Reader Comment – 07-22-09 – Emer Mgmt Solutions

Yesterday a reader, MMV, left a comment about an earlier posting about the fatal Tanner Industries anhydrous ammonia release. That posting briefly described emergency management tools that could detect toxic clouds and predict their spread, allowing for a better emergency response. MMV responded by writing “I have heard of such chemical emergency management solutions. One is from a company called SAFER Systems in case anyone is interested.” I did a quick check of their web site and they certainly do a better job of describing how such a system should work than I did in my earlier post. I don’t know anything about the company or how well their system works, but anyone interested in emergency response planning for a facility that has toxic release inventories should read the presentations on the SAFER Systems web site. The system described would have gone a long way to preventing the off-site death in this latest incident if it had been used by a good emergency response plan. This is still the major point that I wanted to make in the original posting. All of the tools in the world will not help if there is not a good emergency response plan in place. A well planned and exercised emergency response plan will over come the lack of a lot of fancy equipment. Combine the two and you have a real good chance of coming out of a significant toxic release without any serious off-site consequences. BTW - Anyone with detailed knowledge of the Safer System please contact me.