Preparedness, Response and Cooperation for Oil and Chemical Incidents OPRC

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Preparedness, Response and Cooperation for Oil
and Chemical Incidents OPRC HNS - Recent
Developments and New Challenges

• Patricia Charlebois
• IMO

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Overview

• International legal framework
• Obligations under the OPRC Convention HNS
  Protocol
• The role of IMO
• The OPRC-HNS Technical Group
• Policy implications and challenges in developing
  mechanisms for HNS

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International Legal Framework

• There are a number of conventions aimed at
  protection of the marine environment from
  pollution from ships
• Main Instruments are
• Prevention MARPOL 73/78
• Preparedness Response OPRC 1990 and its HNS
  Protocol 2000

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Background

• The OPRC Convention was initially established in
  1990 following the Exxon Valdez disaster in March
  1989
• The Convention entered into force five years
  later in May 1995.
• The HNS Protocol followed in 2000, in recognition
  of the increasing threat of pollution incidents
  involving chemicals
• The HNS Protocol has yet to enter into force

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The OPRC Convention HNS Protocol

• The OPRC Convention, as the parent document,
  provides the template for the HNS Protocol
• As such
• The two are mirror pieces of international
  legislation
• structured and worded very similarly
• covering oil spill response and HNS response,
  respectively.

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OPRC Convention and HNS Protocol

• Both provide
• a framework for the development of national and
  regional capacity to prepare for and respond to
  oil/HNS pollution incidents, and
• A platform to
• facilitate international co-operation and mutual
  assistance in preparing for and responding to
  major oil/HNS pollution incidents

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Obligations of parties- National level -

• 1. A requirement for pollution emergency plans
  for
• Ships offshore oil operations ports and oil/HNS
  handling facilities
• 2. Reporting
• Requirement reporting any observed event
  involving the discharge of oil/HNS to the nearest
  coastal State or State with jurisdiction
• 3. A national system for responding to Oil/HNS
  pollution incidents which includes
• a national contingency plan
• designated national authorities
• an identified national operation focal point (or
  focal points)
• 4. Preparedness and response capacity
• Individually or through bilateral/multilateral
  co-operation Pre-positioned equipment
  programme of exercises and training of personnel
  plans and communication capabilities a mechanism
  for coordinating the response

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Obligations of Parties- International level -

• Requirement for
• Informing neighbouring States of spills which
  could affect them

• Providing assistance if requested by another party

• Requesting Parties agree to facilitate the
  receipt of such assistance in-country

• Parties agree, to the extent of their capability,
  to provide international assistance to other
  State parties, and

• Involve oil, chemical shipping industries in
  preparedness response activities

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Global Response Framework for Oil Spills
INTER-REGIONAL ARRANGEMENTS
International
TIER 3 Mobilization of all available national
resources and possibly regional and intl
systems--depending on size of spill
Multi-national or Regional
BILATERAL MULTILATERAL PLANS
TIER 2 Coordination of more than 1 source of
equipment/personnel
National
COUNTRY PLAN
Area
Local
TIER 1Small spill within capability of
individual facility or harbour authority
INDUSTRY APPROACH
INTERNATIONAL FRAMEWORK
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The Role of IMO

• Information Services
• Education Training
• Technical services
• Technical assistance

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The OPRC-HNS Technical Group

• A subsidiary body of the IMOs Marine Environment
  Protection Committee (MEPC)
• The OPRC-HNS Technical Group that meets in
  conjunction with MEPC to
• Share experiences among a network of partners
  Member States, Regional Agreements and Industry
• develop tools, resources, manuals, guidance
  documents and training courses to help assist
  countries in building capacity
• Plays an important role in helping countries in
  understanding and implementing the OPRC
  Convention and its Protocol and for improving
  preparedness and response to oil and HNS
  incidents at the national and international level

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Recent developments

• Manual on Chemical Pollution
• Section 1 Problem Assessment and Response
  Arrangements
• Section 2 Search and Recovery of Packaged Goods
  Lost at Sea
• Introductory courses on preparedness and response
  to HNS incidents
• Guidance document on planning and response to
  chemical releases in the marine environment
  joint document with industry
• IMO web page providing information and assistance
  for HNS incidents

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The HNS Protocol-Challenges

• Entry into force
• Twelve months after ratification by not less
  than fifteen States, which are States Party to
  the OPRC Convention.

Current status
Number of Contracting Parties of worlds tonnage
OPRC 1990 85 (EOF 13-May-95) 64.31
HNS Protocol 2000 14 (not yet EOF) 15.84
Need only 1 more ratification for entry into
force of the HNS Protocol
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Definition

• What is the definition of an HNS?
• For the purposes of the Protocol
• Hazardous and noxious substances means any
  substances other than oil which, if introduced
  into the marine environment, is likely to create
  hazards to human health, to harm living resources
  and marine life, to damage amenities or to
  interfere with other legitimate uses of the sea
• HNS Protocol 2000, article 2 (2)

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Challenges

• Oil
• preparedness response well understood
• although different types, some uniformity in
  properties and behaviour
• approach and equipment options are the same and
  relatively standard
• relative danger and hazard to human health is
  low.

• HNS
• response difficult or impossible. Depending on
  substance
• wide variety of substances
• (8 million )
• varying type and degree of hazard
• completely different behaviour from substance to
  substance
• potential for significant danger (explosive,
  flammable) and hazard to human health (corrosive,
  toxic)

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Which means...

• Different risk and threat scenario, approach and
  knowledge-requirement
• Therefore, a completely different set of skills,
  expertise and equipment needed to respond to HNS
  incidents

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Constraints to ratification and implementation of
HNS Protocol-Maritime Port Authorities

• Little expertise and knowledge of HNS within
  these organizations or even within the State
• Little or no equipment for HNS response
  (protective equipment, pumps, detection devices,
  etc)
• Normally, this type of knowledge and the
  necessary equipment resides with Emergency
  Services in developed countries i.e. Fire Brigade

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Global Response Framework for Oil Spills
INTER-REGIONAL ARRANGEMENTS
International
TIER 3 Mobilization of all available national
resources and possibly regional and intl
systems--depending on size of spill
Multi-national or Regional
BILATERAL MULTILATERAL PLANS
TIER 2 Coordination of more than 1 source of
equipment/personnel
National
COUNTRY PLAN
Area
Local
TIER 1Small spill within capability of
individual facility or harbour authority
INDUSTRY APPROACH
INTERNATIONAL FRAMEWORK
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Challenges to implementation

• Building systems for response to HNS can be
  time and resource-intensive taking into account
• Training needs
• Equipment needs and maintenance issues
• Development and testing of plans for a new type
  of incident
• Building relationships with a new set of partners
  and stakeholder groups
• Translating into policy and regulations i.e
  lack of a list of identified substance in HNS
  Protocol
• May be especially hard to justify in light of
• Frequency of such incidents
• Timeframe for response-if even possible

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Questions to be answered in developing systems
for HNS

• National Plan Options
• Update existing oil spill plans to accommodate
  HNS
• Separate plan

• Notification and reporting
• Can existing systems be modified to accommodate
  HNS requirements?

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Questions to be answered in developing systems
for HNS

• Developing response capacity
• This is the most difficult for countries to
  address in terms of ratifying and implementing
  the Protocol.
• Questions/concerns
• Limited expertise available in current structures
• How and where to access necessary training? How
  to define training needs?
• How do we do it? How far do we go?
• What hazards will we/wont we respond to
• What can we do ourselves? What can be contracted
  out?
• How we can be sure that contractors will meet
  the requirement?

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• Constraints
• Expensive and resource-intensive to develop such
  capacity
• Facilitation of relationships/partnerships with
  whole new constituency chemical industry,
  independent chemical spill response
  organizations.
• Very few, if any, well-established working models
  yet in place.

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Summary

1. Oil spill response is well-understood and there
   are relatively uniform and standardized
   approaches (and equipment for response) for
   preparedness and response to oil spills
2. HNS is much more difficult due to the wide array
   of chemicals with widely differing hazards,
   properties, and behaviours.
3. Expertise on HNS may not be readily available
   within in maritime administrations (or even
   nationally) and, if it does exist, the breadth of
   expertise is usually limited.
4. Many complex practical and policy questions to be
   considered when developing systems for HNS
5. Developing such capacity can be both time- and
   resource-intensive (training, equipment,
   instrumentation).

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• Questions?