The Pleasanton experiment: a community-based hazardous materials management system

Abstract

Despite the best intentions of all involved, the exchange of hazardous materials information between regulated businesses and administering agencies is fraught with inefficiency and inaccuracy. Nowhere is the impact of such deficient reporting systems more sorely felt than in the development and implementation of community emergency response plans. Intending to protect fire service first-responders, the community, and the employees and property of a business, Hazardous Materials Management Plans (HMMPs, also known as Hazardous Materials Business Plans or HMBPs) demand a degree of data accuracy distinct from any other in the spectrum of regulatory reporting. For example, up-to-date chemical identification and storage information must be instantly available to first-responders in the event of an hazardous materials release or fire. Unfortunately, several factors align to defeat this requirement: lack of a standardized HMMP format, organizational separation of fire service first-responders from HMMP administering agencies, and cumbersome paper-based reporting systems. In early 1990, Gaia Systems of Menlo Park, California announced the development and introduction of a comprehensive, computer-based HMMP administration and reporting system. The system, consisting of distinct but compatible software programs for regulating agencies and regulated businesses, was piloted on a community-level basis in a joint venture with the City of Pleasanton, California in mid-1990. The administrating program, designed to run on an Apple™ Macintosh® computer, is used by Pleasanton's Fire Administration and first-response teams. The reporting program, available both in an Apple™ Macintosh® or in an IBM™-compatible format, is used by Pleasanton businesses to create HMMPs. Data is then transferred between users by on-line transfer or by exchanging a floppy diskette. Results of the pilot program show that participating businesses realize a substantial decrease in the time required to prepare and revise their HMMPs, while Fire Administration in the City of Pleasanton benefits by spending less time managing permit and inspection processes. Both the Agency and businesses acknowledge that accuracy of the data is improved. Furthermore, the Pleasanton Hazmat First-Response Team now expects to be able to access regularly-updated chemical storage information onboard their emergency response van through a mobile computer system. Using Gaia Systems' software in conjunction with Computer Aided Management of Emergency Operations (CAMEO© — from National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration), a Pleasanton first-responder can now locate a chemical stored anywhere in the jurisdiction, determine the material's composition, and generate an emergency response air model in less than three minutes.