MANAGEMENT OF INFORMATION FLOW IN COMPLEX SHORELINE CLEAN-UP OPERATIONS THOUGH A COMMON SYSTEM FOR SITUATION OVERVIEW AND REPORTING IN THE “M/S SERVER” Incident

Abstract

ABSTRACT Clean-up operations following coastal oil spills may become complex with respect to handling the information necessary to keep all parts of the organisation updated on the situation and in line with recent developments. After the “M/S Server” struck aground off the island of Fedje, Norway on Friday 12th. of January 2007, and initially spilling 290 tonnes of bunker oil, the weather conditions caused the oil to break up into many small slicks and polluting a high number of shoreline segments. The weather conditions continued to prevent the safe survey of several polluted positions, further complicating the task of creating a full overview of the situation. The 201 positions of the polluted segments involved 13 municipalities, 2 counties and 3 different Regional Pollution Combat Groups as well as the overall management by the Norwegian Coastal Authorities. Surveying of segments, prioritisation, and follow-up of progress involves both practical operational and scientific judgements, and creates paperwork. Both expert groups and on-site operative personnel will carry out surveys and report, and also need information for making decisions. Finding the right amount of data and level of detail to collect requires a common understanding of information needs, as well as the use of common forms. With the goal of reducing the overall time spent on reporting by collecting data centrally and providing a common site to stay informed, a data-based system for handling of information from shoreline clean-up operations was developed in the early days of the operation, as part of a cooperation project between The Norwegian Coastal Authority and NOFO on experience sharing and standardisation of information flow. An internet map service provided a common map of the positions and access to web-reports. Field equipment using semi-rugged PCs and mobile solutions was tried out. This paper focuses on the operational benefits and challenges of updating and coordinating information flow using a common web-based system, in an area where several different reporting procedures and forms had been previously used. Experience is shared with respect to making the system work as a useful true-time tool and not only as a hind-sight database.