Re: items of interest to shippers

[Mike McNaughton <mcnaught@lanl.gov>]

Bill Lipton wrote
>notices in today's (9/10/98) "Federal Register" should be reviewed by
>hazmat shippers:
>(page 48544) DOT is requesting comments on its "Emergency Response
>Guidebook", for incorporation in the next edition.

I suggest the Emergency Response Guidebook should incorporate the following
recommendation from the "HMEP Guidelines for Public Sector Haz Mat
Training" (March 1998, FEMA and DoT).

On page 165, it introduces the subject of Rad Response by noting "in the
entire history of rad material shipping there has never been a release that
resulted in injury or loss of life caused by radiation."

On page 166, it recommends: "Emergency responders who would normally carry
out immediate rescue or render emergency medical care to any accident
victims whose lives are threatened by factors other than rad material
should do so when rad material in a transportation incident is the only
significant haz mat threat. ... This means that even responders trained
only to the awareness level would carry out these actions if that were
their usual duty."

It continues at the bottom of page 166: "The concern addressed by this
recommendation is that accident victims may die because of unwillingness to
expose responders to a risk that is actually lower that that already taken
in simply responding to the accident scene. If this recommendation is
adopted, the above rationale should be presented clearly in training."

The full text is available at
http://www.fema.gov/emi/hmep/gdlns.htm
and more specifically at
http://www.fema.gov/cgi-shl/hmep.pl

Perhaps if lots of us make this suggestion, it might be most fruitful.
Possibly, this recommendation could come from a higher level, such as from
the HPS.


"Shlala gashle" (Zulu greeting, meaning "Stay safe")
mike (mcnaught@LANL.GOV)


************************************************************************
The RADSAFE Frequently Asked Questions list, archives and subscription
information can be accessed at http://www.ehs.uiuc.edu/~rad/radsafe.html