Spring is upon us, as we begin another busy season of training and assessment and approval of almost 40 liquified petroleum gas, flammable liquids, hydrogen and compressed natural gas teams across Canada.

In addition, ERAC will hold several firefighting training sessions across the country for Canadian-based emergency response teams and first responders. This training helps ensure public and first responder safety, and our Plan members’ regulatory compliance with Transport Canada. These high-level training sessions include a combination of classroom studies and technical demonstrations and culminate with full-scale, live-burn, hands-on training exercises.

This May, ERAC is excited to be returning to the Manitoba Emergency Services College (MESC) in Brandon, Manitoba to hold another two-day flammable liquids firefighting training session and have  invited our Canadian-based response team members and contracted Technical Advisors to attend. The MESC’s geographic location, numerous props and wide-open space make it a great training facility to provide our responders with valuable first-hand flammable liquids firefighting experience in a controlled environment.

Ultimately, training sessions like these provide valuable experience and ensure that ERAC responders who attend to a flammable liquid or liquified petroleum gas incident can provide a safe and effective response, while protecting people, property and the environment.

I’m proud to be associated with such a great group of ERAC staff and industry professionals, who have shown time and time again, their dedication and excellence towards the training and assessment ERAC provides. Finally, I want to recognize ERAC staff and our contracted responders, who understand the risks and make themselves available 24/7/365 to safely and efficiently respond to dangerous goods incidents anywhere in Canada. Thank you!

Spencer Buckland
President

ERAC is pleased to welcome Aidan Osborne, who has joined us as our new Emergency Management Advisor. Aidan will be supporting ERAC’s emergency management and safety initiatives, including the development and execution of tabletop exercises, drills and full-scale exercises involving dangerous goods. Welcome Aidan!

Patrick Knight is ERAC’s Safety & Emergency Management Director, who has held numerous progressively responsible roles with the organization over the past eleven years.

Patrick has almost thirty years of experience in the hazardous materials emergency response industry, with eighteen of those years as a Response Team Manager, responsible for leading two of the busiest dangerous goods response teams in Vancouver, British Columbia.

With well over 2,000 hazardous materials incidents under his belt, Patrick’s extensive technical knowledge and emergency management and response expertise is a benefit to both ERAC’s Plan members and responders, who regularly consult with him for advice and support on their dangerous goods issues.

Committed to continuous professional development, Patrick is a certified Canadian Registered Safety Professional (CRSP), Canadian Registered Safety Technician (CRST) and Associate Business Continuity Professional (ABCP).   

ERAC thanks Patrick for his commitment to public safety and continuous professional growth.

ERAC has developed the E2 Readiness and Review Program as a resource to help current and potential E2 Plan members better understand their responsibilities under the Canadian Environmental Protection Act.

You can access this free, web-based tool here.

ERAC has developed its own versions of the Incident Command System (ICS) 100 and 200 courses to support our responders in meeting the basics of ICS. These two internal adaptations are intended to meet the requirement for ERAC responders who respond to transportation (rail & road) incidents involving liquefied petroleum gases and flammable liquids.

ERAC’s ICS 100 and 200 courses are available for free to Canadian-based first responders (firefighters, police, EMS) and our Plan members and their employees.

Learn more about our ICS courses.