(Editor’s note: This is the first of a two-part series recounting a safety drill at Albemarle’s Tyrone plant.)
The pristine blanket of glistening white snow was gently covering the mountaintops and simultaneously wreaking havoc on the roads leading to Tyrone on January 20, 2005.
Despite the inclement weather, current and former members of the Albemarle Fine Chemistry Services – Tyrone Community Advisory Council (CAC) gathered to assist Albemarle Corporation’s Director of Industrial Hygiene and Corporate Safety, P. Joseph Sanders achieve his goal. He was visiting Blair County from Baton Rouge, Louisiana with a mission to continue the company’s commitment to emergency preparedness and safe work practices. The goal would be accomplished by orchestrating an emergency drill designed by Mr. Sanders and Barry Sechrist, Senior Process Safety Specialist at the Tyrone plant.
Emergency response drills aren’t new to Albemarle’s highly skilled and trained workforce. The company boasts a safety record of .65, while similar companies in the same industry tip the scales at 3.65.
“The lower the number, the fewer incidents have occurred at a site or the more safely the company performs its business activities,” explained Mr. Sanders.
While employees respond to different simulated crises on a monthly basis, this simulation was different.
“I volunteered the employees at the Tyrone site to participate in this drill because it featured a component that was new to our team,” said Randy Andrews, Plant Manager. “I know I have a great group of employees who are always up for a challenge.”
This time, employees would not only respond to a simulated on-site emergency situation; they would respond to queries, concerns, and frustrations articulated by local residents, representatives from government agencies, and the media by telephone call-in or visits at the site, roles heretofore simulated by Albemarle employees at other facilities.
The details surrounding the simulation are kept highly confidential to protect the integrity of the drill.
“When you want to ascertain what your employees can do well and identify what areas need enhancement, every component of a response drill must be kept secret,” said Sanders. “If the employees know the details of the event, the drill is a wasted effort. Simulated crisis tests our employees’ abilities to think and respond quickly. We conduct these drills to determine if our workforce needs additional training, equipment, or changes in procedures.”
Albemarle’s community advisory council (CAC) began in 1992 and more than 100 Tyrone residents have met with company management six times annually for two-hour sessions to discuss different aspects of chemical manufacturing. Ann Jabro, a professor of communication at Robert Morris University, facilitates the group. When she learned about the sophistication of the exercise, she suggested to Mr. Sanders that he involve CAC members in the drill.
“The CAC are phenomenal representatives of the community, who come to the meetings with insightful questions and meaningful suggestions,” said Jabro. “It seemed logical that they would want to participate in and experience an emergency drill to better understand what Albemarle employees must manage in a crisis mode, especially since the group has learned so much about the precautions Albemarle has in place to protect its employees, the community, and the environment.”
While this was the first drill to involve community members, Mr. Sanders welcomed their enthusiasm and participation. Craig Rickards, Mickey Dutrow, Dennis Reedy, Maureen Drain, Greg Bock, Wendy Boytim, Pat Campbell, Miriam McClain and John Molnar participated via telephone while Virgie Werner and Carolyn Patton visited the site.
Over dinner at a local restaurant, drill participants were briefed about the specific roles they would play and how the simulated incident would unfold. Each participant was assigned a time to telephone the plant performing the role they had been assigned. For example, Wendy Boytim was instructed to telephone at 9:40 a.m. Her role was that of a woman whose husband was working at the plant when the news about the incident reached her. She was asked to make her conversation as “real” as possible. This genuine conversation would provide the Albemarle employees manning the phone lines an opportunity to experience what emotions, questions and concerns they would have to manage in the event of a real incident.
CAC member and emergency drill participant Mickey Dutrow, principal of Tyrone Elementary School commented, “This shows that Albemarle is willing to acknowledge that they could potentially have an incident that could impact the community. And, therefore, they feel the need to practice so that they are competent to respond, should a crisis occur.”
While the CAC members were learning their roles and bombarding Mr. Sanders with questions, Mike Pitterilli and Dan Yost negotiated the snow and ice-slick roads east on Route 22. They are communications students at Robert Morris University, who jumped at the opportunity to perform the role of professional journalists covering a simulated chemical incident.
“Few aspiring journalists get the chance to learn how to cover a chemical emergency. Even though this is a simulation, everyone at the plant will be literally responding to the situation like it is the real thing,” said Mike Pitterilli. “I wanted to ask thorough and detailed questions to ensure that I made the media part as real as possible.”
(Editor’s note: Part two of the series will appear in tomorrow’s edition.)
