An 11-member private training company out of Washington state has been training fire and emergency responders worldwide for almost 30 years. And one of InSource’s areas of expertise is hazmat response.

One of its hazmat offerings is a four-day multi-media workshop for fire service officers responsible for managing emergency incidents involving hazardous materials and weapons of mass destruction agents. It is delivered using PowerPoint slides, video, reference materials and a tabletop simulator. Students work in small and large groups to examine case studies and solve tabletop simulated incidents that range from simple gasoline spills to large transportation incidents, to industrial site incidents, to WMD scenarios.

In each session participants learn concepts and practice essential skills necessary to meet the demands of an emergency incident and the professional qualification standards of 29 CFR 1910.120 (q)(6)(v), NFPA-472 Chapter 8 (2013), NFPA-1500 8.1, 8.2, 8.3 (2013), and NFPA-1561 4.5, 5.3. (2014).

The company says its members are highly experienced and nationally recognized professionals who have many years of experience responding to and teaching hazardous materials response and emergency incident strategy and tactics.

The instructors use a combination of case studies, lectures, tabletop simulators and hands-on applications to provide a safe, comfortable, learning environment that builds competence and confidence in the participants’ procedural field knowledge and performance.

For InSource, the measure of success is simply about making a real difference. It is when those who have gone through the classes become leaders in the business and later contact them to say training has saved lives in their organizations — and they want InSource to come back to help them to train members in their agencies.

The biggest challenge is meeting the demanding schedule with the best instructors — all in all, not a bad problem to have.

In its nearly 30 years, it has learned to overcome challenges like these by building upon success, or as it says, “Our team is comprised of master craftsmen who stand on the shoulders of the many fine craftsmen who have come before us with the goal of passing on the craft and being the shoulders for the generations that follow to stand on.”