The Response to the Iron Baron Oil Spill

List of Recommendations

PART A - AUTHORITY

Issue A1 Powers of Intervention, Legislation and Jurisdiction

1. To ensure an unambiguous identification of powers between States and Commonwealth, the Tasmanian Government and other States should review their future needs to exercise powers of intervention, either through State legislation or by seeking delegation from the Commonwealth Minister for Transport under Commonwealth legislation.

2. The Tasmanian Government should review pollution legislation with a view to removing the requirement for the Minister to approve an individual incident response plan and the requirement for the State Committee to appoint an On Scene Coordinator.

3. The Tasmanian Marine Boards should examine appropriate delegations/authorisations of navigation powers beyond port limits to allow immediate direction to be given in the event of an emergency.

PART B - PLANNING

Issue B1 Contingency Plans

4. The Tasmanian State Contingency Plan and regional/port plans should be reviewed and aligned with National Plan Contingency Plan Guidelines.

Each port Contingency Plan should identify the roles and responsibilities of local government agencies in shoreline clean-up.

5. State Pollution Committees should examine the appropriateness of identifying the government department with statutory responsibility for wildlife as a 'primary agency' within the State's Contingency Plan.

Issue B2 Role of the State Committee - links between State

6. The State Marine Pollution Committee should consider appointing an Executive Officer to relieve the current State Oil Pollution Control Officer/Scientific Support Coordinator of administrative responsibility to the Committee, and review the availability of direct scientific support to the Committee. This could be done by the establishment of regional environmental experts for each port Contingency Plan.

Issue B3 Coastal Resource Atlas

7. The Tasmanian Coastal Resource Atlas should be redeveloped as a high priority, with input from relevant government and non-government organisations.

Issue B4 On Scene Spill Model

8. Given the present limited capability of the On Scene Spill Model, great emphasis should be placed on regularly ground-truthing predictions.

9. National Plan funding to continue development of an improved Oil Spill Trajectory Modelling system, incorporating up-to-date and detailed base-line data, should be made available.

10. National Plan information should explain the limitations of predictive modelling.

Issue B7 New Product Trial Management

11. The National Plan Advisory Committee, with the assistance and support of Scientific Support Coordinators, should develop an agreed protocol to handle the testing of new products.

PART C - OPERATIONS

Issue C1 The Response Planning Committee

12. State Committees should ensure that potential regional operations centres are identified in Contingency Plans.

13. The Australian Maritime Safety Authority's proposal to establish a National Response Team should be pursued as a matter of priority.

14. Relevant Tasmanian officials should review the current arrangement that identifies the position of Oil Spill Commander with the Commissioner of Police.

Issue C2 Equipment

15. The Tasmanian Marine Pollution Committee should review its equipment stockpile and identify shortfalls, taking into account :

i) types of oil (that is, the predominance of heavy bunker fuel oils)

ii) exposure to prevailing weather/water temperatures and

iii) the logistics of equipment transport.

16. Given the shortcomings of some existing equipment, more human and financial resources should be allocated to the research and development of response equipment, with particular emphasis on equipment that has been identified as needing modification.

17. Appropriate wildlife rescue and rehabilitation kits should be included in any pool of response material and be made available, under the National Plan, at key locations around the country.

Issue C6 Shore Line Clean-up

18. Port/regional Contingency Plans should identify senior local government engineers, who should receive appropriate training, to be shoreline clean-up team leaders.

Issue C7 Dispersant Use

19. The National Plan Advisory Committee should give high priority to the establishment of a dispersant/temperature/oil type matrix as a matter of urgency, using contract services if necessary. This matrix should be kept up-dated and incorporated in all State and Regional Plans.

Issue C8 Disposal of Waste

20. Regional and Port Contingency Plans should be reviewed and up-dated to reflect current preferred practices on the identification and implementation of disposal methods for oily waste and liquid oil.

Issue C9 Salvage - Operations

21. During an incident where casualties being salvaged have caused or are likely to cause oil pollution, the lead agency should appoint a very senior representative, who remains on board, with the objective of providing best available information on a continuing basis to the On Scene Coordinator and others. This will have the advantage that the Salvage Master will have to brief only one representative. The duties of this position should be fully considered and developed when the National Response Team is formed. This is a key position and consideration needs to be given to the training and experience of the personnel likely to be filling the role.

22. During an incident, independent salvage advice may need to be provided to the On Scene Coordinator, State Marine Pollution Committee and Australian Maritime Safety Authority (AMSA). AMSA/National Plan should explore the availability of resources to provide independent salvage advice, and make arrangements to ensure that this independent opinion is available during an incident involving any severely damaged vessel.

PART D - PERSONNEL

Issue D1 Workforce

23. States need to establish a strategy and systems including the identification of a pool of people to fulfil the functions of administrative support and put in place appropriate training and familiarisation.

Issue D2 Welfare/Health & Safety

24. As part of any Contingency Plans, proper provision should be made for:

i) catering for and supporting the involvement of volunteers, including adequate briefings and provision and control of equipment, clothing and support facilities and

ii) assessment of suitable accommodation options, with the likely demand and shortfalls being addressed through options such as billeting.

25. Contingency Plans should make specific reference to Occupational Health & Safety policy and strategy, with a designated person responsible for those issues.

Issue D3 Training/Briefings

26. National Plan agencies in each State should prepare a series of relevant hand-out materials (on matters including, wildlife handling, shoreline clean-up and handling of dispersants) for all newcomers to the site, particularly volunteers and untrained/inexperienced personnel. This material would supplement on-the-job training.

There should be an effort to educate across the spectrum of disciplines involved in an oil spill response, so that a better understanding of relative priorities, concerns and responses exists.

27. Tasmania should establish a regular program of training in the operation of oil spill response equipment for port, lands/wildlife, local government and emergency personnel.

PART E - ENVIRONMENT

Issue E1 Wildlife

28. A Senior Wildlife Manager with clearly identified roles and responsibilities should, from the outset, be included on the Response Planning Committee for all future oil spill incidents in Australia, and be identified as a key functional officer within Contingency Plans.

29. The Tasmanian Parks and Wildlife Service should prepare a Wildlife Response Plan.

30. A National Wildlife Response Plan should be pursued as a matter of priority and included as part of the National Plan to Combat Pollution of the Sea by Oil.

31. The Tasmanian Parks and Wildlife Service should widen its training in Incident Control System procedures to include all officers that may be required to respond to an oil spill incident.

Issue E2 Aquaculture/Fisheries

32. The communication guidelines in Regional and State Plans should be amended to clearly identify :

i) the appropriate public health/fisheries spokesperson and

ii) the need for effective dissemination of information about the impact of an oil spill on fisheries, and thus on public health.

Issue E3 Post Spill Assessment

33. Post spill impact assessment should continue along lines determined by the Impact Assessment Group of the State Marine Pollution Committee, and include the provision for amending the program in light of results obtained from the ongoing work. Results of this assessment program should be publicly available.

PART F - PUBLIC INTEREST

Issue F1 Media

34. Training in working with the media should be incorporated into any overall training program for personnel from the proposed National Response Team and key State agencies.

Issue F2 Community Issues

35. Consultation with and involvement of the local community should be specifically targeted throughout the entire incident and beyond. This should be an ongoing priority for the planning group.

Issue F3 Cultural and Heritage Issues

36. Future State and Regional Plans should have regard to cultural and heritage issues, including:

i) procedures for liaison and consultation with Aboriginal communities

ii) procedures to identify Aboriginal and European cultural and heritage sites which might be affected by an oil spill

iii) identification of the impacts of any oil spill on traditional practices and

iv) any existing legislative requirements.


Contact Us - Site Help - Payments (Levies and Fees) - Media - Publications - Forms