AcuSafe Special Feature: Part 2


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		Special Feature: Part 2

Part 2: How Can We Prevent Terrorist Impacts In Industries Handling Highly Hazardous Chemicals?
David A. Moore, Acutech Consulting Group

There has been concern in industry about the potential for terrorist attacks on facilities handling hazardous materials from many sources, and the September 11th events will most likely renew interest in this issue. In particular, this issue is hotly debated for the EPA's Risk Management Program.

Common opinion of the public and industry was, no doubt, that the U.S. was generally not subject to any terrorist events of this broad reaching extent. But the senselessness of these events shows that terrorist zealots do not act in rational ways familiar to us, and a new perspective must be adopted. We, as professionals responsible for highly hazardous chemicals and for the safety of workers and the public that may be exposed to them, have extraordinary responsibilities to ensure we are doing whatever we can to prevent incidents.

Much has been done to assess our potential for terrorism and to work to strengthen our capabilities in anti-terrorism. For a recent assessment of U.S. capabilities, see the following from "Combating Terrorism: Federal Response Teams Provide Varied Capabilities; Opportunities Remain to Improve Coordination. GAO-01-14, November 30" (http://www.gao.gov/new.items/d0114.pdf). The general conclusion is that there is a lot of work for us all to do.

In the mean time, industry has not generally prepared for terrorist events, particularly not during the RMP or PSM process hazard analyses or offsite consequence analyses. But the potential is no doubt there. AcuSafe reported in an earlier newsletter about one example of a threat on a propane storage facility from a domestic terrorist (http://www.acusafe.com/Newsletter/Stories/
0100News-Bomb_Plot_At_Propane_Storage.htm). Terrorist threats from foreign governments or foreign terrorist organizations pose even greater risks. The number of terrorist events that have occurred around the world is truly eye-opening (http://www.emergency.com/cntrterr.htm).

To see what activities have taken place by various U.S. Government agencies to combat this threat and to respond to the attack on September 11, see the following websites:
- The White House (http://www.whitehouse.gov)
- State Department (http://www.state.gov)
- Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) (http://www.fema.gov)
- Department of Health and Human Services (http://www.hhs.gov)
- Department of Justice (http://www.usdoj.gov)
- Office of Victims of Crime (http://www.ojp.usdoj.gov/ovc)
- Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) (http://www.fbi.gov)
- Office of Personnel Management (http://www.opm.gov)
- Department of Defense (DOD) (http://www.defenselink.mil)
- Army Corps of Engineers (http://www.hq.usace.army.mil/cepa/emergency/emergency.htm)
- Federal Aviation Administration (http://www.faa.gov)
- National Transportation Safety Board (http://www.ntsb.gov)
- Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms (http://www.atf.treas.gov)
- Internal Revenue Service (http://www.atf.treas.gov)
- Environmental Protection Agency (http://www.epa.gov)
- Customs Service (http://www.customs.gov)
- Chemical Safety Hazard Investigation Board (http://www.chemsafety.gov)

What practical steps can be taken for such an unpredictable threat? While we await decisions to be taken at a regulatory level, we can individually review our own circumstances to see what measures can be taken to increase security and reduce our exposure to these sorts of events.

The following recommendations come courtesy of SOCMA regarding terrorism and security:
1. Maintain the highest level of security possible at your facilities--and to the greatest extent you can--make that security visible to your employees and the community.

2. Take extra precautions when admitting visitors to your facility. Know who they are and verify that they have legitimate business at your site.

3. Carefully monitor deliveries of materials to your facilities-know the carrier, verify the delivery is expected, and inspect the delivery vehicle.

4. Contact your local emergency officials and brief them on your security efforts, and determine what assistance they need from you.

5. Maintain contact with the local officials to keep them abreast of their plans and activities.

6. Recognize that employees want to do something to help, and encourage them to participate in local efforts.

7. Be prepared to handle press and citizen calls regarding your operations.

Some additional guidance is available at the following links::
http://www.chemsafety.gov/lib/EPA_site_secur_alert.pdf
http://www.epa.gov/swercepp/factsheets/lepcct.pdf

Also see an extensive list of resources from EPA:
http://www.epa.gov/swercepp/ct-exli.htm

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