Q3 | September 2020
ERAC Q3 2020 Newsletter
President's Message

Little did we know when we set a record for incidents in the first three months of the year what the next few months would bring. In 2020, our focus has been on working hard to ensure we assist our Plan Participant members in maintaining regulatory compliance but also the safety of all those at an incident, as well as the community. We’re seeing the results of hard work, day in and day out, by our staff, response network and stakeholders; regulators continue to show trust in ERAC and have come to expect our trained and assessed responders on-scene at incidents.
Announcements

ERAC Board of Directors Changes

ERAC (LPGERC)'s AGM took place in June and changes to the board were approved at the Canadian Propane Association (CPA) AGM.

Trish Adams of Pembina Pipeline has stepped forward as chair of the ERAC Board of Directors for 2020-21, and Todd Temple of Kiros Energy is the vice-chair.

Thank you to Sterling Koch from Plains Midstream Canada for his work as Board chair the past year as he moves into his current role as past chair.

RMA Retirement

Congratulations to Harvey Steffenson on his retirement as an RMA from ERAC after 31 years of dedication and service. Harvey has been in the industry for decades, sharing stories with, educating and bestowing information upon newer response team members. His vast knowledge will be missed – we wish Harvey all the best.
Are Your Carriers, Trans Loaders and Consignees Aware of the ERAP Reporting Requirements? 

Part of your responsibility as an ERAP holder includes ensuring your carriers, trans loaders and consignees are educated in reporting requirements in the event of a release or anticipated release. Recently, ERAC has seen incidents where an ERAP report was not made until hours or days after the occurrence.

To help improve compliance, we assembled the applicable reporting requirements, as per the TDG Regulations.
Updated Emergency Planning Services Available, Including Rail Security Plans

We’ve developed a new approach in Environmental Emergency (E2) planning to better serve Plan Participant members. We offer full service: we write the plan, submit mandatory schedules to Environment and Climate Change Canada, produce public notification brochures, and facilitate annual tabletop training sessions for facility employees. We can share this work, if you have the time and resources internally to execute some of these requirements; this way, the cost of the plan is reduced accordingly.
Jan. 31 Deadline Fast Approaching:
Log in to EOS Today

Transport Canada has given a deadline of January 31, 2021 to log in to their web-based system EOS and resubmit your ERAP.

For ERAC to continue to assist in managing and updating your ERAP, you must add ERAC as a delegated ERAP writer in EOS.
Training & Events

As we're unable to hold in-person regional training and assessment events with most response teams in 2020, we’ve added mandatory modules to online courses in our learning management system, Workhub, as part of our training process. We’re looking for ways to leverage virtual platforms to provide maximum benefit to the teams without putting health at risk. We anticipate all in-person training and assessments returning in 2021.
In the Spotlight: Nucor Environmental Solutions

Nucor Environmental Solutions currently provides flammable liquid response services for ERAC in southern BC; they are in the training and assessment phase of becoming an LPG team based in Edmonton. National Program Manager Andy Jeves has developed multiple offices of trained and equipped responders that have a growing resume of successful incident responses.
NEW: ICS 100 and 200 Online Training, ICS 200 and 300 Instructor-Led Sessions

ERAC now offers both ICS 100 and 200 online.

ERAC will also hold the following virtual, instructor-led sessions:
  • ICS 200 – Nov. 2020, Jan./Feb. 2021
  • ICS 300 – Jan./Feb. 2021
Continued Focus on Safety and Quality

As part of ERAC’s ongoing continuous improvement of our health and safety management system, we’ve developed 18 formalized job hazard assessments (JHA) based on the tasks that responders may need to conduct in the field as a result of responding to a flammable liquids or LPG incident. The JHAs describe critical and non-critical work that ERAC employees and contractors may participate in during operations conducted on behalf of ERAC and our Plan Participant members.

These JHAs are required by OHS regulations and, as part of our responsibility, ERAC communicates these hazards to our employees and contractors. By the end of August, these will be available to all ERAC responders on our learning management system, Workhub.
Reminder: ERAC Resource Locator and Incident Management Dashboard

The ERAC Resource Locator is a web mapping application available on ArcGIS Online. The Resource Locator allows you to view a wide range of emergency management resources available across Canada, providing phone numbers, addresses and other valuable information. The list of emergency resources is growing, and we continue to update it to provide the best support available.

ERAC also has an Incident Management Dashboard specific to each of our Plan Participant members – another tool for viewing all information in real-time that ERAC collects and maintains during incidents.
ERAC Key Performance Indicators
Arrival Time by Responder Type
Tier 1 Implementations By Type
Tier 2 Implementations by Type
Emergency Response Assistance Canada (ERAC) | 587-349-5880 | info@erac.org | erac.org