Workplace Crisis

September 11, 2001 started out like any other typical fall day in Wisconsin. That morning, I happened to be on my way to see Tim Decker, Safety Director for Morning Glory Dairy, located in DePere, Wisconsin.

As I gave the receptionist my card she said, "A plane just crashed into the World Trade Center and we know what that's like!" The look on her face and the sound of her voice was enough to make the hair stand up on the back of my arms. It was like a wound was opened up again for her and everyone else I met that day at the plant. They were reliving what had happened to them just a few months earlier when a jet aircraft crashed into one of the Morning Glory Dairy buildings.

When a plane crashed into the company’s milk storage facility, Tim Decker was sitting at his desk. He could see the building when he looked out the window behind his desk. When the crash occurred, Tim was thrown forward on his desk and his books fell on the floor. He looked out his window and saw flames as high as his second floor window. He said, "All I could think of is that milk doesn't burn, the only thing in the building is milk and it doesn't burn. Something must be terribly wrong!" Tim grabbed his cell phone, left his office and put his emergency response plan in to effect.

Even though the unthinkable had just occurred, and Tim was not even sure what it was, he had a plan. He knew what to do. He had some control. The emergency response team put their plan into action. The team included employees from management to maintenance.

Sometimes in a disaster your janitor, not your CEO, is your most important team member. One of the janitors at Morning Glory asked Tim if he could dike the storm sewers. Tim said, "Yes, if they need it." One thing I learned from Tim was that milk is toxic! Not to us but to the fish in the streams because milk takes the oxygen out of the water. The janitor saved the company the cost of having the Environmental Protection Agency clean up the spill.

The local police, fire and ambulance service responded to the scene. Tim knew that upon their arrival, incident command would be in their hands. He knew what to expect when something happened, and could work along with them.

Tim was walking around the building when one of his employees ran up to him with burns over 80% of his body. Tim explained to me that the employee's hair and ears were burned off and his face was charred black. The employee asked Tim to call his wife and tell her that he's OK! Tim explained that he had paused and then asked the employee, "Who are you?" Tim explained that nobody but nobody can prepare you to see your fellow employee 80% burned.

When the terror of the event was over, it was discovered that the pilot was killed and seven people were injured. Two employees were critically injured.