The MOIG Director participated; via electronic conferencing platform; to the virtual desktop on Notification, and Decision Making Exercise – Using an Oil Spill Contingency Plan to effectively carry out the initially response actions required to deal with an oil spill incident ; organized by Oil Spill Response Limited (OSRL); technical partner.
This virtual desktop was presented by Lee Barber; an incident and crisis management specialist. at OSRL.
Lee Barber started by presenting the session objectives which were to familiarize members on Incident Management and Emergency Response Teams (IMT and EMT) as well as to share knowledge, encourage discussion, to identify any useful and practical improvements that can be made to the organizations oil spill planning and preparedness activities.
Lee Barber then explained the Emergency Response and Incident Management Staffing requirements highlighting that the response teams need a robust organizational system in place that is consistent and flexible to allow all internally departments and external agencies to work together to respond and manage incidents regardless for their cause, their level, location and complexity. He explained the tasks of the EMT and IMT stating that the EMT is able to conduct a hazard assessment, to establish communication, site control, safety and management, to perform appropriate notification and to utilize a continuous risk evaluation and mitigation process. Regarding the IMT, Lee barber underlined that they are able to establish communication and incident objectives, to liaise with partners, to implement Media Response Plan, to manage information flow, to provide technical and functional flow as well as to ensure integrity of the process during incidents by making corrective actions.
Lee Barber continued by presenting the response resource identification, notification and activation, mobilization and deployment methods. He underlined that the identification and organization of response equipment into tiered response categories; ensures that appropriate resources; can be mobilized rapidly and effectively to any spill ranging from small operational spills to a worst credible scenario. He then presented a description of oil spill incident that had occurred in a Cargo due to hose failure during a ship-ship transfer operation, on 22 January 2022, causing an approximately 11,250 to 11,750 liters of Marine Gas Oil lost at sea. In addition, he exposed the content of the SOPEP report notification received by the Onshore Marine Manager from the Wyatt Earp’s vessel master such as: the date/time of the vent, the incident location, the incident overview, the current situation, the personal on board, the other vessels involved and the weather conditions.
Lee Barber also explained the content of the incident assessment completed by the Onshore Marine Manager and Operations Manager. The assessment included answers to few keys questions such as: What event lead and type of incident has occurred, who’s currently involved when, where and how the incident happen, what measures are currently being taken to deal with incident, the immediate impacts to people, on environment and impacts on the assets.
Lee Barber presented the OSRL virtual technical support and mobilization of the On-site technical advisor service highlighting that there’s a Duty Manager who is available for advice 24 hours a day and also there’s a team of up to 5 personnel free for first 5 days. He underlined that the Duty Manager guides and assists in selecting the appropriate response strategies and developing mobilization and logistical support plans. For the team, he noted that they can assist on the following: Technical advice, incident management coaching with the command centre, contribution to the development of an incident management plan, training of contactors, SCAT and aerial survey as well as tactical response planning.
Lee Barber concluded by explaining the content of the Incident Action Plan and presenting an example of the tactical response plan developed by OSRL technical advisors.