a
car resulting in (initially) a small fire in the tractor (no damage to the
fuel packages). Responding emergency personnel basically waited for a
hazmat crew because of the 'radioactive hazards' which allowed the fire to
develop into a large event.
 2. a truck carrying liquid argon had a small leak, visible because of the
moisture condensation from the cold gas.  Rather than simply driving it to
an isolated location the capital beltway was blocked on both sides for
literally hours during an afternoon rush hour because of the hazmat nature
 of this gas (being a noble gas it is only an asphyxiation risk).  I
always wondered if anyone considered all the car fumes and stress risks in
the hot afternoon sun as a balance to this automatic action.

>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>> you and your 
institution will be seeing that there is no hesitancy by 
a trained rookie to snuff out a trash can size problem when 
they are otherwise having to spend a precious extra five 
minutes while their shift lieutenant is looking up 
"what's it say in Guide Number 162 in the DOT's 1996 
North American Emergency Response Guidebook to see what 
that darn DOT/UN 2911 label on a P-32 isotope Cardiology 
Stent box in your Cardiac Catherization Laboratory really 
means, because when a fire doubles in size every 
half minute, it will be a full room flashover before they 
have the answer radioed back to the guy on the end of a 
inch and one half hose - who could have gone back in to 
extinguish it, if he was not scared to death.



-- 
the above are the personal musing of the author,
and do not represent any past, current, or future
position of NIST, the U.S. Government, or anyone else
who might think that they are in a position of authority.
NBSR Health Physics
NIST
Gaithersburg, MD 20899
301 975-5810
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Lester.Slaback@nist.gov
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