A TRAINING course designed to fine tune the emergency response to major chemical incidents was opened in Cork yesterday. Under the auspices of the Southern Health Board (SHB), the course will bring together during the week members of the health and fire services, the Garda, transport services, local authorities, Cork Harbour Board officials, and representatives of the chemical industry.
Based on an American model, the course is intended to enable participants to develop the necessary training procedures within their organisations to deal more effectively with and ensure an efficient response to emergencies.
After the various participants in the course have reported, the Major Accident Plan for Cork - developed in the 1970s and used assemble the agencies which responded to two major fires at chemical plants in Cork Harbour in 1993 - will be revised.
New equipment developed for emergency incidents will be demonstrated during the course, which will be attended by technical experts. The various bodies involved will discuss updating computer data bases containing information on hazardous substances.
In a paper yesterday, Captain Michael Hession, assistant chief fire officer for Co Cork, said that it was vital that in any hazardous materials incident, the identification of the substances involved was clear and unambiguous. Often international methods of labelling substances differed, and in some cases, the names of the hazardous materials we're described differently.
An example was the recent discovery on a beach in Cork of a material named calcium fosfide, according to the label. This substance would be known in Ireland as calcium phosphide.
For any one chemical substance, Capt Hession said, there would be a shipping name, one or more alternative chemical names, and a trade name if the substance was in commercial production. While the shipping and chemical names would usually be sufficient to retrieve information from a chemical guide or data base, the trade name would not. Mr J.P. Goulding of the Health and Safety Authority (HSA) told delegates that the need for emergency planning, incorporating a medical response to chemical emergencies, was based on the premise that accidents were liable to occur and provision had to be made to limit their consequences.
While the accidents at Flixborough, Bhopal and Seveso readily sprang to mind, reminders at home included the Whiddy Island disaster in west Cork and the Cork Harbour chemical plant fires.
During HSA site visits to plants, items currently attracting particular attention included hazard evaluation protocols, major accident risk assessment and the efficacy of maintenance programmes.
It should be recognised, Mr Goulding said, that the chemical industry in Ireland had taken its own significant initiatives to demonstrate its commitment to the improvement of all aspects of performance relating to health, safety and the environment.