The Hazmat Roundtable: Examining and Resolving Critical Issues

BY ANDY BYRNES

Almost every year since the mid-1990s, the Hazardous Materials Roundtable (HMR) has been meeting to identify critical issues and discuss solutions and action plans to strengthen hazmat programs, support public and responder safety, and facilitate action.

• Hazmat Safety: Understanding the Behavior of Gases
• Hazmat 101
• Hazmat Review: Placards 101
• Hazmat 101: Labels

The participants include hazmat subject matter experts; representatives of federal agencies; and transportation, prevention, planning, and response organizations. The meeting is jointly coordinated by the United States Department of Transportation (DOT) Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration (PHMSA), the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA), the U.S. Fire Administration (USFA), the National Fire Academy (NFA)—Hazmat Programs, and the International Association of Fire Chiefs (IAFC)—Hazmat Committee. Despite the varied participation, Bob Royall, chair of the IAFC Hazardous Materials Committee, observed, “The roundtable process is not well publicized or socialized among the response community.” Many times, the challenge is not in our mission; it’s in our messaging.

Reviewing Progress

Each roundtable meeting reviews the progress of the previous meeting and provides the needed direction where initiatives are not yet realized. Every meeting generates an emphasis on hazmat preparedness, planning, and response. For example, the 2022 meeting recognized improving leadership, performance, and participation in Local and Tribal Emergency Planning/Response Committees (LEPC/TERC) and how information sharing throughout the nation impacts those challenges. In the latest meeting (May 2023), information sharing was again emphasized. Participants representing more than 20 professional hazmat practitioners and organizations attended. This article is intended to improve information sharing by raising awareness of the HMR’s mission and outcomes and providing better access to its annual report (Figure 1).

What Happens at the HMR?

Several key stakeholders provided valuable insight into the roundtable meeting; its process; and how it affects emergency planners, managers, and response organizations across the nation at the local, state, federal, and tribal levels.

Bill Schoonover, the associate administrator for Hazmat Safety at PHMSA, said, “Our participation in the HMR allows PHMSA to share and learn about the response community, identify current challenges, and hear best practices. Through this forum, we’ve gained awareness about issues with our hazmat grants, which we expanded, thanks in part to robust discussions at the HMR and with Hazmat Exercise Program (HMEP) grantees, and learned that a community approach to emergency preparedness and planning is critical in keeping the public and the planet safe. This forum helped raise our awareness of the issues facing responders so that we can adjust our programs accordingly.”

Participation

Over the years, HMR participation has changed. Greg Noll, an experienced hazmat author, educator, and facilitator of the recent roundtable meetings, recalled, “The HMR was originally formed in the mid-1990s as a joint effort between the DOT—Research and Special Programs Administration (RSPA) and the IAFC Hazardous Materials Committee. Leadership for the formation of the HMR was provided by Alan Roberts, RSPA administrator, and Chief John Eversole, Chicago Fire Department Special Operations and chair of the IAFC Hazardous Materials Committee.” Rick Emery, a frequent hazmat subject matter expert (SME), said that the HMR in the 2000s consisted of mainly NFPA and IAFC Hazmat Committee members; since then, a lot more federal personnel are involved.

Noll explained that the HMR’s mission is to address emerging trends and issues within the hazmat preparedness community and consequently help improve the nation’s public safety. Dave Donohue, hazmat training specialist at the NFA, noted that the mission includes looking at hazmat preparedness issues and identifying solutions. But the HMR has been only partially able to resolve the issues raised. He said, “Unfortunately, the responsibility for addressing the gaps is shared between organizations and agencies as well as all levels of government.” Solutions require synergy between agencies and organizations that can be difficult to foster and manage. Donohue observed, “While the HMR is doing good work, the dissemination of what they are and what they do is lacking. Consequently, as their actions filter out, there is a disconnect between the information and how it got to the street.”

Spreading the Word

Although the HMR meetings are outstanding in identifying problems, according to Emery, “The challenge is getting the solutions implemented in a timely way.” This is a well-documented gap. How does the HMR information—i.e., solutions—get to the end user?

Emery recommended better ways for all responders to easily access the roundtable report, including putting articles in the trade journals with a Web site to download the report and having the committees and agencies help spread the word. Current and past HMR reports are available to everyone on the PHMSA Web site. PHMSA also disseminates HMR report elements during national and state hazmat conferences and the annual HMEP conference. Fundamentally, if responders don’t know that the HMR report exists, they don’t know what they don’t know and therefore don’t seek the report that may have a significant impact on their organizations and, in due course, on responder and community safety.

Final Report Is Critical

Ultimately, the final report is a critical product of the HMR work. The more people who read the final report, the larger the impact on emergency planning and response. Donohue addressed the report’s impact this way, “For responders, it means that they are better prepared and better trained. For their departments, it means that they are better informed and, at least potentially, better funded. More importantly, as the activities of the HMR continue, communities are safer, are healthier, and enjoy a higher quality of life.”

Regarding the 2023 meeting, Rick Edinger, chairman of the NFPA 470 Technical Committee, observed, “There is a lack of good data on hazmat response, and what data and information exist are often siloed in various places and difficult to access in a timely manner. This thread ran through virtually every issue-specific discussion that took place during the 2023 meeting.” The 2023 HMR meeting addressed the following important topics:

• Improving LEPC and TERC performance.
• Issues affecting hazmat prevention and mitigation efforts.
• Better use of risk-based response and preparedness.
• Issues of current and refresher hazmat training.
• Improving the hazmat standard of care.
• Improvements to possible funding of training and programs.
• Importance of information sharing and accessibility.

If any of these issues impact you, your community, or your organization, you may want to read the report. A good place to start is the PHMSA Web site, https://www.phmsa.dot.gov/.

According to Greg Noll, if you’re a hazmat program manager or function as a hazmat officer, the HMR report will “provide you with the thoughts and opinions of your peers in the hazmat response community on not just what is happening today but what emerging trends and issues are forthcoming.”

Noll observed that in the past, the HMR report was viewed as a “snapshot in time.” In recent years, however, he said that the HMR report should be viewed “as a living document, identifying critical gaps and needs and providing a process for tracking these issues.” Bob Royall added, “The roundtable report has transitioned from just another well-intentioned document to a comprehensive and actionable report with real tangible and achievable recommendations.” In accordance with this vision, each subsequent HMR meeting follows up on and supports the previous solutions and goals of the HMR, giving momentum to the initiatives.

It is important to note that everyone contributing to this article sees positive value and recognizes the importance of the HMR meeting and processes having the right priorities to protect the public and responders through effective planning, preparedness, and response. So, how do planners and responders benefit from the HMR meeting outcomes? You can review the report and get involved today. Appendix A of the 2023 report will list HMR participants. Noll encourages anyone with a hazmat/WMD planning or response mission to reach out to members of the committee and “take the time and opportunity to reach out to these groups [or individuals] and provide your thoughts and observations.” More voices, more perspectives, and more shared information equate to more solutions. The challenge is not the mission; it’s the messaging.

Author’s note: Thanks to Bill Schoonover, Eddie Murphy, Greg Noll, Rick Emery, Rick Edinger, Bob Royall, and David Donohue for their insightful contributions to this article.

ANDY BYRNES, M.Ed., EFO, is a professor in the emergency services department at Utah Valley University and a frequent course reviewer, designer, researcher, presenter, and subject matter expert in hazmat, firefighting, leadership, and management. He retired as a special operations battalion chief from the Orem (UT) Fire Department and was a sworn law enforcement officer and paramedic. Byrnes is a member of the NFPA 470 and 475 technical committees and a graduate of the National Fire Academy’s Executive Fire Officer Program.