CAER BOARD

The CAER Board provides direction to the Chair of the CAER Working Committee on community issues, industrial policies, and priorities for Community Awareness (community liaison, public input) and Emergency Response activies.

2004 Board Members:

Current Chair Tom Strifler - Nova Chemicals

Current Vice-Chair Joe Dedecker - Mayor of St. Clair Township

Kirk Bailey - Suncor

Peter St. George - Shell Canada

Ron Huzingh - Bayer

Steve Bolt - Dow

Warren Burton - Imperial Oil

Glen Sonier - CEO Union Executive

Jim Bradshaw - Building Trades Executive

Phil Maness - Chief of Aamjiwnaang First Nation

Todd Case - Lambton County Warden

Robert Eick - Mayor of Port Huron Michigan

Dick Kirkland - Mayor of Point Edward

The CAER Board ensures industry and municipalities' accountability for emergency preparedness, incident prevention and response through the setting of performance standards and stewardship of results.

CAER WORKING COMMITTEE

(Reports to the CAER Board)

The CAER Working committee implements the policies and initiatives sponsored by the Board.  The CAER Working committee also considers proposals for special programs brought forward by the Chair of the Community Awareness Committee (CAC) and the Chemical Valley Emergency Co-ordinating Organization (CVECO) providing direction on community and industrial policies, priorities and activities in Lambton municipalities.

COMMUNITY AWARENESS COMMITTEE (CAC)

(Reports to the CAER Working Committee)

Each industrial/municipal member involved in Mutual Aid  provides a representative to the CAC.  This committee serves the residents of Lambton County and St. Clair County (Michigan) through direct participation in programs and activities designed to increase the community's knowledge about the correct response of community members to emergencies, and the capabilities of the municipal/industrial emergency response.

CHEMICAL VALLEY EMERGENCY COORDINATING ORGANIZATION
(Reports to Working Committee)

CVECO was formed in 1951 as a traffic control organization and developed into a mutual aid organization during the cold war.  It provides a co-ordinated service by local emergency municipal and industrial groups to deal with all natural and industrial emergencies that present hazards to the public.  It also ensures that the emergency response plans of industrial and civic authorities among the membership are compatible with one another and current legislation.

The group maintains continual and constructive communication among members, providing maximum awareness of developing needs and new techniques and promoting a high level of commitment and co-operation in emergency response activities.

The chair of CVECO alternates annually between municipal and industrial members.

RESPONSE REVIEW COMMITTEE
(Reports to Working Committee) 

The committee meets monthly and has a mandate to review all CVECO codes called to ensure the appropriateness of the code and the accuracy of the information exchanges between the industry and the municipality.  In addition, the committee will investigate situations where a CVECO code was not called to determine if one was warranted.

The committee also performs an in-depth investigation of all Code 6’s and 9’s to ensure that the proper CVECO procedures were followed.  Lessons learned are distributed to all members for continuous improvement. 

TRAFFIC SUBCOMMITTEE

The Traffic subcommittee examines all the issues surrounding the flow of traffic through Chemical Valley and how the safety of the public can be maintained in an emergency situation.  Emergency situations impact the safety of people on nearby roadways so the committee puts into place the best means to manage traffic.

The committee determines the placement of traffic control boxes.  The barricades contained in these boxes are deployed by specific industrial and municipal members in the event of a Code 6 (traffic control)  to prevent traffic from entering the affected areas.

The committee chair comes from one of the local police forces (Sarnia Police Services or OPP).

FIRE SUBCOMMITTEE

This committee is comprised of the Fire Chiefs from the three local municipalities and nine local industries. 

SECURITY SUBCOMMITTEE

The security committee is formed to address the mutual benefit to the CVECO membership of designing strategies of loss prevention and asset protection for the industries of Sarnia Lambton. It will explore policies, procedures and plans to enhance and promote security awareness through Site Watch. The security committee acts as the steering committee for the Site Watch program and will continue to foster the growth and development of this important security association.

The membership of the Security Committee is composed of representatives of all law enforcement agencies as well as volunteers involved in private security for local industry. The committee will maintain an internal electronic network, meet quarterly and report through an elected Chair to both the CVECO General and Working Group.

PIPELINE SUBCOMMITTEE

Local industry has a network of pipelines to move products and feedstock.  Procedures to deal with pipeline emergencies, and right-of-way maps are developed and maintained by this subcommittee with the assistance of a local engineering company.