Oil, rail industries educate responders to crude oil derailments

An education module has been developed jointly by the country’s oil companies and railroads for first responders to derailments of trains carrying crude oil.    An education module has been developed jointly by the country’s oil companies and railroads for first responders to derailments of trains carrying crude oil.
   “While the first steps are to prevent and mitigate the impact of train derailments, if an incident happens, we also need to make sure firefighters and first responders have the knowledge they need to protect local communities,” said Jack Gerard, president and chief executive officer for the American Petroleum Institute in a joint conference call with Association of American Railroads President and CEO Edward Hamberger.
   The program, which will complement existing training efforts for firefighters and other first responders, will be taught for the first time this weekend at conferences in Nebraska and Florida.
   The course covers the characteristics of crude oil, the railcars in which it’s shipped, considerations and strategies for spill response and firefighting, and the importance of following training and the incident command system.
   Course materials will soon be publicly available on the website of the Transportation Community Awareness and Emergency Response (TRANSCAER) program, which will distribute the course, the groups said. Courses are already confirmed or being planned in more than 15 states.