Safety is at a premium during the construction of natural gas pipelines – always the first question asked, always a priority when planning infrastructure construction. Part of the planning for safety includes specialized safety training for first responders.
The Sunoco Pipeline company “recently completed the Mariner Emergency Responder Outreach (MERO) program for the Mariner East 2 pipeline project.” Throughout this process, “MERO has hosted specialized training sessions…for more than 750 first responders in communities where Sunoco Pipeline’s Mariner East system will operate.”
It’s telling that Sunoco will invest time and money into improving the first responder capacity in areas where their projects will operate – it shows that they want to improve communities not only by boosting local economies, but by improving their services as well.
And this is not a new development. The program started up in 2013, “began in 2013, and has trained approximately 2,350 firefighters, police officers, emergency medical service providers, municipal emergency management officials, and other public safety personnel.”