Channel Industries Mutual Aid (CIMA) represents one of the largest industrial mutual aid systems in the world, featuring over 100 members, including private companies, municipalities and governmental entities, in the Houston Ship Channel since 1955.
CIMA has a highly organized structure to ensure order prior to, during and after incident response and management. It is a nonprofit organization offering rescue, fire fighting and emergency medical assistance for the petrochemical and refining industry in the Greater Houston area. CIMA is considered a second-line response organization for hazardous incidents whether natural or man-made.
“At CIMA, there are three officers: a chairman/CEO, first vice chairman, second vice chairman and a past chairman,” explained Mark Turvey of Lubrizol, who serves as CIMA’s 2016 chairman. “The chairman position is a four-year commitment.
“Each zone has an elected representative, and each representative is expected to serve two years. Appointed positions include a chief information officer, four zone inspection officers and a communications officer.”
Turvey educated attendees of the recent Texas/Louisiana EHS Seminar on CIMA’s history, methods of incidence response and the benefits the organization provides to its members.
“The instant management team, or the IMT, is composed of 16 specialists, and these folks are the ones who respond and assist the agencies with strategy planning and how we’re going to manage the incident,” he said. “We have eight regular specialists and eight technical specialists, so we have some of our specialists who are specialized in Haz-Mat or marine firefighting.”
CIMA started in 1955 as Houston Ship Channel Industries Disaster Aid Organization (HSCIDAO) with eight original members. In 1960 it was renamed CIMA, and in 1970 the organization opened governmental agencies at the municipal, county, state and federal levels.
While CIMA provides many benefits, Turvey was clear on what CIMA isn’t.
“We’re not a contract response company; we can’t be,” he said. “We’re based on volunteer labor, so I can’t contractually guarantee anything on a volunteer response.”
CIMA requires members to pay membership fees, as this helps fund equipment, labor and other necessary tools required during a response as well as run the organization’s building and conduct training classes.
CIMA is not considered a 911 response; therefore, responses are typically delayed and should not be relied upon for long-term support. “If you make a CIMA call, those folks are likely going to show up 15, maybe 30 minutes later,” Turvey said. “We’re considered second-wave support.
“We expect all of our members to respond, but a lot of it is voluntary.”
Regarding concern on severe attacks and how to manage them, Turvey explained, “We do an annual zone drill every quarter. The general drill is every three to four years, and we drill all four zone drills at one time. That’s to mimic a type one event like the one that happened 15 years ago on 9/11 when multiple targets were hit. There is a concern the next target could be an industry, and we want to be prepared.”
While CIMA is a member-geared service, nonmembers can also benefit. “We do respond to nonmembers, but to do that requires a nonmember service agreement, which is like a contract,” Turvey said. “As a member of CIMA, I get the benefits of having all my member partners coming to assist me at no cost.
“We are very proud at CIMA of our history and what we do, and we’ve responded to a number of incidents. When we show up, we solve the problem. We don’t add anything to the bottom line for most companies. You have to understand, however, the day you need that capability is the most important day in your business, because it could mean if you’re in business for the future or not.”
For more information, visit www.cimatexas.org or call (281) 476-5040.
