Trickledown Environmental Effects of a Gulf Coast Disaster
Posted on Thu, May 27, 2010 @ 11:18 AM
By Brian Boissonneault, Industrial Account Manager
Once again, we are dealing with a disaster in the Gulf of Mexico. If you thought exposure to this incident was limited by geography, think again. The effects, whether direct or not, will be felt by businesses and communities across the nation. It has happened before.
In 2005 Hurricane Katrina wreaked havoc on the Gulf Coast with high winds, floods and lightning. The result of such a massive catastrophe left the area in ruins. This event claimed 1836 lives and caused $81 billion in damage. A large portion of that money was spent on environmental cleanup. The flood caused containment pools and wastewater treatment systems to flood. The winds dropped buildings onto hazardous materials storage areas and the lightning caused extended power outages to chemical manufacturers.
In the ensuing months large environmental companies deployed resources from all over the country to the Gulf Coast to help with the cleanup. This mass deployment left a large vacuum in its wake. Areas of the country otherwise unaffected by this or any other hurricane, had to deal with the side effects. Businesses within these communities had to deal with depleted resources from their environmental services providers, leaving them out compliance and without the assistance of their trusted advisor at times. The majority of the cleanup took months and there are still some activities going on today. The companies who responded to the gulf profited handsomely.
Fast-forward to today and we're seeing the same thing over again. However, the extent of the damage from the oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico looks to dwarf Katrina's environmental impact exponentially. The cleanup will likely be longer, more difficult and more costly. At the time of this blog entry, the source of the leak has yet to be shut off. Large environmental companies are once again sending all available resources to the area. Businesses far removed from the gulf coast will surely again experience service failures from their environmental services company as a indirect result of this spill.
There are a few things you can do to prepare yourself and your program for failures. Ask your environmental services provider what their response to the incident is and how it has affected your local resources. Ask them how they plan to deal with unscheduled events, such as spills, fires, etc. These questions can also be used to gauge the level of customer service between you and your provider. It may also be a great time to look at bringing on a backup vendor and having them trained and ready to go in the event of a service failure by your primary.
Disasters in the gulf, or anywhere, affect us all. You can take just a few steps to prepare for the tough road ahead. Be sure you are working with a service provider who is as invested in your environmental program as you are.