Fundamentals of Fire Fighter Skills, Third Edition Chapter 28: Hazardous Materials: Overview Chief Concepts A hazardous material is a material that poses an unreasonable risk to the health and safety of operating emergency personnel, the public, and/or the environment if it is not properly controlled during handling, storage, manufacture, processing, packaging, use and disposal, or transportation. All fire fighters must be able to recognize the presence of hazardous materials, analyze information, and take appropriate action. The ability to recognize a potential hazardous material incident is critical to ensuring your own safety. To avoid entering a dangerous area, you must be alert to the possibility that hazardous materials are present at the scene. At a hazardous materials incident, you must attempt to identify and isolate the released material, and then prevent and address any injuries or exposures encountered. After any life-safety hazards are addressed, you must decide which level of action and protection is required to alleviate or resolve the incident. Hazardous materials can be found anywhere. At sites ranging from hospitals to petrochemical plants, pure chemicals and chemical mixtures are used to create millions of consumer products. In addition, manufacturing processes sometimes generate hazardous waste. Regulations are issued and enforced by governmental bodies such as OSHA and the EPA. HAZWOPER is a set of OSHA regulations that cover hazardous materials response training and hazardous waste site operations. Standards are issued by nongovernmental entities, such as the NFPA, and are generally consensus based. The NFPA has two current standards that pertain to hazardous materials incidents: NFPA 472 and NFPA 473. Training or competencies levels of proficiency for responders to a hazardous materials incident are found in HAZWOPER and outlined by the NFPA: awareness, operations, operations mission–specialist technician, and incident commander. Any person who comes upon a hazardous materials incident and has been trained to recognize it, identify it, and notify the appropriate agencies is considered to be operating at the awareness level. Operations-level responders respond to hazardous materials and WMD incidents for the purpose of protecting nearby persons, the environment, or property from the effects of the release. Technician-level personnel are trained to enter heavily contaminated areas using the highest levels of personal protection. Specialist-level personnel have a similar level of training as technician-level personnel, but have additional training related to specific chemicals, container types, or transportation modes. Hazardous materials officers are trained to assume command of a hazardous materials incident beyond the operations level. 1 © 2014 Jones & Bartlett Learning Hazardous materials safety officers are responsible for ensuring the safety of hazardous materials personnel and the use of appropriate hazardous materials and WMD practices. LEPCs gather and disseminate to the public information about hazardous materials. These committees include members from industry, transportation, media, fire and police agencies, and the public at large. LEPCs ensure that local resources are adequate to respond to a chemical-related event in the community. LEPCs collect MSDSs, which serve as an important informational resource for fire fighters. Hazardous materials incidents cannot be approached in the same manner as a structural fire. These incidents are more complex and structural firefighting gear does not provide adequate protection from hazardous materials. The actions taken at hazardous materials incidents are dictated largely by the chemicals involved and the resources available. A hazardous materials response begins with preincident planning. 2 © 2014 Jones & Bartlett Learning