Conduct at an Hazardous Materials Accident
Well you got a call for your big truck to respond to an truck accident on the freeway, Fire it up and head out, When you get there you find the roadway blocked ½ mile back but you get waved though and you get as close as you can because of several police vehicles, ambulances, fire trucks and a strangely marked vehicle with "HAZARDOUS MATERIALS RESPONSE TEAM" on it. Oh yeah, I forget about the safety tape all over the place. Hey what's that over there looks like spacemen around the truck in some funny yellow suits.
Well your first thought might be to leave, but you don't because you have an image to protect. Forget the image now! Be a real professional and stay and maybe learn something new. Here comes a highway patrolman and a firefighter so you get out of the truck and meet them in front of the tow truck.
Listen closely to what they are going to tell you because it concerns your health and that of the people around the scene. You are the recovery person, the wizard with the cables, and they are the public safety people. Any special advice that they offer is good for you because you want to stay healthy right?
They tell you that the truck is on the driver's side in the middle of the exit ramp with the trailer torn open leaving the cargo all over the roadway. But you can see that from where you are standing, plus this is the sixth truck in the same place this year for you, and its only August. Good year on this ramp. What did you say? Sodium what?
In this case it is Sodium Hydroxide (caustic soda) which is a corrosive material which can cause severe destruction of skin on contact. As little as 1 ounce can cause vomiting, collapse even death when ingested, it can also ruin your eyesight if it gets into your eyes.
Caustic soda is incompatible with water, acids, flammable liquids, organic halogens, and metals (aluminum, tin, and zinc), nitro methane and nitro compounds. Great stuff right? But of course you might also know it as lye.
Your conduct that the scene is real important, because if you screw this recovery up, nobody will forget you, but if you do a great job then they won't forget you either the next time another accident involving Hazardous Materials happens you will get the call.
They tell you that a clean up contractor is on the way, to clean up the mess and then you will be able to upright the truck and take it away. If they offer you any kind of protective clothing, consider it because you might have to lift it so they can finish the cleanup. Also, they might tell you how to clean up your truck to remove any of the cargo on the cables, chains, straps, air cushions or what ever you are going to use on the job.
Well you get told to go ahead and upright the truck and take it away after watching the clean up crew do its job. The clean up contactor removed all of the cargo from the trailer, and you were told how to clean your truck up now, Great job right?
You asked a few questions and surprisingly enough you got answers you can understand. Don't forget that you are a professional and you just learned something new on this job.
Well now you are thinking about what went on at the accident, and if there is anything special that you could learn, well if you could ask the fire department what kind of things they expect of you and your truck. You might just show them something they need. An interest in learning in something from there and you might have a trick or two to show them. The name of this game is knowledge and public relations.
Well you got a call for your big truck to respond to an truck accident on the freeway, Fire it up and head out, When you get there you find the roadway blocked ½ mile back but you get waved though and you get as close as you can because of several police vehicles, ambulances, fire trucks and a strangely marked vehicle with "HAZARDOUS MATERIALS RESPONSE TEAM" on it. Oh yeah, I forget about the safety tape all over the place. Hey what's that over there looks like spacemen around the truck in some funny yellow suits.
Well your first thought might be to leave, but you don't because you have an image to protect. Forget the image now! Be a real professional and stay and maybe learn something new. Here comes a highway patrolman and a firefighter so you get out of the truck and meet them in front of the tow truck.
Listen closely to what they are going to tell you because it concerns your health and that of the people around the scene. You are the recovery person, the wizard with the cables, and they are the public safety people. Any special advice that they offer is good for you because you want to stay healthy right?
They tell you that the truck is on the driver's side in the middle of the exit ramp with the trailer torn open leaving the cargo all over the roadway. But you can see that from where you are standing, plus this is the sixth truck in the same place this year for you, and its only August. Good year on this ramp. What did you say? Sodium what?
In this case it is Sodium Hydroxide (caustic soda) which is a corrosive material which can cause severe destruction of skin on contact. As little as 1 ounce can cause vomiting, collapse even death when ingested, it can also ruin your eyesight if it gets into your eyes.
Caustic soda is incompatible with water, acids, flammable liquids, organic halogens, and metals (aluminum, tin, and zinc), nitro methane and nitro compounds. Great stuff right? But of course you might also know it as lye.
Your conduct that the scene is real important, because if you screw this recovery up, nobody will forget you, but if you do a great job then they won't forget you either the next time another accident involving Hazardous Materials happens you will get the call.
They tell you that a clean up contractor is on the way, to clean up the mess and then you will be able to upright the truck and take it away. If they offer you any kind of protective clothing, consider it because you might have to lift it so they can finish the cleanup. Also, they might tell you how to clean up your truck to remove any of the cargo on the cables, chains, straps, air cushions or what ever you are going to use on the job.
Well you get told to go ahead and upright the truck and take it away after watching the clean up crew do its job. The clean up contactor removed all of the cargo from the trailer, and you were told how to clean your truck up now, Great job right?
You asked a few questions and surprisingly enough you got answers you can understand. Don't forget that you are a professional and you just learned something new on this job.
Well now you are thinking about what went on at the accident, and if there is anything special that you could learn, well if you could ask the fire department what kind of things they expect of you and your truck. You might just show them something they need. An interest in learning in something from there and you might have a trick or two to show them. The name of this game is knowledge and public relations.
A good reputation is more valuable than money.
Publilius Syrus (~100 BC)
Publilius Syrus (~100 BC)
