OIL SPILL TRAINING: THE NEED CONTINUES

Abstract

ABSTRACT To effectively handle oil spill incidents, response personnel must possess certain knowledge relevant to spill control activities. These personnel must demonstrate adequate manipulative and problem-solving abilities—practical skills—that can be used in managing oil spills. As a rule, this knowledge and these skills are obtained by one of two means. Response personnel attend and participate in training activities, or they learn from experience. Learning strictly by experience can provide valuable lessons, but such a method proves costly, inefficient, and incomplete in the long term. On the other hand, classroom and field programs in spill control are readily available and, to some extent, are successful in providing general knowledge to a broad audience. Time, scheduling, and especially financial constraints must be considered in planning training activities. Careful planning of an overall training can result in a series of short programs that, if properly designed and sequenced, can provide stronger results than an intensive program. Many companies are modifying budgets as a result of the current economic climate, however the need for training continues. In the long term, benefits gained by responding promptly and effectively to environmental incidents can far outweigh the insignificant training costs involved. With recent industrywide reductions in experienced manpower it is even more important that personnel with limited experience be well trained to handle an emergency when it arises. The training programs described in this paper are designed with this current situation in mind. Special emphasis is placed here on simulation exercises. Such exercises familiarize participants with their roles, relations, responsibilities, interfaces, and communications procedures during a spill cleanup operation, and also address crisis management, all in a classroom environment. Examples of actual simulations conducted at several Sohio facilities with state-of-the-art computer enhancement will be presented, and their benefits discussed.