| The 2008 TRANSCAER award has been awarded to four companies who aid community response to hazmat incidents |
Companies attending the event will receive their award at the 22nd Annual Association of American Railroad and Bureau of Explosives Hazardous Materials Seminar at the Westin Crown Center in Kansas City, Missouri on May 19, 2009.
"TRANSCAER and the resources it makes available are intended to help safeguard the public by providing first responders with the information and training they need to effectively respond in the unlikely event of a chemical transportation incident," said Rollie Shook, CPP, Emergency Services and Security Senior Leader of The Dow Chemical Company and chairperson of NTTG. "This is a great outreach tool that gives companies the chance to let communities know they are committed to ensuring the safe and secure transportation of potentially hazardous products."
TRANSCAER companies train local emergency responders through a combination of hands-on activities, emergency planning assistance and community drills and exercises. They include the use of actual rail and truck equipment; table-top exercises which are verbal "walk throughs" that discuss responses to a possible emergency situation; and whistle-stop tours that bring emergency preparedness training to response organizations and educate communities near major rail routes about rail equipment and chemical transportation.
This year's winners are: BNSF Railway Company, The Norfolk Southern Corporation, The Dow Chemical Company and Union Pacific Railroad. The recipients trained more than 13,000 first responders through numerous events nationwide last year.
In addition, the 2008 Regional Achievement Award was presented to Pennsylvania TRANSCAER and the Chairman's Award was presented to Robert C. Blake, Bayer Corporation, John O'Neill, Firefighters Education &Training Foundation and Donna L. Lepik, TRANSCAER. Louis J. Wagner of Union Pacific Railroad received the Distinguished Service Award.
The companies below achievements went beyond the normal call of duty to advocate, demonstrate and implement the principles of TRANSCAER:
BNSF Railway Company - Headquarters, Fort Worth, Texas BNSF's Haz Mat team provided training to more than 4,500 first responders in 17 states and sponsored more than 200 TRANSCAER events in 2008; including tours in Iowa, Colorado and Washington. BNSF Railway operates in 28 states with 33,000 track miles in the central, western and southeastern United States and transports approximately 1,200,000 shipments of hazardous materials annually.
The Norfolk Southern Railroad - Headquarters, Norfolk, Virginia Norfolk Southern Railroad transports hazardous materials through 22 states. TRANSCAER exercises were held in 14 states and in 164 cities last year. Their efforts provided training to more than 4,354 emergency responders.
The Dow Chemical Company - Headquarters, Midland, Michigan Dow sponsored two TRANSCAER tours in 2008 where more than 1,200 participants were trained. The Michigan TRANSCAER Tour included a 16-day schedule and the Gulf Coast Tour, included a 10-city schedule. The Dow Chemical Company ships hazardous materials along the Mississippi River corridor which includes Louisiana, Arkansas, Missouri and Illinois.
The Union Pacific Railroad - Headquarters, Omaha, Nebraska Union Pacific is the largest railroad in North America, with 38,650 miles of track. In 2008, UP trained more than 3,035 emergency responders in 172 classes and participated in more than 117 TRANSCAER related events. UP has trained 168,913 non-employee emergency responders since 1979.
Pennsylvania TRANSCAER PATC distinguished itself as a leader in preparedness by undertaking extensive community outreach and training at the county level. Pennsylvania TRANSCAER sponsored four interactive tabletop/functional emergency response exercises for county and local emergency responders in 2008.