 |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Welcome
to the July 2007 Issue!
Has anyone noticed
that the world doesn't seem to stay saved? If you follow any of
the comic book heroes, they save the world, and the very next issue,
they are right back saving it again. As Mr. Incredible said,
"Sometimes you just wish it would stay saved for awhile." While
this is a somewhat humorous metaphor, the truth is that no one person
or group can save the world and have it stay saved. Each of us is
responsible for saving our part of the world. Every person who is
on this list and reads it, hopefully gains some information that will
be useful in making the their part of the world a bit safer.
Everyone who forwards it to a colleague or family member is responsible
for that much more of the world being safer. The term viral
marketing is thrown about a lot these days as a way for companies to
pass on their information and get new customers.
We are dedicated to more than getting new customers. We want you
and your families to be safer. If you find this newsletter to be
a useful resource, then we would ask you to share it. It just
might save the life of someone you know. Similarly, if you have
knowledge to share, send it over. We are always looking for ways
to build this country into a tighter, better entity. Each of you
has something valuable in the fight. As the Russian Special
Forces say, "If not you, then who?"
Thanks
again for your help in making this
world a safer place!!!
- Stephen |
|
|
 |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
From
The Editor's Desk
Hello!
Stephen
and I continue to hunt down the nuts and bolts of the Department of
Homeland Security's Chemical Facility Vulnerability Security Assessment
requirements. There are areas in these requirements that require
a certain degree of clarification, and so we are working to clear away
certain ambiguities before we publish what we believe will be a
valuable tool for the chemical industry.
I'd
like to point out two new resources from Lessons Learned Information
Sharing (LLIS.gov) regarding interoperable communications. The ability
to communicate during emergencies will determine the success or failure
of your emergency operations. Learn from other's experiences, take the
opportunity to evaluate your own communications protocols before a
crisis arises. If you'd like some assistance to you in this area, feel
free to drop us a line!
Also
in the works are Emergency Planning Services for smaller rural
communities. Many small towns throughout the country currently live
under the threat of disaster with out-dated or unrealistic emergency
action plans, and we'd like to help them find cost effective options to
protect their citizens. It's what we do, “making our neighborhoods
safer”!!!
Stay
safe!
-Bill
|
|
|
|
|
 |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Recent
and Upcoming Events
|
|
Recent Events
We felt this was important enough to repeat: The Orange
County Private Sector Terrorism Response
Group in
conjunction with the Orange County Terrorism Early Warning Group
recently held a seminar at Oakley Headquarters titled: Then Terror
Comes to Main Street. It was based on the book by LTC Joe Ruffini
of the same name. Joe put on a great presentation and discussed
many of the same ideas that Stephen puts forward. Most
interesting was a discussion on the events of the school hostages in
Breslan, Russia. Folks, if you want to see a model of how
terrorists plan to cause a significant amount of terror in the US, look
at Breslan.
For more information on LTC Ruffini, his book, or speaking events, you
can look him up here: http://www.jpr-online.com/live/
We have developed a 4- hour, high-speed, low-drag, training class
incorporating the principles of ICS-100 and ICS-700. Normally,
each of these classes is 8 hours. By condensing them both into a
four hour course, we have been able to reduce the amount of time
required to be spent by jurisdictional employees by 12 hours per
person. For more information on this class, please contact us at:
info@oursafetowns.com
July 12 - The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency
recently presented the California Local Emergency Planning Committee
Region I a 2007 National Notable Achievement Award for leadership in
chemical emergency prevention and preparedness in Southern
California. more...
Upcoming Events
November 6-8 -
Stephen will be speaking (Nov 7) on the new Chemical Facility
Vulnerability Assessment Regulations at the EPA Western Regions'
Emergency Prevention and Preparedness conference -- along with the
mid-year National Association of SARA Title III Program Officials
(NASTTPO). The combined meeting will be held on November 6 - 8 at
the Tuscany Hotel in Las Vegas, Nevada. NASTTPO will be meeting
on Tuesday, Nov. 6. The combined agenda for NASTTPO with EPA is
on Wednesday, Nov 7. The EPA Western Regions conference will
continue on Thursday, Nov. 8. These meetings are part of the 11th
annual HazMat Explo that will be held Nov. 5 - 8 at the Tuscany.
For more information go to their website: http://www.hazmatexplo.org/.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
What lies ahead?
Our E-Book is nearing completion!
Keeping Our Chemical Facilities
Safe which
explains everything you need to know about the new Homeland Security
regulations requiring vulnerability assessments by chemical facilities,
is nearing completion. Unfortunately, we did not make our planned July
release date, as there are certain elements requiring further
clarification from the Department of Homeland Security. We are
terribly sorry that this is taking so long, but in keeping with our
dedication to providing accurate information to customers and the
community, we are waiting for clarification on these items before we
release the final publication. We appreciate your patience while we put
together this quality source of information. We are hoping to recieve
the information in sufficient time to be able to finish the book by the
end of August. We also hope to have the final Appendix A (the
list of chemical thresholds) by that date as well. If DHS cannot
answer our questions, we expect to release the book in August and
provide updates as we get the information. We will sell the
e-book for $9.95 (USD), and already have a number of pre-orders.
If you are interested in pre-ordering the e-book, please contact us at:
info@oursafetowns.com
Once Keeping Our Chemical
Facilities Safe is completed, we plan to get back to working on Keeping our Schools Safe.
As always, if
you are interested in working with us directly to make your community,
business, or agency safer, please contact us at: info@oursafetowns.com.
See
you next month!
|
|
|
 |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Useful Information
Lessons Learned Information Sharing
releases two new resource pages!!!
(Note that you will need to be logged into LLIS.gov in order to access
the links below)
Karl Fippinger, LLIS.gov Program
Director, has announced the launch of two new LLIS.gov
resource pages on Interoperable
Communications and Tactical
Interoperable Communications Plan Exercises.
Interoperable
Communications
For years, achieving communications interoperability has been a top
priority for federal, state, and local jurisdictions across the
country. To assist this effort, LLIS.gov has developed the
Interoperable Communications Resource Page to serve as a one-stop
resource for federal, state, and local interoperable communications
guidance, research, and plans. The page highlights documents in key
areas in interoperable communications such as tactical planning,
strategic planning, technology solutions, and the use of common
language.
Tactical Interoperable Communications Plan Exercises
This resource page highlights the lessons learned from last year’s
tactical interoperable communication plan (TICP) exercises conducted by
more than 76 urban and metropolitan areas. The TICP Exercises Resource
Page features TICP exercise after-action reports from urban areas
across the country and LLIS.gov’s original research highlighting widely
applicable TICP exercise lessons learned in areas such as
communications protocols, incident command/unified command, and
exercise design.
To access these resource pages, please log onto LLIS.gov and click on the links provided
under FEATURED TOPICS. Additionally, we encourage you to submit your
own plans, reports, or other documents related to interoperable
communications at IOComms@llis.dhs.gov.
Chlorine
Emergencies an Overview for First Responders (First Responder DVD)
The Chlorine Institute
(CI) is pleased to announce the completion and availability of a
new training DVD for first responders. The DVD is a Telly
Award recipient for safety program excellence. The Institute
undertook this project after identifying a need to improve awareness
and preparation for the initial response to a chlorine emergency. This
project is directly aligned with the Institute’s core mission of
promoting chlorine safety. We expect this material to be a valuable
resource in helping first responders prepare for the initial response
to any chemical emergency, in particular one in which chlorine might be
involved.
The material presented in the DVD was assembled primarily by a CI Task
Group made up of a wide cross section of member companies representing
producers, packagers, emergency responders and users of chlorine. The
material is organized on an easily navigable DVD which includes a main
segment of approximately 20 minutes which covers the basics of the
response in that critical first 15 minutes. There are 10 tabs which
cover topics including chlorine properties, mitigation and health
effects in greater detail.
For more details, please click here to go to The Chlorine Institute's website.
The
Chlorine Institute, Inc. (CI) is a not-for-profit trade association of
chlor-alkali producers worldwide, as well as packagers, distributors,
users, and suppliers. The Institute’s mission is the promotion of
safety and the protection of human health and the environment in the
manufacturer, distribution and use of chlorine, sodium hydroxide,
potassium hydroxide and sodium hypochlorite, plus the distribution and
use of hydrogen chloride. The Institute’s North American Producer
members account for more than 98 percent of the total chlorine
production capacity of the U.S., Canada, and Mexico.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
| ©
2007 SRM Associates |
|
|
