The Observer, March 2005

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Alyeska Viewpoint: For SERVS, training is key to being prepared

By Ed Morgan

Throughout the past year, Alyeska’s Ship Escort Response Vessel System (SERVS) explored new approaches to training, drills and exercises to improve our readiness to respond to spills. In partnership with the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA), SERVS redesigned the safety and hazardous materials training for fishing vessel crew members in the SERVS Fishing Vessel Program. The updated program satisfies OSHA’s training requirements and provides the equipment-specific experience required for compliance with response plans through a three day curriculum combining classroom courses, hands-on instruction, and on-water training.

The benefits of this training were put to the test in late September when the Alaska Department of Environmental Conservation (ADEC) called an unannounced drill on the fishing vessel response fleet that had assembled in Cordova, preparing to conduct field training in nearshore response tactics. The fishing vessels and crews in Cordova were diverted from their scheduled training to respond to the unannounced drill. The weather was typical for the season and area with winds pushing the upper limit of operational capability.

The task force selected by ADEC for this drill consisted of 36 fishing vessels, Barge 500-2, and the utility vessel Endurance. The scenario was a tanker grounded near Smith Island in central Prince William Sound with 20,000 barrels of oil released and moving east into Orca Inlet. Weather conditions worsened throughout the day with heavy rain, fog, and winds to 40 knots. Over four thousand feet of boom, four mini-barges, two skimmers, and a Current Buster were deployed before crane operations on the deck of the Barge 500-2 were suspended due to high winds. All the drill objectives were met despite the weather conditions, there were no injuries, and praise from the evaluation team was unprecedented. One of the more notable comments from the state’s lead controller was “I’ve never seen the nearshore operation run smoother than today.”

The following month, over 100 Alyeska employees and contractors participated in an oil spill response exercise at the Valdez Marine Terminal, joined again by fishing vessel operators in the Valdez core fleet. The exercise scenario involved a major crude oil spill at the Terminal loading berths. A unique element to the management of the drill was the real-time (“symptom-driven”) injects for site characterization. Vapor levels were gathered by responders in the field with gas detectors by calling drill control for the vapor levels in their area. This pushed the responders as close to reality as possible and enabled field leadership to make difficult decisions balancing response and safety. During this drill, the deployment of the protection boom around the Solomon Gulch Hatchery and Valdez Duck Flats set an all-time record – assisted by favorable tides and weather but reflecting the commitment to training and practice over the past several years. The combined field and incident management team performance resulted in an extremely positive evaluation.

The challenge of getting people and equipment to Valdez and from Valdez to the scene of a large spill can present a logistical constraint that SERVS must be prepared to address. To probe its capabilities and to provide training to internal and external stakeholders, SERVS developed a new tabletop exercise format involving the use of wooden models of tugs, barges, and other vessels to simulate actual vessel movements. In March of last year, nearly 100 employees, contractors, fishermen, and stakeholders spent three straight days at the Valdez Civic Center to pull this event off with an array of models scattered inside a scale drawing of Prince William Sound laid out with tape on the Civic Center ballroom floor. The tabletop exercise used the worst case scenario from the tanker plan, an 809,000 barrel oil spill at the southern boundary of Prince William Sound. The exercise simulated the hundreds of vessel movements, decisions, and response actions that are initiated in the initial hours of a major response.

SERVS used this format developed for the full operations section mobilization later in the year to focus on the deployment and management of nearshore task forces. The wooden models of tugs, barges, fishing vessels were augmented with pieces of rope to simulate boom and shredded paper to simulate oil. This time, over 50 employees, contractors, fishermen, and stakeholders gathered at the Valdez Civic Center and were assigned to task forces to use the resources represented by the models to contain the simulated oil spill. This simulation approach has helped SERVS responders and other stakeholders understand and resolve typical logistical issues that a large scale response could present, such as fuel, food, accommodations, task force coordination, and prioritization of clean-up tasks.

SERVS’ mission will continue to emphasize the prevention of oil spills. Still, we hope these examples show that training – in the classroom, in the command center, on the water, and even on a ballroom floor – remains the key to preparedness.

• Ed Morgan is manager of Alyeska’s Ship Escort/Response Vessel System.