ERAC
Q4 Newsletter
Volume IV Issue IV
December 2016

Message from ERAC President,  
Spencer Buckland 
       
ERAC equipment display at JIBC, Maple Ridge, BC 
 
Season's greetings from all of us at ERAC.
 
Well it's been an amazingly productive year at ERAC. I'm so proud to be associated with our Plan Participant members, responders and our staff. First of all, I would like to congratulate and thank all of our valued response teams, Remedial Measures Advisors (RMAs) and Technical Advisers (TAs) for their commitment to working with ERAC and to meeting all of ERAC's training and assessment requirements to become approved response teams for more than 350 industry Plan Participants. Over the past year, our plan members have continued to support ERAC through their membership fees, allowing us to be in a position to provide fair and reasonable retainers to all of our...
In This Issue
Announcements

ERAC would like to acknowledge and thank a long serving RMA for all his dedication to this organization; Chris Snow will be retiring as of December 31, 2016.
 
Chris started in the propane industry with Atlantic Speedy Propane, which was later renamed Irving Propane. He worked on and supervised construction of propane facilities throughout the Maritime Provinces. After retiring from Irving Propane Chris started his own company, Eastern Gas Services. He became a RMA in May of 2001, responding to incidents in the Atlantic region from his home in Rothesay, NB.
 
His knowledge of tank and truck operations has been instrumental to others that had the opportunity to work alongside him. Known as a story teller and prankster, he could defuse tension and deflate egos with his humour, all the while taking his work seriously.
 
We would like to wish Chris all the best on his retirement.
Training & Events

SAVE THE DATE! ERAC large-scale live-transfer rail emergency exercise, in conjunction with CP, located in Coquitlam, BC on March 23, 2017.
 
SAVE THE DATE! Emergency Response Assistance Canada's National Training Forum for responders will be taking place on May 16 & 17, 2017 in Calgary, AB at the Westin.
 
New ERAC Response Teams - In our efforts to enhance our response capabilities, ERAC will be adding two new LPG response teams in 2017. Stay tuned for more details.
 
Annual two-day training and assessment of LPG and Flammable Liquids Response Teams
ERAC requires annual mandatory two-day training and assessment sessions for all LPG and Flammable Liquids Response Teams. This year our teams have trained in:  
  • Richmond British Columbia at the CN rail yard 
  • Kamloops British Columbia at the CN rail yard
  • St. Thomas Ontario at Dowler-Karn
  • Ernestown Ontario at Gibson Gas Liquids
  • Valleyfield Quebec at Pro Transfert
  • Edmonton Alberta at the Keyera Diluent Terminal and the CP rail yard
  • Saint John New Brunswick at the RST Bayshore facility
  • Surrey British Columbia at the Canwest rail facility
  • Winnipeg Manitoba at the CN rail yard
  • Bathurst New Brunswick at the Superior Propane facility
  • Taylor British Columbia at the McMahon gas plant
  • Winnipeg Manitoba at the BNSF rail yard
  • Brampton Ontario at the CN rail yard
  • Thunder Bay Ontario at the CN rail yard
  • Montreal Quebec at the CN rail yard
  • Regina Saskatchewan at the Richardson Terminal
  • Saskatoon Saskatchewan at the CN rail yard
  • Vancouver British Columbia at the CN rail yard
  • Calgary Alberta at the CP rail yard
Training locations for rail, truck and stationary tanks are important in helping ensure our responders are ready for any incident. All of us at ERAC thank these companies for stepping forward in support of the Regional Training and Assessment program.
Our Commitment is Your Success
Don Merriam, Operations Manager, LPG  

ERAC rail emergency exercise, CP Strathcona rail yard, May 19
2016 had some challenges during the year and also large measures of success for the LPG Division.
 
2016 welcomed our newest LPG response team, Sutherland Excavating Ltd. from Miramichi, NB. We also welcomed Robert Loenhart, from Calgary, AB, Kelly Tricker from Chetwynd, BC and Rod Recoskie from North Bay, ON as our newest Remedial Measures Advisors (RMAs).

The Regional training format was changed to minimize the classroom portion, allowing responders more hands-on practice. There was an overwhelming demand for this, and I believe the new format serves all well. There is now a more rigorous assessment of the Remedial Measures... Read more
Trained, Assessed and Approved
Patrick Knight, Operations Manager, Flammable Liquids 

ERAC rail emergency exercise, CN Malport rail yard, Sept. 15

2016 has been a successful year for ERAC in regards to training and continuous improvement of our national preparedness program. I would like to thank all the flammable liquids response teams for their participation in the 2016 Regional training cycle, were we have assessed 14 teams across Canada. I would also like to thank the Technical Advisors (TAs) for participating in the Regional training and assessments we held with all the response teams and for ... Read more 
Update on ERAC's Learning Management System Training
Cheryl Dahlager, Manager, Process Services 

ERAC's Learning Management System (LMS), SafetySync, has recently updated the user settings so you are no longer able to use the same email address for multiple accounts. If you are currently using an email address that is being used by others, you will be required to have your own individual email address effective immediately. ERAC's LMS provider will be working towards logins with only email address and password in 2017. Please let us know... Read more
Successful Launch of Firefighter Training
Louis-Philippe Ethier and Lance Bushie, ERAC Technical Advisors     

LPG Level 1 Mobile Operations Training, Blythe, ON

In 2016, ERAC successfully provided first responders with firefighter training in a few different capacities; LPG Firefighter training, Flammable Liquids Industrial Firefighter training and Flammable Liquids Fire Suppression Trailer training.

The LPG Firefighter training was rolled out in July of this year and has become a highly successful program delivered by ERAC. Thanks to the team at ERAC who have worked hard on the development of this program, more than 500 firefighters ... Read more 
ERAC Key Performance Indicators
ERAC's Average Arrival Time by Type of Responder
2011-2016 

 

ERAC's Number of Incidents by Container Type
2011-2016

 

ERAC's Number of Notifications (non-activated)
by Container Type
2013-2016 

 

2016 ERAC
Operating Budget