One of the biggest challenges in oil spill response is the quantification and observation of the spilled oil. Both aspects are important from an operational and a regulatory perspective. Over the years various tools have been used to achieve this goal, but there are limitations in capability. Experience has shown that the failure to quantify a spill, quickly with some degree of accuracy can lead to an immense problem of an operational, regulatory and even legal nature. The task of surveillance is not a simple one; skilled observers are needed to identify oil from false targets. Mission planning and data capture in different spectrums are required, but most importantly the data is only of value when back in the command centre, not on the aircraft, so an effective means of high speed data transfer is needed. Communication plays a crucial part in the operations, an ability to communicate directly with the pilot to direct the aircraft is an important asset to the operation. This paper will consider some of the problems of conducting aerial surveillance and demonstrate how one solution has been implemented in the United Kingdom Continental Shelf.
Effective spill response requires trained and competent people, but how do we assess the competence of staff involved in the operation? Within the oil spill response industry there are few systems which assess the competence of staff to undertake their roles. Suitability is often left to the discretion of the response contractor, based on the provision of training but training does not guarantee competence. Therefore as an industry, when using response contractors, does the organisation using the services of the clean-up contractor really know that the team is competent to accomplish the job and are they getting value for money? The terminology used to describe the roles of members in a response team is not common, having a different interpretation in each country. In many cases it is better to describe the competency for the job rather than the use a post title. These are the questions that the OSRL / EARL Alliance have been answering over the past year. A solution has been achieved by developing a Competency Matrix / Database. Through the use of this database we have been able to gain many useful outputs such as personnel development plans, training needs and most importantly a measure of staff competence. By having the ability to measure staff competence, we are now able to demonstrate the level of competence that our response staff require to complete the different tasks required in a spill response. It is important that the industry has confidence the response to the spill is being conducted in the most effective manner and that safety, quality and efficiency are not being compromised at any time. This paper will describe how a system of competency management can ensure that competence is assessed and measured and thus benchmarks and standards can be set for the whole industry.
Aerial operations play an integral role in any marine oil spill; from spotting, surveillance and quantification to assisting with other operations. The value of having a birds eye view and being able to feed information directly into decision making groups and the ICS structure is invaluable. Such an important component of today'S response toolbox, aerial surveillance remains a ‘black art’ when compared to the more commonly used tools such as shoreline and surface water surveillance. Variation in application methods, knowledge of limitations and discrepancies in the interpretation of outputs all reduce the overall value of the information acquired. Solutions to this problem sound profoundly simple, an increase in training, more numerous training flights and an improved exposure for individual aerial operators. Being in a position to take such opportunities, responders in Oil Spill Response and East Asia Response Ltd (OSRL EARL) are pushing to develop new systems and use their experience to improve performance. Using actual operational flights as test platforms to develop new integrated tools, the authors will demonstrate these tools and outputs from various training flights and operational sorties to illustrate the current status of development and discuss future plans.
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