First responders whether at awareness or operational level should have a warning of the toxic, flammable, corrosive, reactive or infectious materials under emergency. Most popular hazardous materials warning systems are the National Fire Protection Association (NFPA) system and the Hazardous Materials Identification System (HMIS®).
According to (United States postal services Handbook., 1998) the HMIS® has rectangular shaped block of color coded bars with hazard ratings from 0 - 4(minimum - server hazard). From top its coded blue for health, red for flammability, yellow/orange reactivity or physical hazard and white for personal protection equipment (PPE).The HMIS® is advantageous to first responders since the labels give instant information at glance about the hazards and personal protection compliance outlining the isolation and evacuation procedure, since HMIS® was primarily established to enhance occupational safety according to Pacific Northwest Pollution Prevention Resource Center. (2004).It’s disadvantageous in the sense that no specific information about the hazardous material on transit is given and may also allow the shipment of certain materials without labels .This system can be improved by use of safety data sheet universally acceptable across the globe, inclusion of bill of lading and strict compliance of regulations for transportation of hazardous materials.
NFPA system has diamond shaped blocks with colored communication; blue block is for health, red for flammability, yellow for instability and white for special hazards like water reactive. The emergency hazard has numerical ratings with 0 for non usual, 1 for minor, 2 for moderate, 3 for server and 4 for extreme hazards. It’s important in notifying and warning responders to take notice of hazardous materials stored in the premise, summarizes the degree of hazards with categories of chemicals placed on placards mounted at the exterior of the store as concurred by TAMU Environmental Health and Safety Department. (2001).
This gives rapid and clear information on materials under fire, chemical spill or other incidence making it easier to perform hazard evaluation and determine which kind of technology should be applied in combating the emergency. The major disadvantages of NFPA is that it requires technically qualified and experienced responders to interpret criteria in hazard evaluation ,the placards can be confused with the normal ones used for transporting hazardous materials and it may be difficult to quantify , locate and know exact type of chemicals since many fixed plant facilities have many hazardous chemicals at hand .
Hazard communication program should have sound management, classification and labeling of hazardous materials to ensure consistent protection for the responders and population exposed to hazards. Hence the need for implementation of globally harmonized warning system that abides by occupational safety and health administration standards.
References
Ilpi.com (2011) HMIS® - Hazardous Materials Identification System retrieved from http://www.ilpi.com/msds/ref/hmis.html
Pacific Northwest Pollution Prevention Resource Center, (2004) Safer Chemical Alternatives: Identifying Chemical Hazards - Labeling Systems retrieved from
http://www.pprc.org/hubs/index.cfm?page=subsection&hub_id=1027&subsec_id=102
TAMU Environmental Health and Safety Department, (2001) Texas Hazard Communication Safety Procedures retrieved from http://www.bio.tamu.edu/safety/Notebook/Training.pdf
United States postal services, (1998) Handbook El-812 Hazardous Materials Spill and Response retrieved from www.nalc.org/depart/cau/pdf/manuals/el812.pdf
