The Sunday News
Robin Muchetu, Senior Reporter
ZIMBABWE has secured a rare Hazardous Material (HAZMAT) Emergency Response Vehicle, the third in the whole of Africa, for the Environmental Management Agency (EMA) to cater for the cleaning of chemical spillage on the environment.
The Hazardous Material Emergency Response Vehicle is a special vehicle that is meant to respond to any emergency that may come from the handling of hazardous materials or substances that will have found their way into the environment posing a serious risk.
Speaking to Sunday News at the Zimbabwe International Trade Fair (ZITF) last week, Environmental Management Agency (EMA) environmental education and publicity manager Mrs Amukela Sidange said the unique machine was acquired from Germany and assembled in South Africa at a cost of US$633 000.
She said the machine was likely to change the face of environmental management as the agency is now able to carry out more tasks since its acquisition.
Photo Credit: Wikiwand
“As the agency we are proud of this acquisition because it is actually coming after submissions were made to Government and policy makers that we have a challenge as a country of having these regular spillages and chemical leaks that may need different attention altogether.
As the agency we are happy we got the support from the Government in procuring this vehicle for the safety of the public. All Zimbabweans have access to the vehicle; it is there to ensure that the integrity of the environment is preserved.
The beauty of this vehicle is that we proved that we can invest in the environment in the sense that if we manage it very well then as a country, we will know that we are really having a supporting system in the form of a well-managed environment,” she said.
Mrs Sidange said the HAZMAT vehicle could execute various tasks. “This is a multifaceted vehicle that is able to handle any form of hazardous scenarios.
We usually have incidents in the mining sector but now we have this assurance that in case of a chemical emission that is happening and there is no threat to suffocation of people then using that equipment in the HAZMAT vehicle, the officers are able to take part in the rescue operations,” she said.
EMA environment officer responsible for the operation of the truck Mr Patrick Chipfunde said it came with various add ons to deal with any situation
“The car has a cockpit with radio communication and a siren that we use as we go to scenes of spillages. A command centre is also available in the truck.
It is also equipped with a mini weather station as it is important to know our weather when we attack an incident because the important aspects of the weather like wind speed, humidity must be considered because we do not want to fall victim to chemical reactions.
We need to know where the wind is blowing to,” said Mr Chipfunde. The truck also has a multi gas detector that detects fumes when there is a spillage so there is a need to demarcate areas into danger and safe zones.
Other accessories that come with the HAZMAT include traffic lights to control traffic around a scene, a generator for power and a vacuum to clean up the waste.
“There are break-in manual tools that are also available in the case of an emergency where people need to be removed from damaged cars or places.
Ventilators and personal protective wear are also placed in the vehicles for those going on a rescue mission. Inflatable tents are also available on board that can carry up to 3 000 litres of a solution,” added Mr Chipfunde.
He said the car has already been tested in real situations.“So far, we have responded to fuel (petrol and diesel) spillages mainly in the country’s highways.
We also had an incident in a parking yard in Mutare which involved a mixture of chemicals and people at the scene were not in a position to handle those chemicals because there were fumes coming out of the reactions and we were called in,” said Mr Chipfunde.
The only other countries with the machine are South Africa and Nigeria.
@NyembeziMu.
