In Case of Emergencies…

For years, insurers and risk managers have relied on preferred vendor programs to fill their general property restoration and response needs. These programs have been effective at fulfilling those needs, but many insurers and risk managers still struggle to find the appropriate highly technical responder to overcome their risk exposures to chemical- and transportation-related claims. Transportation Emergency Assistance Program, Version Three (TEAP III) registration enables the risk manager and insurer to pre-approve the appropriate response contractor to fill their transportation, industrial and large commercial exposure risks.  

What is TEAP III?

TEAP III registration is recognition of having met industry-established requirements for transportation emergency response capability in Canada.

The TEAP III Transportation Emergency Response Service Provider (TERSP) Standard is in place to pre-assess the on-scene capabilities of a responder, be it an in-house, mutual aid or a third-party response contractor (as is often the case). A significant part of the TEAP III system involves a bi-annual site visit by a three-person, third-party assessment team and an annual self-report on the capabilities of each individual response contractor’s location. When a response contractor (TERSP) is TEAP III registered, it means the responder has undergone a complete records and location assessment against specific criteria in the TEAP III TERSP Standard. These include:

• interview of registered response personnel;
• training records and competency checks;
• inspection and maintenance of response equipment; and
• identification of response capability for all of the above.

TEAP has evolved over the past 40 years under the auspices of the Chemistry Industry Association of Canada (CIAC), formerly the Canadian Chemical Producers Association (CCPA). Current industry TEAP III stakeholders include the CIAC, Canadian Association of Chemical Distributors (CACD), the Railway Association of Canada (RAC), the Canadian National Railway (CNR), Canadian Pacific Railway (CPR) and the Canadian Emergency Response Contractors Alliance (CERCA). It appears the insurance industry is unaware of TEAP and is missing from this collective effort. However, insurers and risk managers would surely be interested in the success and growth of a program that addresses training and experience required for such high-risk and high-exposure activities.

The maturity and partnership of the TEAP organization substantiates its ability to transition from providing a reactive service years ago to the current proactive assessment and registration program it is today.

TEAP I started in the early 1970s. It pre-dated many of the acts and regulations we use today, including the Transportation of Dangerous Goods Act (1980), CCPA’s Responsible Care (1985), Workplace Hazardous Materials Information System-WHMIS (1985) and even the Canadian Environmental Protection Act-CEPA (1990). Initially a 24-hour national call centre, the TEAP I system linked knowledgeable industry personnel to people needing information on how to respond to incidents involving dangerous goods.

A number of changes to the system followed the 1981 release of the Grange Report, which addressed the Mississauga railway incident that resulted in the evacuation of 250,000 residents in Mississauga. Among the changes was a resolution that all shippers of dangerous goods must have a plan to respond to incidents that is approved by the Federal Minister of Transport. This recommendation and others formed the basis of the Emergency Response Assistance Plan (ERAP), as regulated under the Transportation of Dangerous Goods Act.

In 1983, TEAP II represented the evolution of the program from a national telephone system that provides technical support to an on-scene mutual aid response network with trained personnel and state-of-the-art equipment. Eleven Regional Response Centres (RRCs) were established across the country in locations that would allow on-site response within six hours to anywhere in Canada. This system of operation continued throughout the 1980s, driven primarily by industry personnel responding to their own incidents. As the program continued, third-party contractors with equipment and training began to get established, often employing former chemistry industry personnel.

By 1992, TEAP II led to the formation of the Emergency Response Contractor Task Force, which included the cooperation of other organizations including Transport Canada, Environment Canada, the Railway Association of Canada (RAC), the Canadian Petroleum Products Institute (CPPI) and the Canadian Fertilizer Institute (CFI). That TEAP II contractor task force eventually developed into a trade association now known as the Canadian Emergency Response Contractors Alliance (CERCA).

The Emergence of TEAP III

TEAP III emerged in 2006 under the guidance of the CCPA board of directors, which mandated membership of all CCPA member companies. Member companies had to maintain 24/7 technical advisors, home coordinators, media spokespeople and on-scene response capability for ERAP dangerous goods, non-ERAP dangerous goods and even non-regulated commodities. To enhance onsite emergency event capabilities, other key stakeholders were invited to attend, including the Responsible Care transportation partners and other trade associations.

Of particular interest to insurers and risk managers is the transparency of the organization, which makes it possible to confirm and pre-approve qualified responders according to their risk. The TERSP Standard Assessment Reports are publicly available, enabling simple access to pre-qualified TEAP III responders. Qualified response contractors can be pre-screened to ensure their capabilities are brought into the mainstream emergency response to industrial and large loss events. Insurers can easily secure contractors appropriately qualified to respond to specific loss events, and even manage their risk through already established regulated ERAP programs. Insurers can now easily and accessibly pre-screen qualified contractors according to their chemical risk exposures by commodity, region and capabilities.

An insurer’s involvement in pre-loss risk management through the development of quality relationships with the appropriate, response-capable contractors is essential to managing the risk and potential exposure of large loss, transportation and chemical risks. An established pre-loss relationship with dangerous goods contractors is essential to controlling costs and understanding the role of a true emergency responder. Some assessed emergency responders are former members of chemical industry response teams, capable of providing a wealth of knowledge and expertise when examining risks and exposure to pre-loss events. During the insurers’ and risk managers’ assessment of a potential exposure, the TEAP III responder can be a value-added resource to understanding and limiting your risk.