Little General Store Propane Explosion - US Chemical Safety and ...

Little General Store September 2008
defensive actions to mitigate the damage caused by a hazardous materials incident, but not to actively
handle or attempt to contain the hazardous material(s). This type of action might include assessing the
scene and planning a response, establishing evacuation perimeters, setting up communications, and
initiating the incident command system. The operations level designation applies to anyone arriving at
the scene in response to a hazardous materials emergency; in Ghent, the lead technician, the EMTs, and
the fire department personnel acted at an operations level by arriving at the Little General in response to
the junior technician’s phone call.
Hazardous materials technicians, in contrast, are those qualified to take defensive and offensive actions in
response to an incident. Offensive actions entail entering the incident “hot zone” to attempt to control a
release, and require additional training beyond the operations level. 60 Additionally, hazardous materials
responders may seek the help of specialists: industry employees familiar with and trained in the hazards
and systems of a given material, like propane. Specialist employees must also meet specific NFPA 472
competencies to be qualified to perform release control actions. Propane service employees who assist
emergency responders physically secure releases must meet at least these competencies. Although the
evidence and witness statements indicate that the Appalachian Heating employees and Ghent Volunteer
Fire Department personnel were standing in the vapor cloud and attempting stop the release, none were
trained to the technician or specialist level.
60 Technician level training corresponds to 29 CFR 1910.120 40-hour HAZWOPER training.
50