Pipeline safety agency awards grants for hazmat training

Washington — Enhancing first responders’ education and training on hazardous materials is the focus of more than $30 million in recent Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration grant funding.

PHMSA announced it awarded grants through various agency grant programs to support:

• States, territories and tribes that train first responders on hazardous materials response.
• The development, implementation and improvement of emergency plans for local and tribal communities.
• Training for hazardous materials instructors who train employees working with hazardous materials and first responders.
• Nonprofit organizations that train hazardous materials instructors involved with first responder training.
• Training for volunteer or remote emergency responders responding to incidents related to hazardous materials shipment by rail.
• Community response to hazardous materials emergencies, including training enforcement personnel governing the safe transport of hazardous materials.
• Training, travel and equipment for hazardous materials inspectors.

“Firefighters and other local public servants are the everyday first-responder heroes that we rely on to immediately run to the emergency,” PHMSA Deputy Administrator Tristan Brown said in a press release. “These grants provide our emergency responders [with] the resources they need to train and effectively respond to hazardous materials incidents.”

Individual grants range from $290,000 to $22 million.