Industrial Strength: Don't Cry Over Spilled Chemicals
Hudson's Spill Center is there for truckers
Many times, viewers of 24 have seen CTU field agents seriously in the weeds. In those situations, they can call into CTU, and be talked through the situation. The agents in the CTU bunker have every federal regulation, every necessary map and schematic, every pertinent piece of information at their fingertips and they usually get their man out of trouble in the nick of time.
It's the same for transportation companies that find themselves in need of the Spill Center.
Hot Mess
Spill Center was begun in 1990 in Stow by former EPA toxicologist and Progressive insurance litigator Tom Moses. Today, the 15-employee company operates 24 hours per day, and is an important resource for companies that handle hazardous materials.
Those companies, "need to be able to deal with spills, how to get them contained and how to report them, how to clean them up and how to dispose of them," Moses said.
Spill Center not only knows how to do all that stuff, but how to do it anywhere in the country. Transportation companies that carry hazardous waste "may not know what the regs are in some backwater somewhere," Moses said.
Imagine it. You're a truck driver hauling a load of 50-gallon drums full of hazardous stuff across God-knows-where, at night. Suddenly, a handful of the barrels come loose from the truck, hit the road and burst all over the place.
What do you do?
If you've got a contract with Spill Center, you just call them. That's it. Spill Center contracts with 3,000 cleanup contractors across the country.
Its staff has access to environmental, spill reporting and cleanup regulations for every inch of the U.S. They do business with trucking companies, railroads, air transport companies and the chemical industry.
Without the connection with Spill Center, many drivers would've left the scene, or made some ham-handed attempt at hiding evidence of the spill. And remember, spills like the one I described can easily be more severe than simply toxic stuff on the ground. Drinking water, game animals and fish can be contaminated.
Technology now allows trucks to carry Spill Center equipment that automatically notifies staff in Hudson when a spill occurs. The U.S. Department of Homeland Security and the U.S. Transportation Security Agency are interested in Spill Center's ability to identify and respond to spills. After all, "what's the difference between a hazmat spill caused by an accident and a hazmat spill caused by an act of terrorism?" Moses asked.
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