Hazmat Awareness case studies
Hazmat Awareness · Put your knowledge to work in context.
IS-5.a, An Introduction to Hazardous Materials, is a self-paced Independent Study course offered through the NDEMU Independent Study Program (ISP), an online distance-learning program that delivers training to people with emergency management responsibilities and to the general public. The course sits at the awareness level: it is built for people who may arrive at or work near a hazardous materials release but are not trained or equipped to stop it. The Hazmat Awareness case studies are 5 cases and about 4,230 words.
1The Plating Room Floor Drain
At 14:10 a plating shop's maintenance supervisor calls the fire department business line. A 55-gallon drum of a chromium-based plating solution tipped in the mixing room; roughly 8 gallons ran across the concrete and an unknown amount disappeared down a 4-inch floor drain.
872 words, about 4 min2Conflicting Clues at the Ditch
At 06:40 you arrive at a rural two-lane road where a box truck has slid into a ditch. The driver is out of the cab, coughing with watering eyes.
793 words, about 4 min3The Bulging Drum and the Night Manager
At 22:15 you respond to an odor complaint at a 200,000-square-foot food-distribution warehouse. The night manager meets you at the dock: a 55-gallon drum of 'sanitizer' in the chemical storage cage has been bulging for two days and now shows liquid at the lid.
836 words, about 4 min4Two Outside, One Inside
At 09:05 you arrive at a machine shop where a 30-gallon plastic tank of parts-washing solvent has split at the seam. Two people are outside: the owner, whose forearms and hands are wet and who says his skin is burning, and an employee who is dizzy and has vomited once.
868 words, about 4 min5Forty Gallons, a Ditch, and a Stock Pond
At 16:45 a tanker delivery overfills a 1,000-gallon aboveground tank at a farm-supply co-op. An estimated 40 gallons of liquid fertilizer (8-0-0, label notes 'contains free ammonia,' pH 11.5) is pooled on the concrete pad and running toward a grassed ditch 30 feet away that leads to a stock pond.
861 words, about 4 min