Survey shows US chem companies confident on disaster preparedness

Houston (Platts)--31Aug2006

In a survey released in late August by the National Emergency Response &
Rescue Training Center, 50% of respondents from the US chemical industry rated
their disaster and/or terrorist attack response plans as "very good" or
"excellent" and 83% of respondents rated their plans as "good" or better.
Among six industries that were surveyed by the group, the chemical industry
ranked highest in disaster preparedness.

The positive survey results for the chemical industry were partly due to
government oversight of the chemical industry, said Harrison Lobdell, NERRTC
director, but stressed that the possibilities for disaster are infinite. "The
goal for businesses is to be able to mitigate the adverse impact from these
(disaster) instances," Lobdell said August 28.

"The survey results suggest that private sector preparedness has improved
in recent years, but critical gaps still exist," Lobdell said. "Having a plan
is important, and the chemical industry has done a good job in that arena, but
it's only part of the equation. Employees also need to be trained to implement
plans under extreme pressure in an invariably chaotic environment, and those
plans need to be tested to make sure they work. According to our survey, those
critical preparations are being overlooked at many companies today."

Forty one percent of chemical companies considered their training for
disasters to be "very good" or "excellent." And despite the results that
showed 23% of chemicals companies had not conducted any drills or exercises to
simulate a disaster, Lobdell said that compared to last year, "everybody is
better prepared today for a tragedy."

--Don Johnson, don_johnson@platts.com

For more news, request a free trial to Platts Petrochemical Report at
http://petrochemicalreport.platts.com or subscribe now at
http://www.platts.com/infostore/product_info.php?cPath=27_35&products_id=73


 

Copyright © 2005 - Platts

Please visit:  www.platts.com

Their coverage of energy matters is extensive!!.