Explore this site to find out what resources CHEMTREC has to assist emergency responders, shippers of hazardous materials, and carriers and how those resources are used.
Fully staffed 24/7 Emergency Communications Center
Over 250 years hands-on staff experience in handling hazardous materials
Technical data, including over 5 million MSDSs
Language Translation
Emergency medical assistance
High availability and off-site disaster recovery
Call logging and audio recording
Drills and Exercises
Training and incident management through CHEMTREC Responder™
Broad domestic network
International relationships
Fully staffed 24/7 Emergency Communications Center
Seventeen of CHEMTREC’s total staff of 36 are highly trained and experienced Emergency Service Specialists (ESS) assigned to CHEMTREC’s 24-hour emergency communications center. Some ESS are formerly paid-professional firefighters, some are retired military with specialties in military ordinance or explosives, and some are graduates of emergency response programs. Many ESS serve their communities as volunteer fire fighters and emergency medical technicians.
Over 250 years hands-on staff experience in handling hazardous materials
Each Emergency Service Specialist (ESS) is required to undergo rigorous training before being permitted to handle incidents on behalf of CHEMTREC. Training includes annually recurring hazmat certification through 40-hour programs as well as attendance of in-house classes taught by emergency response and product experts from the American Chemistry Council's membership.
Together, our ESS represent 250+ years of hands-on experience in emergency response.
Technical data, including 5+ million MSDSs
The technical data that our Emergency Service Specialists can bring to bear during an incident include CHEMTREC’s data base of 5 million+ material safety data sheets and a broad range of CD based or hard copy reference material. All this information is housed within CHEMTREC and immediately accessible.
Language translation
In those cases where an emergency call is received from someone whose primary language is other than English, CHEMTREC can access its 24/7 language translation service and communicate effectively with the caller.
Emergency medical assistance
Through MEDTREC, CHEMTREC maintains 24/7 access to physicians and toxicologists who can provide critical information to emergency medical technicians and physicians treating patients exposed to hazardous materials. Physicians and toxicologists can be connected to the incident scene or treating facility via CHEMTREC’s conferencing system.
High availability and off-site disaster recovery
CHEMTREC can use high-speed internet, fax, and/or telephone systems to deliver information to emergency responders. Additionally , CHEMTREC has multiple layers of redundancy in place for our systems and our facility. Redundancy includes back-up electrical systems, multi-level phone systems, and three back-up facilitites.
Call logging and audio recording
CHEMTREC records all calls to and from the emergency center. This recording system is used for quality control purposes and gives CHEMTREC the ability to revisit specific calls to review our response.
Drills and Exercises
Through CHEMTREC's drill/exercise program, we are available to participate in local exercises and provide assistance as in an actual emergency. The goal of this service is to help responders gain a better understanding of what resources CHEMTREC can bring to bear to allow for smoother operations should an actual chemical emergency incident occur.
Training and incident management through CHEMTREC RESPONDER™
CHEMTREC Responder™ offers expanded training, incident management, and emergency preparedness services to CHEMTREC customers. CHEMTREC Responder membership includes full-service emergency response incident management for up to 5 emergency response incidents (or up to 15 incident response hours). Services include:
- Direct interaction with the scene, from telephone contact to on-site attendance, depending on the severity of the incident;
- Dispatch and follow-up with emergency response contractors;
- Notifications to federal, state, provincial and local agencies;
- Comprehensive after-incident report; and
- Arrangements for material or waste management.
CHEMTREC Responder membership also allows your company to take advantage of cost-effective DOT Hazmat and OSHA training provided at your facility, saving you both down-time and employee travel cost. Services include:
- Industrial hygiene auditing and monitoring;
- OSHA compliance auditing;
- Comprehensive HAZWOPER training courses;
- HAZWOPER competency valuations;
- Emergency response plan development;
- DOT HMR training (other than Hazmat training);
- WMD trainingSecurity training and the use of vulnerability assessment methodologies;
- Security auditing;
- CAMEO training;
- EHS consulting; and
- Response contractor evaluation and auditing.
For further information about CHEMTREC Responder, including pricing information, please call (877) 756-4666 (office) or 973-809-6700 (cell) and speak with your CHEMTREC Responder representative, Manny Ehrlich.
Broad domestic network
When computerized or hard-copy technical data is not enough, CHEMTREC relies on its unparalleled “people network.” CHEMTREC is linked to the largest network of chemical and hazardous material experts in the world including chemists and response specialists within the American Chemistry Council membership, and response specialists within the carrier community, public emergency services, and private contractor community. As Retired Chicago Fire Department Chief John Eversole said, “CHEMTREC has one of the best ‘black books’ in the business.” When necessary, CHEMTREC staff can establish direct communications between these experts, CHEMTREC personnel and the responders at the scene of an incident.
International relationships
CHEMTREC has also long established international relationships. Its working relationships with SETIQ (Sistema de Emergencias en Transporte para la Industria Quimica), the emergency center operated by ANIQ, and CANUTEC (Canadian Transport Emergency Centre of the Department of Transport), Canada’s government-operated emgergency center, have proven extremely successful in assisting with incidents involving shipments either to or from those countries. CHEMTREC also has a formal agreement with the National Chemical Emergency Center (NCEC) in the United Kingdom to provide seamless coverage of shipments within and between Europe and the United States.
As chemical industry operations continue to expand in Latin America and along the Pacific Rim, customers are asking that CHEMTREC enhance its reach in those areas. Over the next year, CHEMTREC will reach out to companies and organizations involved in the business of chemistry to determine what resources are available and how CHEMTREC can better serve its customers in those regions.