Courtesy of Photo courtesy of the Darwin Foundation

Always Be Prepared

Since we can't prevent all oil spills, we have to be ready to respond quickly when they do occur. In this section you'll find out how people work together so that they are always prepared.

Contingency Plans

A contingency plan is a plan for action prepared in anticipation of an oil spill. Contingency plans are essential because they establish practical plans of action for all types of oil spills so that, when spills do occur, a quick response can minimize the damage. The first step in developing a plan is to learn as much about the area as possible. Regardless of the geography or the size of an area, contingency plans normally include:

• identification of authority and a chain of command;
• a list of persons and organizations that must be immediately informed of a spill;
• an inventory of available trained spill personnel and spill response equipment;
• a list of jobs that must be done (in order of priority);
• a communication network to coordinate response;
• probable oil movement patterns under different weather conditions; and
• sensitivity maps and other technical data.

Planners need to know about:

• important or sensitive physical and biological resources within or near the area, such as marshes, unusual flora (plant life) and wildlife resources such as fish, shellfish, marine mammals and birds;
• important habitat areas required by particular species for spawning, feeding or migration;
• tides, currents and local climatic conditions, such as wind and severe weather patterns;
• shoreline characteristics; and
• proximity to roads, airports, trained response personnel, oil spill clean-up equipment, etc.

This information is compiled on sensitivity maps. Emergency plans then provide for protection of these critical areas.

Training

The crews of ships, staff at oil-handling facilities and many government personnel are trained so that they are prepared to act quickly in the event of an emergency. They learn about the response strategy set out in the ship or company's contingency plan and understand why they must act in a certain way. They also take a "hands-on" course where they learn how to respond.

Exercises

Exercises are an important part of being prepared. Exercises bring together people with different skills and knowledge and teach them how to work as a team. Strengths and weaknesses in the contingency plan are also discovered through exercises.

Exercises range from discussions about the best response to a potential spill, to full mobilization and deployment of equipment - just like a fire drill, where the response is timed and all systems are tested. Exercises can be quite basic, involving only a few people responding to a small oil spill, or they can involve hundreds of people responding to a large simulated oil spill.

Equipment Depots and Co-ops

When several companies are operating in one area, they often form "oil spill co-operatives" to deal with major spills. This lets the companies share the cost of buying large inventories of clean-up equipment. Each company can then have access to everything in the inventory.

Protecting Sensitive Areas

Emergency plans provide for the protection of critical areas such as water intakes, fish farms, fish spawning and feeding areas, bird colonies and recreation areas. The decision to clean up and restore an oil-contaminated shore area is based on careful evaluation of social, economic, and ecological factors. These include physical and biological resources, local weather patterns, shoreline types, wildlife resources and human use of the area. Many of these decisions can be made before a spill even occurs.

Facts and Figures

Research is being conducted into the use of bio-remediation or biological clean-up agents for cleaning up residual oil on shorelines. There are two types of agents, both of which speed up the natural process of bio-degradation. Bio-augmentation agents increase the population of hydrocarbon-degrading micro-organisms. Bio-enhancement agents contain non-living material such as nutrients to speed up the activity of the micro-organisms.

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