Marketplace Today Blog

Schneider National, Inc. closed out Disaster Preparedness Month by hosting an emergency preparedness exercise for the company and hazardous materials responders in Northeast Wisconsin.

Schneider’s Bulk division staged three scenarios for local haz-mat teams in Green Bay, De Pere, Appleton, Oshkosh, Marinette and Brown County to address:

• A tanker has flipped and is leaking corrosive chemicals.
• A tanker at rest has broken through the concrete underneath it, is down at the nose and is leaking.
• A tanker has been impacted from the side by a small van.

For several hours, teams worked through the scenarios while three Schneider instructors, each certified in haz-mat response, closely monitored their activities and provided feedback about how each situation was handled. In addition, they briefed the teams on the latest equipment used for sealing tankers.

Schneider National staged similar rollover scenarios in both 2006 and 2007. “The exercises Schneider hosts are some of the best training we can offer our teams because of their complexity and hands-on opportunities,” said Dave Siegel, training officer for the Brown County Haz-Mat Response Team.

Emergency personnel are not the only ones who benefit from the exercise. “Participating in events like this one are invaluable for Schneider’s trainers,” said Steve Torres, Schneider National’s safety director. “We get a chance to hone our teaching skills and practice with equipment that the responders bring to the scene — equipment we often don’t get a chance to use. Most importantly, these activities give us a chance to interact with the people protecting our communities and underscore for them our commitment to Schneider’s core value: safety first and always.”

The Northeast Wisconsin haz-mat exercise is the most recent example of the company’s involvement in community emergency preparedness training. Similar events are held throughout the year in other parts of the country.

The training extends beyond those responding to the incident in the field. The day after the exercise, Schneider brought several customer service and operations support associates to the site to get a firsthand look at a live haz-mat incident. Associates gain an appreciation and understanding of what a driver faces when these types of accidents occur, and should an incident of this nature ever occur with Schneider’s tankers, these associates will now have a better understanding of the situation the driver is facing.