INTRODUCTION
The
PEAC tool was designed as a pocket or hand-held
computer
* application and database containing
information on hazardous or potentially hazardous
chemicals including emergency response information in
the event of a spill. The sources of information
in the PEAC tool are listed here.
Several employees of Western
Research Institute (WRI), a non-profit research
organization affiliated with the University of Wyoming,
originally conceived the PEAC tool. While
under contract with the Department of Energy in 1990,
Western Research Institute investigated 123 chemical
spill accidents or potential spill accidents in the
United States where public evacuations took place,
including interviews with emergency responders. A
major finding of the study was that none of the
evacuations were based on gas dispersion modeling or
other procedures for responding to specific spills even
though in a few cases emergency response software such
as CAMEOä or ALOHAä was available. The problem was
that decisions had to be made quickly, and limited
information was available to those making the decisions
at the time of the spill accident. The
people who knew how to run the CAMEO program on a PC
were not available when the spill occurred, for
example. The Western Research Institute employees
conceived of a single hand-held computer tool containing
all of the information in the North American Emergency
Response Guidebook, the NIOSH Pocket Guide to Hazardous
Chemicals, chemical protective clothing, and gas
dispersion modeling capabilities, in a format that can
be easily accessed by emergency response personnel
working under field conditions.
Western Research Institute continued to do
chemical spill related research starting in the 1990’s
under a series of contracts at the DOE HazMat Spill
Center, located at the Nevada Test Site, near Mercury
Nevada. This is the only site in the United States
where hazardous chemicals can be released to the
atmosphere as a result of spill accident tests.
Some specific assignments were (1) liquid ammonia and
chlorine evaporation measurement tests and (2) dense gas
dispersion measurements under neutral and stable
atmospheric conditions simulating a spill in a large
industrial complex. Western Research
Institute also maintains a database of non-proprietary
spill tests results at the HazMat Spill Center, which is
accessible to the general public from the
Internet. This hands-on experience permitted
comparisons of gas dispersion modeling and other spill
information with field results, which was very useful in
developing the PEAC tool.
A prototype PEAC tool containing a
limited number of chemicals was made available to a
select group of emergency responders and HazMat trainers
in 1996. The Apple Newton Message Pad 130,
which features the Newton 2.0 operating system, was used
as the platform for the PEAC tool. Based on
feedback from users, an expanded version was offered for
sale starting in 1997 containing all of the chemical
listed in the 1996 North American Emergency Response
Guidebook, the 1997 NIOSH Pocket Guide to Hazardous
Chemicals, and selected other sources. The
1998 PEAC version also contained NFPA hazard rating
designations, computations for fire-fighting using foam,
gas dispersion modeling capabilities including both
passive and dense gas releases based on levels of
concern, emergency response phone numbers, chemical
protective clothing information, respirator
recommendations, and internal calculations for chemical
release rates from different spill configurations.
The Western Research Institute employees
who developed the PEAC tool formed a for-profit company
AristaTek, Inc., in 1999, which was licensed to market
the PEAC tool for WRI. Ownership of the patent was
transferred to AristaTek in December 2000. The
employees continue to do spill-related and emergency
response work including DOE contract work at the HazMat
Spill Center. Both organizations work together on
developing and communicating emergency response
technology and the PEAC tool.
After
mid-2000, a Windows Pocket PC version of the PEACtool
was made available, which contained an expanded list of
chemicals and chemical properties. The
Department of Defense also granted permission to
AristaTek in 2000 to incorporate chemical warfare
response information into the PEAC tool developed as a
result of a DOD contract during 1999-2000. In the
fall of 2001, AristaTek focused on including response
information and references for explosives, biological
agents, and radioactive isotopes because of the
terrorist attacks in September 2001. The new
version of the database and application was called
PEAC‑WMD 2002. As of March 2002, the PEAC tool was
available on HP Jornada 540 and 560 Series; Compaq Aero
1550; Compaq iPAQ H3100, H3600 & H3800 Series; Casio
Cassiopeia E-125 and E-200; and the ruggedized Symbol
PPT 2700 & PPT 2800. All of these Pocket
PCs include at least 16MB of ROM, e-mail and Internet
Explorer, and voice recorder. Further
upgrades are in the planning stage.
SUMMARY OF INFORMATION IN THE PEAC
TOOL
Database of 11,000+ chemical entries,
chemical synonyms, including the DOT Guide information,
physical properties, and NFPA hazard rating
designations.
Descriptive
information on the chemical (e.g. appearance, whether
odorous, etc.)
Specific chemical
protective clothing information
Respirator
recommendations
Data base of Levels of
Concern (8-hour worker exposure limits, ERPG-1,
ERPG-2, ERPG-3, STEL, IDLH, TEEL-1, TEEL-2, and
TEEL-3)
Internal computations for chemical
release rate for an evaporating pool, pipe discharge, a
hole in a container or tank, or a sudden release of all
of the chemical under pressure
Gas
dispersion modeling capabilities including both passive
and dense gas dispersion, for predicting protective
action distances based on a Level of
Concern
Metric/English
conversions
