WHO: Interview Major Emergency Response Incident Team (MERIT) hazmat team members; Dick Price, Chief Business Continuity Officer/executive sponsor of MERIT team; Dennis DeRolf – senior hazmat technician; and Mike Cochran, MERIT hazmat team lead

WHAT: See hazmat team in action and disaster recovery drills; put on a Level B hazmat suit; and tour Verizon’s disaster response fleet of vehicles including the company’s 51-foot Mobile Command Center. Video and photography of the event welcome

WHERE: Verizon Network Site and Office Building at 99 Shawan Road, Cockeysville, MD 21030 (Located about 15 miles north of Baltimore off I-83)

WHEN: Tuesday, April 5 from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m.

What happens when you operate one of the largest IP communications networks in the world and a catastrophic event occurs impacting a critical network facility? Come out to Verizon’s technical site about 15 miles north of Baltimore in Cockeysville and find out how Verizon’s Business Continuance and Emergency Management organization guides multiple teams through such a response during a disaster recovery exercise on Tuesday, April 5 from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. (NOTE: This BCEM team has been coordinating Verizon’s work in the Asia-Pacific region as the result of the recent Japan earthquake.)

One of the most visible groups on site will be Verizon’s hazmat team, known as Major Emergency Response Incident Team (MERIT). Dressed in Level A hazmat suits, the 30-member technical team will be given difficult circumstances to overcome during the exercise to keep communications equipment operational in one of the Verizon’s network technical centers.

We invite you to come to the disaster drills, talk with team members and even put on a suit if you want. See what the technicians go through when dressed in fully encapsulated hazmat suits while they work on complex communications equipment. See first hand how difficult it is for you to take photos and video or write notes while in the suits. Many of these team members worked the Baltimore tunnel fire in 2001.

After you see some hazmat action, take a tour the new Verizon disaster response fleet of vehicles and trailers including the company’s new 51-foot Mobile Command Center which uses all the latest technology available in the industry. Verizon’s response vehicles are completely self-sufficient so they can be taken into any area with a zero infrastructure environment such as those found in the aftermath of hurricanes, tornadoes, forest fires, floods, etc.

If you would like to attend the Verizon disaster recovery exercise, interview our subject matter experts and MERIT hazmat team members, please contact Linda Laughlin, Verizon Media Relations, 918-645-1331 – linda.laughlin@verizon.com or Dex Polizzi, Merritt Group, Inc., 703-390-1534 – polizzi@merrittgrp.com.

ADDITIONAL VERIZON MERIT HAZMAT TEAM BACKGROUND
The Verizon MERIT team, the first fully trained in-house environmental response team in the communications industry, is comprised of 30+ specially trained Verizon employees from throughout the United States. MERIT members were immediately called into action in August/September 2005 during Hurricane Katrina and Hurricane Rita along the Gulf Coast. The team also responded on September 11, 2001, in Manhattan/NYC (Ground Zero) and Washington, D.C., to help in communications recovery efforts after the terrorist attacks. The team has assisted in disaster recovery efforts during the United States Postal Service Processing and Distribution Center anthrax contamination in Trenton, NJ, and the 2001 train derailment in Baltimore that resulted in a chemical fire which crippled portions of the downtown area for several days.

As part of the ongoing Verizon’s comprehensive business continuity plans, MERIT works in conjunction with the Business Continuance and Emergency Management (BCEM) team, and the Verizon National Emergency Coordinating Center, located in Texas.  BCEM coordinates activities to provide the tactical emergency response during major natural disasters, terrorist threats, pandemic threats and incidents involving hazardous materials that threaten the stability of the Verizon network.  Verizon MERIT members are fully trained under Occupational Safety and Health Administration, National Fire Protection Association guidelines. Team members are trained in emergency response management, the incident command system, as well as communications equipment network and repair functions.

You are invited to do interviews during activities in the staging area and go inside the technical facility during the exercise. The hazmat team also will work with the new mobile command center that will be on site from Dallas. You can go inside the command center and see the latest state-of-the-art communications technology and equipment.

The MERIT team also will conduct a variety of activities during the day including: inspection and inventory of emergency/hazmat gear, medical equipment, decontamination equipment and air tanks; setting up satellite communications for global communications as needed; and preparation for extensive mapping of area as needed by the team for the Cockeysville event.