MSUO Seminar: 'Best Practice in Local Contingency Planning

Shortcut to seminar presentations

December 2005 saw the launch of the MSUO seminar programme. The first event was the “Best Practice in Local Contingency Planning Pollution Response” seminar. The purpose of the event was to bring together leading organisations with experience in developing local contingency plans to deal with maritime incidents. These included a number of partners from Interreg Projects that are looking at aspects of this topic. 

 

The one-day seminar was designed to give participants examples of best practice for sub-national, local and regional pollution response to shipping accidents. This was particularly with respect to how authorities can deal with oil spills.  The seminar also demonstrated how transnational funding from Interreg could  be used to fund projects which develop local contingency arrangements.

 

 

Seminar Presentations

The seminar took place in Southampton UK, and was hosted by the Maritime and Coastguard Agency (MCA). The seminar was opened by John Astbury, the MCA Director of Operations. Marisa Fernandez, of CETMAR provided an interesting overview of how Interreg funding is being used to assist local contingency planning in Galicia in the wake of the Prestige. This forms a work package of the EROCIPS project.

 

Eivind Ask, from the Safety at Sea Project, provided an overview of intermunicipal preparedness and response arrangements in Norway, using the example of the Sogn and Sunnfjord area. Michel Girin, from le CEDRE explained the organisation developed for French marine pollution response.

 

The UK National Contingency Planning system was reviewed by Kevin Colcomb of the MCA. This presentation was complimented by one concerning United Kingdom Local Authority Contingency Planning by Tony Morris of the Emergency Planning Society. The two presentations demonstrated how the requirements of the International Convention on Oil Pollution Preparedness, Response and Cooperation, 1990 (OPRC Convention) can be cascaded from the national to the local level.

 

Please find below the presentations from the seminar:

• The Role of the Maritime Safety Umbrella Operation
   Richard Hill, Maritime Safety Co-ordinator

• Local Contingency Planning: EROCIPS Project Findings
  Marisa Fernandez, Centro Tecnológico del Mar (CETMAR)

• Norwegian Local Response Arrangements
  Eivind Ask, Intermunicipal Preparedness Area Sogn og Sunnfjord, Norway

• The French Marine Pollution Response Organisation: from state level to local response
  Michel Girin, Centre of Documentation, Research and Experimentation on Accidental Water Pollution (le CEDRE)

• The link to the National Level: UK example
  Kevin Colcomb, Maritime and Coastguard Agency (MCA)

• United Kingdom Local Authority Contingency Planning
  Tony Morris, Emergency Planning Society

• Maritime Safety Umbrella Operation: Future Issues
  Richard Hill, Maritime Safety Co-ordinator