ORGANIZATIONAL TOOL FOR HAZ-MAT ICS
VOLUNTEERS CORNER
Responding to a hazardous-materials incident can present difficult problems, especially in the areas of organizing activities and assigning duties to responding fire and emergency medical personnel. To help simplify these tasks, I developed a hazardousmaterials sector operational procedure flowchart for hazardous-materials incidents (see Fire Engineering, February 1991).
Shortly after the above article was published, a federal regulation stipulating that some type of incident command system be used during hazardous-materials incidents was passed. To have the system work successfully and still maintain a reasonable span of control, I put together hazardousmaterials sector officer folders.
THE SECTOR OFFICERS
The various operations that take place during a hazardous-materials incident (spill, leak, or fire) can be as involved as those that occur during a major fire or disaster. Using an incident command system is necessary to organize activities; properly use additional equipment and manpower; and mitigate the incident as effectively, efficiently, and safely as possible. Any type of incident command system can be used, as long as the fire department using it is comfortable with it; some elements, such as the command function, haz-mat operations, safety, decon, medical sector, and logistics, are common to all effective systems.
Our haz-mat command system has some notable features. For example, it calls for both an incident commander and a haz-mat incident commander; the latter reports directly to the IC and has responsibility for all three sectors or divisions (safety sector, haz-mat team sector, and information sector) and sector officers. The system requires that the haz-mat incident commander, unlike the overall incident commander, have a high level of haz-mat experience and training. A high degree of technical expertise is immediately available to the IC for consultation on technical issues. Also, I recruited two industrial hygienists for the Will County Hazardous Materials Response T eam. They have proven to be very valuable to the team. The industrial hygienist acts as or works with the safety officer and becomes involved with areas such as using reference materials and toxicity and health information, choosing protective clothing, providing information on industrial processes and procedures, and supervising chemical monitoring and sampling.
Our system also provides for a monitoring officer, responsible for monitoring weather conditions, establishing zones, and monitoring, with a reconnaissance team, hot-zone conditions throughout the incident.
SECTOR OFFICER FOLDERS
These folders—one for each of the sector officers —are stored in a plasticcarrying case and are placed on the hazardous-materials van. Each twopacket folder has prongs for inserting three-hole paper. The folders are labeled and color-coded for easy reference and location. Inside the pocket on the front cover is a copy of the Department of Transportation’s Emergency Response Guidebook and a pen.
Inserted onto the prongs of the folder is a brief job description pertaining to that sector officer and a list of the officer’s responsibilities. Duties are listed in the order in which they would be performed during the course of a hazardous-materials incident, and the list, therefore, could serve as a checklist. The next set of inserted pages contains brief, detailed explanations of the listed duties, including explanations of those that might need clarification or reminders to ensure that the task is completed. The third set of inserted pages includes 10 blank pieces of lined notebook paper for the sector officer’s notes.
Inside the pocket on the back cover of the folder are five copies of each form the sector officer must complete. Included are detailed checklists; sheets for recording chemical, meteorological, and medical information; sheets used to keep track of personnel, resources, and equipment used; and sheets on which to track the progress of the hazardous-materials incident.
Some officers do not have to complete any paperwork for their particular sectors. When the incident has been terminated and the forms have been collected by the hazardous-materials incident commander, the forms will provide the 1C with a detailed account of the incident from which the final incident report can be made. Also, the 1C has a copy of the entry team’s medical information, which may be needed for reference in the future. Finally, the 1C has a copy of the equipment used, which will be needed as a reference when determining the kinds anti amounts of equipment and supplies to be replaced. These forms can be photocopied, and copies can be given to the agencies that request them. Copies of the forms are replaced as they are used.
Folded and inserted into each folder is a color-coded vest with the sector officer’s title silk-screened onto it. Wearing this vest enables the sector officer to be easily identified and located on the scene.
ADVANTAGES
Among the advantages of using the sector officer folders are the following:
- Because hazardous-materials incidents do not occur as often as fire or rescue incidents, there is a tendency to forget everything that must be done at such an incident. This is trueeven for fire departments responding on a first-responder level. After the training described above, a person in charge of a division of a hazardousmaterials operation generally feels more confident w-ith a mechanism to guide him/her through the operation.
- Regional hazardous-materials team members don’t always have the chance to work with each other on a regular basis. When these team members come together at an incident and are put in charge of various operations, however, they should accomplish the tasks expected of them. Knowing that they can execute their responsibilities gives the IC more confidence.
- Following the training approach of tabletop exercises and field drills (departmental and interagency) that allow for personnel rotation, an individual will be able to function as a sector officer in another area of the operation. Being familiar with the manner in which the sector officer folders are organized should preclude an individual’s experiencing problems when supervising the sector of the hazardous-materials operation for which he/she has been trained.
- Since most of the assigned sector officers must complete forms as the mitigation of the hazardous-materials incident progresses, a more complete and accurate account of the incident is available for the 1C. Also, since much of the information to be put onto these forms is obtained during the incident, this information can be used by other sector officers, assisting them in making more effective decisions with regard to their operation sectors. This system ensures the lines of communication will stay open among the different operations; each sector officer is responsible for putting a piece of the puzzle in place. This approach distributes the burden of the work among all the individuals involved; it permits many tasks to be done under less pressure, with fewer chances, and in greater detail.
The concept of the hazardous-materials sector officer folders is not new. Many of the ideas, some of which I have adapted and supplemented, have been discussed in command classes, hazardous-materials seminars, and published articles; many of the folder ideas were shared by haz-mat teams in the northeast Illinois/Chicago area. Hopefully, these ideas will be helpful to your department or hazardous-materials response team.
