INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY/New system aids hazmat response

Often, the most dangerous element in a hazardous materials transportation mishap is the unknown. But such incidents are now easier to manage thanks to an innovative new communication system that partners technology, public safety and private industry.

The Operation Respond Emergency Information System (OREIS) was designed by and for first responders — the firefighters and police officers who are first to arrive on the scene of hazmat accidents and who require intimate knowledge of hazardous materials and their dangers.

OREIS established the nation’s first direct computer links between participating railroads and motor carriers and 911, fire and police dispatch centers. The system accesses the mainframe databases of the participating rail and motor carriers using a trailer or rail car identification number. The system then verifies the cargo contents, converting the hazmat information into a format that is easily understood and used by first responders. OREIS saves crucial time obtaining key safety information.

OREIS has been used successfully in several hazmat mishaps, including a hydrochloric acid spill at a Buffalo, N.Y., railyard in November 1996. During this incident, railroad employees noticed a vapor cloud in the yard. The first responder teams contacted the dispatch center and gave dispatchers the rail car identification number. The dispatchers, using OREIS, contacted the Conrail database and were able to verify the contents and transmit the information to the fire department. The process took less than eight minutes.

OREIS incorporates the North American Emergency Response Guidebook and the American Association of Railroads’ Chemical List. First responders must always find two sources of confirmation before taking action, and OREIS makes it simple. “It enables the first responder to make key decisions in split seconds that will mean life or death for the firefighter and the public,” says Alfred Whitehead, President of the International Association of Firefighters (IAFF).

More than 73 emergency response units in the U.S. have begun using OREIS. The system originated in the Houston area, which sits on one of the highest volume hazmat routes in the nation. The system was first tested in 1993, and it is now on-line in six states. It was used for the 1996 Summer Olympic Games in Atlanta and is slated to be installed in at least 10 more cities in the United States, Mexico and Canada by mid-1997.

There are two versions of the system — a PC version for use in dispatch centers and a cellular one for use in police cruisers or fire trucks. Both are Windows-based.

Additionally, passenger schematics for Amtrak’s commuter rail trains have been incorporated into OREIS, which provides a full layout of the seat configurations of various trains, as well as the locations of electricity and fuel sources and emergency exits. In addition to Amtrak and Conrail, the current participants are Chemical Leaman, CSX, Houston Belt & Terminal Railroad, Maryland Rail Commuter, New Jersey Transit, Norfolk Southern, Houston Port Terminal Railroad, Southern Pacific, Tex Mex, Via Rail, Virginia Rail Express and Yellow Freight.

The IAFF has aided Operation Respond in training first responders on the system. Similar “partner” projects are in production with other police and rail groups. Operation Respond’s plans also include a CD-ROM and training program to enhance passenger train information, as well as expansion of OREIS to more cities along the Mexican and Canadian borders. Long-range goals include blanketing the U.S. so that any hazmat transportation could easily be tracked with just a computer stroke.

The author is president of Operation Respond Institute, Washington, D.C.