The Sheriff’s Office in Kent County, Michigan is protecting its citizens through vigilant Hazmat Emergency Planning efforts. Kent County is home to the City of Grand Rapids, the second most populated city in all of Michigan. Situated between Chicago, Detroit, and Lake Michigan, the County has a large number of chemical facilities within its borders. Part of the Sheriff Office’s mandate is to assist facilities with extremely hazardous chemicals to have an Off-Site Emergency Response Plan in place in the event of a chemical disaster. The Hazconnect is now making these efforts more efficient by enabling Businesses and Emergency Planners to access the Plans online. Many County users, along with their 39 local Fire Departments can now rely on the Hazconnect to better ensure the safety of their community.



Old Process was Time Consuming

  • Spent hours mailing out hardcopy versions of Emergency plans to 250+ hazardous material facilities.
  • Manually went through hundreds of Tier II Reports annually to see which ones had Extremely Hazardous Substances (EHS) that exceeded the planning threshold.
  • Spent dozens of hours scanning all Tier 2 Reports each year.
  • Unable to access Grand Rapid Facility Plans since businesses would report directly to the City of Grand Rapids and not to the County authorities.
  • Saved several thousand of dollars annually by no longer printing and mailing out all Offsite Response Plans.
  • Hazmat teams had to rely on print out versions of the Tier II and Emergency Plans.

New system Gives Responders an Edge against Hazmat Hazards

  • Responders have 24/7 online immediate access to the Tier II Reports and Plans for each facility.
  • Flags alert Emergency Planners of EHS that exceed the EHS Planning threshold at each site.
  • Kent County and Grand Rapids use one single system to share all Facility Emergency Plans and Tier II online.
  • Kent County hazmat teams have access to the Hazconnect, giving them access to all hazmat information.


Hospitals, Health Departments Use Hazconnect

  • Hospitals now have immediate access into the system in the event of a chemical exposure incident.
  • EMS can access the Hazconnect to retrieve Offsite Response Plans for facilities storing Extremely Hazardous Substances at any given time.
  • Health department have access to all emergency plans for a full visual on all the chemicals throughout the county.

Back to More Case Studies