According to Jeff Suggs, corporate emergency services and security for Kuraray Co. Ltd., when a company has an emergency or incident, it is incumbent upon the organization to notify the appropriate first responders and company leaders.
They also have an obligation to make the organization's neighbors and associates aware of the incident as well, regardless of scale.
"When we have an incident, whether it be very small or something significant, we've got a duty to notify," Suggs said.
In addition to his responsibilities at Kuraray, Suggs also serves as chair of East Harris County Manufacturers Association's (EHCMA's) emergency management and communications committee. In his presentation at the 2021 Texas-Louisiana EHS Seminar & Virtual Expo, Suggs explained that it's "very important for all of us to understand interactions between our industrial partners and the community at large, and it's very important we already have those relationships established so we know how to deal with an incident or emergency."
EHCMA's goal, Suggs said, is to provide the responsible agencies with the information they need to know to help make decisions that will protect the community and industry alike.
"We're very, very densely populated [in East Harris County]. There are over a million people in Precinct 2 alone, so we're one big community, whether we're industry or a citizenry," he said.
Rising to the challenge, EHCMA created the community emergency communications committee (CECC) in 2004 to respond to what was deemed as being "inadequate communication" between industry and responsible agencies. Prior to that time, Suggs reported, "We did not have good communications between our responsible agencies, cities and counties. We knew we needed to do a better job because there were too many different ways of doing things out there."
The committee addressed inconsistencies that can lead to misinterpretation in responding to emergency situations.
"We knew we needed to come up with a more common and consistent platform," Suggs stated.
Within two years, EHCMA commissioned the CECC to publish a handbook that established protocols for emergency communications between industry and the responsible agencies. In 2017, EHCMA also implemented the Community Awareness Emergency Response (CAER) app, a system that provides information to the community about industrial incidents, as well as planned events. The messages communicate basic information about the nature of the incident or event, where it took place, and whether any action or response is required by community members.
Recognizing that technology was "speeding up, and we needed to speed up with it," Suggs said EHCMA then implemented its E-Notify platform. The app, available for download in the Apple Store and Google Play, was created as a way for EHCMA members to give back to the communities where they live and work, Suggs said.
E-Notify was soon recognized as a best practice for emergency notification. Rather than making telephone calls or sending faxes, E-Notify enabled community members to view messages and alerts from EHCMA member facilities regarding operational updates.
Time is of the essence
The committee has the very specific goal to get reports disseminated within 15 minutes of receiving notification of an industrial incident, whether or not the incident is a health or safety threat to the surrounding community.
"Most of the time it's quicker than [15 minutes], whether the incident is an emergency or nonemergency," Suggs said.
CAER communications effectively combat rumors and unverified assumptions that often occur following industrial incidents, regardless of the severity of the incidents, he said.
"A lot of the time, rumors sometimes even come from inside the facility itself," Suggs explained. "It might not be an employee, but it could come from someone who is on-site like a contractor or a visitor. Cell phones are in our facilities, so it is incumbent upon industry to get our message out in the way we choose."
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