Following are a few items related to hazardous materials response that came in over the holidays:
In 2005, a pilot cooperative research program on the transport of hazardous materials was authorized by the federal government. The Hazardous Materials Cooperative Research Program (HMCRP) is sponsored by the U.S. Department of Transportation's Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration and managed by the National Academies acting through the Transportation Research Board (TRB). The HMCRP Technical Oversight Panel met in October and selected projects for the FY 2010 program. Download HMCRP 2010 Announcement to see the approved hazmat research projects for 2010, and note that the panel is also seeking members who want to participate in the oversight of these projects (deadline for applications/nominations is January 22, 2010).
The Association of American Railroads/Bureau of Explosives has issued a call for presentations for the AAR/BOE Hazardous Materials Conference to be held in Kansas City, MO on May 25-27, 2010. Please note that submissions are due by January 31, 2010. Download 2010 BOE Seminar Call for Abstracts.
A presidential Executive Order released December 30 establishes federal capability for the timely provision of medical countermeasures following a biological attack. The policy seeks to mitigate illness and prevent death, sustain critical infrastructure, and complement and supplement State, local, territorial, and tribal government medical countermeasure distribution capacity. Since the U.S. Postal Service has the capacity for rapid residential delivery of medical countermeasures for self administration, the government plans to pursue a national postal service dispensing model to respond to a large-scale biological attack. For more information http://www.whitehouse.gov/the-press-office/executive-order-medical-countermeasures-following-a-biological-attack.
Glen Rudner, member of the NFPA Technical Committee on Hazardous Materials Response Personnel (NFPA 472 and 473) sent us this link to an article appearing in TRAINS Magazine on an option to improve tank car safety: http://www.trains.com/trn/default.aspx?c=a&id=6081.
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