Risk Assessment during an Incident Response

Topic:

Our presenter, Ed Primeau will present on two documents. The first is an AIHA white paper on the role of the IH in emergency response.  The second is an AIHA Technical Framework on Emergency Preparedness and Response.  As a Coast Guard NIMS Type I Safety Officer, Ed was used in response to fill the Safety Officer role.  As an IH, Ed was always looking for safety personnel to assist in areas that he lacked sufficient experience.  To be successful in an emergency response it is important to have both disciplines represented. This presentation will bring that to light.

Presenter: Edward Primeau

Edward Primeau was an Industrial Hygienist at the US Coast Guard Atlantic Strike Team, Joint Base McGuire-Dix-Lakehurst, New Jersey.  He deployed for over 1,100 days in response to 30 incidents and more than 125 preparedness events in the past 17 years.  He obtained the National Incident Management System (NIMS) Type 1, Safety Officer qualification.  During these responses he represented the Incident Commander for all health and safety concerns encountered during the response.  With strict adherence to safety protocols he helped facilitate effective communication for aggressive operational planning, allowing response operations to be completed ahead of schedule, under budget, and without any mishaps. He provided teams with resources for vessel rigging and lifting oversight, inclement weather, and dive plans. As an avid champion for the developing others, he significantly contributed to the development of the unit members by developing the applicable and required training curriculum and ensuring all aspects of the National Strike Team Qualification Guide was presented to newly reporting personnel.  He provided individual instruction and signed off countless practical factors and participated in over 40 qualification boards.

As an accomplished National Incident Management System (NIMS) Incident Command System (ICS) Safety Officer, he assisted the Coast Guard team in the development of their Safety Officer Course.  Subsequent to the development, he was one of six instructors to teach the course.  He has provided numerous examples during the course that supported the curriculum and added valuable insight to the complexities of the Safety Officer job.  During several years teaching the course, he has coached numerous teams and he was the go-to instructor that ensured all students completed the Site Safety Plan to standards.  He has developed numerous tools as well as an example Site Safety Plan for students to take back to their units and share with their teams, and to use in the event of an incident.