Keeping people safe

Award-winning emergency preparedness

In Rumford, Maine, we received the Oxford County Local Emergency Planning Commission Facility of the Year Award in 2012 (for 2011 performance). We were recognized for "outstanding efforts in reporting, planning and exercising" our Emergency Response program.

Anhydrous Ammonia is used in our chiller system for power augmentation, and every year we have either table top or actual mock exercises with the Maine Emergency Management Agency and local emergency responders. We also meet quarterly with the Local Emergency Planning Commission.

Full-scale drills

For the tabletop exercise, we get together and discuss a particular scenario. In our mock exercise, we’ve had full-scale drills where we spray people down for decontamination. (Participants are not actually contaminated but the full-blown exercise includes putting them in an ambulance and taking them to the hospital.

Working together to improve community safety

"We have Aqueous Ammonia on site. It’s protected by a berm.

We thought that we could provide some better protection, and as a result of that tabletop exercise, we commissioned a project team and worked with local vendors, suppliers, contractors, and engineers to design a better containment system for the Aqueous Ammonia.

And that’s why we received the award for 2011."

This is how we prepare

Company-wide and site-specific contingency planning is designed to prepare our people, offices and facilities for emergencies. Ensuring the safety of our team and surrounding communities, contributes to our plants being able to operate responsibly during and after an emergency.

Our contingency planning includes:

• Emergency Management Program, which was revamped and approved in 2012, includes:
  • Crisis Management, which engages our senior executive at times of crisis, where our operations, profitability or reputation is at significant risk due to a real or perceived threat to our employees, the environment, the community, our contractors, our assets (offices, facilities and systems) and/or our industry and partners. A Crisis Management Plan was created and 19 people from our executive and senior management team committed to a full-day of initial training in 2012.
  • Emergency Response includes activities, tasks, programs, and systems addressing all efforts to preserve life, protect property and the environment. In 2012, an Emergency Response Plan Standardization Project was completed, which resulted in a standard template and methodology being implemented across our fleet and offices. On-site emergency kits were distributed to all our locations to enhance availability of responding staff - for use both at work and at home in threat of a disaster.
• Threat Response facilitates the orderly application of security measures for critical infrastructure facilities in response to changing threat alert levels.
• Disaster Recovery ensure strategies and plans are in place for the recovery of technology based infrastructure and products.
• Business Continuity provides timely, targeted recovery of business critical services after life, health, safety, property and environment issues are resolved.

Bridgeport weathers Hurricane Sandy

Our Emergency Management program was activated in response to Hurricane Sandy in October 2012. Our Bridgeport facility in Connecticut effectively executed its Emergency Response Plan while our corporate Crisis Management Team successfully executed the Crisis Management Plan.

The site team safely weathered the storm. Diligent planning, continuous monitoring as the storm drew near, and the dedication of our plant operators minimized the flood damage to the facility and kept the plant operational after a brief shut down as directed by the ISO-New England due to transmission constraints.

Our Bridgeport facility was presented the 2013 Best Practices Award for natural disaster preparedness and recovery by COMBINED CYCLE Journal, being recognized for the valuable contributions made by plant staff—and headquarters personnel—to ensure reliable, efficient, and safe operation of gas-turbine-based generating facilities.