Disasters and emergency situations always seem to erupt when we are least expecting them and can range from major inconveniences to life-threatening situations. An anhydrous ammonia leak certainly falls within the life-threatening range, but Legacy Farmers Cooperative in Ohio recently staged a mass disaster exercise with emergency officials to make sure everybody knows what to do if a large anhydrous ammonia leak were to occur at any point.
The list of agencies that participated are:
- Six fire departments
- Five county emergency management agencies
- Ohio Department of Transportation
- Ohio EPA
- Wood County Sheriff’s Office
- American Red Cross
- St. Louis School
- Wood County Health District
Randy Digby, Safety and Compliance Manager for Legacy Farmers Cooperative says that bringing these organizations together made everybody figure out how they would work together in the event of a real emergency.
“The exercise was used to make everybody work through solving the disaster scenario together,” he said.
“I was impressed by the planning and inter-office cooperation of all the people and agencies involved. We are much more prepared, having gone through this now.”
The event also fulfilled the requirements for Emergency Management Agencies in Wood County to review their Risk Management Practices (RMP) as well as the new Ohio Environmental Protection Agency requirement to review facility RMPs every three years.
Ohio state Rep. Haraz Ghanbari, representing Ohio’s 75th district, also attended the exercise to better understand how the organizations in his district are working together to keep their communities safe.
Topics covered throughout the training were:
- Responding to a large-scale HAZMAT disaster
- HAZMAT procedures for anhydrous ammonia
- Safe evacuation practices
- First aid practices after a chemical exposure
- How to work collaboratively with the Legacy Farmers Cooperative
- Working with governmental offices not directly related to safety
- Working with non-governmental organizations
- Coordination with local schools
- Facility tour of Legacy Farmers Cooperative facility to learn about the infrastructure and emergency shut-off valve locations
A special thanks to Rep. Haraz Ghanbari’s office for providing the images in this story.
By: Randy Digby, Safety and Compliance Manager, Legacy Farmers Cooperative