(Editor’s note: This is the second in a series of two articles recounting a safety drill at Albemarle.)
When the siren sounded on Thursday, January 21, 2005 at 9 a.m., the simulated incident, which was a gaseous release of anhydrous ammonia, jolted plant workers into action. As a safety precaution, employees are always informed that a response exercise is scheduled. They aren’t privy to the time, type or location of the release.
During the exercise, key Albemarle employees are positioned as proverbial “flies on the wall” to observe the response process and take copious notes about the strengths and weaknesses associated with the response effort. Steve Ellenberger, Safety Coordinator observed Tom Getz, Human Resources Supervisor and Ivan Riggle, Site Compliance Coordinator interact with the media.
“My goal is to reinforce what we do well and identify what needs to be corrected and devise a plan to correct it,” said Ellenberger. “It’s always better to find out what you can improve before you are in the throes of a real incident.”
Virgie Werner played the role of a print journalist and Carolyn Patton represented a state government agency. Both former CAC members were able to visit the site and ruffle a few feathers with pointed questions and aggressive personalities.
“I really think it was a tremendous idea to include community members in this drill,” said Patton. “I am hoping my participation in the event will help them present information the next time through. It gave a few people a jab in the arm, which is better to be jabbed now then when a real crisis occurs.”
Ivan Riggle was only one of the Albemarle employees to get jabbed! He greeted the media representatives more than four times over the course of the drill, providing updates and subjecting himself to a barrage of pointed questions.
“They did a fantastic job making me realize how information must be presented to our community,” said Riggle. “As chemists, we tend to focus on the science associated with an incident rather than the details the community wants to know. This was a valuable experience for me to remember to focus on the human side of the incident.”
Gary Dennis, Deputy Director of Emergency Services participated in the drill and accompanied Mr. Riggle on several occasions. Tom Getz was assigned the task of keeping the media in a safe location during the simulation. He realized quickly that whenever Mr. Riggle left the area, his arm got tugged.
“I learned that when the media wants information, they will take measures that I wouldn’t think about to complete their story,” said Getz.
Journalist Mike Pitterilli and Dan Yost decided to make a run for the plant to capture images of the employees’ response effort.
“This was a simulation and nothing would happen to them,” said Getz. “But if we were responding to a real event, we would need to monitor the environment to determine who can go where at what point in time in a safe manner. The safety of our employees, the community and the environment are our primary concerns.”
The actual drill lasted approximately 90 minutes. More than 30 employees assembled for a debriefing after the drill. Each participant offered commendations and recommendations for the next drill. The only unit to receive partial feedback was the employees manning the telephones. They could describe what they needed to do the job more effectively, but they didn’t really know how their communication with the CAC members was rated.
Mr. Sanders asked Ann Jabro to speak with each participant and have an assessment prepared for the CAC meeting later in the evening. Pat Campbell seemed to capture the consensus about the experience.
“I feel much safer and more confident that in the event of a situation at Albemarle, they will be able to handle the situation more competently as a result of this exercise. They have been there and know how to approach a crisis situation and respond correctly.”
The employees who manned the telephone lines were credited with being patient, kind, and offering more information than the callers needed to know.
John Molnar commented, “I felt the drill was professional and the telephone responders provided adequate information to satisfy my concerns. I thought this was a great way to get the CAC involved. It was an excellent experience.”
While Ms. Jabro engaged in an evaluation with participants about the drill, Mr. Sanders prepared his presentation for the community advisory council meeting that started at 5:30 p.m. Mr. Andrews began the meeting with the plant update and then explained the Responsible Care Code, Community Awareness and Emergency Response, which is a template for the company’s emergency planning and response efforts. Mr. Rod Bohner, Director of the Blair County Emergency Management Association attended the meeting.
In the event of a crisis that necessitated the assistance of people other than Albemarle employees, such as the Tyrone Hospital, Tyrone Police or Fire Department, Mr. Bohner indicated that the command structure shifted from Mr. Andrews at Albemarle to his unit. He explained that “joint incident command” is preferred, which is when his unit works in consultation with the company seeking assistance, such as Albemarle. However, Mr. Bohner is ultimately the only person who has the power to order an evacuation, shelter-in-place or other type of emergency response action.
When Mr. Sanders debriefed the CAC about the day’s activities, he reported the emergency response team handled the incident with flying colors. Mr. Andrews served as the incident commander, or the person responsible for making decisions and managing the multifaceted components of a response effort.
“We learned that we needed local area maps to decipher where our callers were located in relation to the direction of the simulated release, said Andrews. “This was a critical piece of information that we really needed to respond effectively, but a simple problem to solve.”
CAC members were also informed about the other areas that the company would invest time and training to manage. Dennis Reedy stated that he felt that, “Albemarle continues to be safety conscious in the community and I’m quite impressed with the on-going activities.”
Maureen Drain put the simulation in perspective.
“It identified the areas for diligence and speaks to larger issues. We need a unified communications effort to handle a crisis. The good citizen Albemarle does this, but we need to do these types of drills as a community so that we understand and rectify our weaknesses,” said Drain.
Mr. Sanders thanked the CAC for participating in the event and lamented on the numerous lessons learned in a 24-hour time period.
“I had never expected so many other people would benefit from this training,” said Sanders. “This has been an extremely informative and beneficial experience for our employees, for the members of the community, for the Robert Morris students, and for the CAC. We all learned something new.”
If anyone is interested in becoming a member of the Albemarle Fine Chemistry Services Community Advisory Council, telephone 1-800-484-7511, security code 3750 for more information.
