Emergency Management
Staying Ahead of Hazmat Compliance When Manual Tracking Hit Its Limit
Brief #
OB-2026-2
Date Prepared
On Period
Jun 2025 - Present
Status
Active
Population
710,000
Paid Staff
12 Personnel
Tier II Facilities
620
Nearest Metro
Chicago
Applicable to
Emergency Management
Fire Departments
Corporate Security
Public Health
"You are hands down the most responsive software platform I've ever dealt with."
Sean Fierce
Planner, Will County Emergency Management Agency
Mission Outcomes
Since signing on as one of EM1's first fifteen customers, Will County has transformed hazardous materials compliance and emergency planning:
CERP Review Time
Facility plan reviews reduced from full manual read-throughs to five-minute documented assessments.
Plan Review Time
Cut in Half
Compliance Documentation
Every review now generates a timestamped, reviewer-attributed report, replacing zero documentation.
Review Records
None → Timestamped Reports
EOP Compliance Checks
Crosswalking a hundreds-page EOP against state standards now takes seconds instead of hours.
Compliance Validation
Hours → Seconds
1
Situation
Will County sits just south of Chicago with over 700,000 residents, two nuclear power plants, two oil refineries, North America's largest inland port, and 620 Tier II hazmat facilities - the most in Illinois outside Chicago. A paid staff of 12 manages it all, 15 when fully staffed.
When planner Sean Fierce joined the agency after 27 years as a fire chief, the workflow was entirely manual. Chemical Emergency Response Plan (CERP) reviews meant reading every plan cover to cover. Compliance checks meant flipping through a 100+ page EOP by hand. And there was no documented proof any of it had been reviewed.
No Proof of Review
Before EM1, facility plans arrived by email, received a thank-you reply, and went into a drawer. In a liability scenario, the agency had no defensible record.
2
Partnership
Will County was among EM1's first fifteen customers. What followed wasn't a typical vendor relationship. Fierce and his colleague Chris were in the help chat almost daily, providing feedback and feature requests that shipped as real updates.
"I told the Director, we get it now. We can have them build a system for us."
Built for Them
Every major feature request Fierce submitted came back as a shipped capability. Will County helped shape the platform they now rely on daily.
3
Execution
Fierce built a 38-question crosswalk for CERP reviews. Now when a facility plan arrives, he drops it in, gets results in minutes, reviews the flags, downloads the report, and emails it back. Five minutes per plan versus a full manual read-through. Across 620 facilities, that's weeks of work recovered.
The entire agency used EM1 for the March EOP resubmission, crosswalking a 100+ page plan against state plan development review in seconds.
For a tabletop exercise near a nuclear plant, the team generated the MSEL from FEMA HSEEP guidelines, aggregated evaluator forms against a master rubric, and produced an executive summary from a transcribed hotwash.
Reduced Liability Exposure
Every plan review now produces a timestamped, reviewer-attributed report. The agency can prove exactly who reviewed what, when, and what they found. That record never existed before.
38-Question CERP Crosswalk
Automated Compliance Reports
EOP Crosswalk vs. State PDRs
Exercise MSEL Generation
4
Security & Compliance
EM1's adoption prompted Will County to develop its first formal AI policy. The closed-system architecture gave the agency confidence to upload nuclear plant plans, refinery inventories, and facility coordinates that would never go into an open AI tool.
"We were assured that anything we upload, like nuclear plans, is locked up and only accessible by us." The platform is now central to the agency's push for EMAP accreditation, which would make Will County the first local agency in Illinois, outside the state itself, to earn the credential.
Catalyst for County AI Policy
EM1's closed system gave the agency the security posture it needed to move sensitive hazmat and nuclear documents into an AI-assisted workflow, and prompted county-wide AI governance.
Closed System
Private Knowledge Base
No Model Training
No Redaction Required
5
Assessment
Nine months in, EM1 is part of daily operations. CERP review time is cut in half. The agency has an auditable compliance trail for 620 facilities. EOP resubmission ran through the platform. Exercise design and evaluation are faster. Liability exposure has materially decreased.
"You guys have listened to all of my feedback and implemented almost every request. I'm thrilled with where the system is right now, it's what I asked for."
Career Best
After 27 years in the fire service and experience with numerous software platforms, Fierce calls EM1 "hands down the most responsive software company I've ever dealt with."
Spring 2025
Fierce Joins Will County EMA
Retired fire chief inherits 620-facility hazmat portfolio
June 2025
First 15 Customers
Will County becomes an early adopter of EM1
March 2026
EOP Resubmission Complete
Entire planning team crosswalks hundreds-page plan against state PDRs
2026
EMAP Accreditation Bid
First local Illinois agency outside the state to pursue the credential
