Shoreline Response Centre (SRC) National Contingency Plan – Environment Group Training

Criteria for SRC set-up Tier 3 incident Beyond the resource capability of Local Authority(s) Central Government support required Must be agreed / endorsed by MCA Only for very big spills National Contingency Plan – Environment Group Training

Once SRC is agreed: All MCA resources (including those which MCA may contract in) are made available to Local Authorities (LAs) free of charge Full MCA support for the centre LA must provide and finance their own resources LA take the lead – Why? LA provides accommodation etc Central Govt support to local govt LAs may not have expertise and need help from the centre Can be a lot at stake – SEA EMPRESS bill for Pembrokeshire was over £5m – and only ‘reasonable’ costs will be recoverable LA to be in charge of their own destiny National Contingency Plan – Environment Group Training

Role of the SRC Co-ordinate and lead the on-shore response Determine the extent of the problem Agree a strategy and priorities Initiate response Obtain and allocate resources Determine methods of waste disposal Monitor progress Brief elected members, Ministers, VIPs, media Needs strategic direction and sound technical footing to do the job properly Can be highly complex – 40 + sites simultaneously during SEA EMPRESS clean-up Essentially land based – but must have links with other cells as set up National Contingency Plan – Environment Group Training

Structure of the SRC Three primary functional teams plus support teams Headed by the Local Authority Members from different organisations with appropriate expertise Important that the SRC acts as a single unit Remove affiliation to parent organisation WHY? LA has the responsibility to ensure the response is fit for purpose Will have assistance from contractors Functional teams work to a common goal all reporting to the management team Remove affiliation to parent organisation – technical team advise on technical issues National Contingency Plan – Environment Group Training

Media and public relations team Structure of the SRC MANAGEMENT TEAM Media and public relations team Strategy sub-group Administration team TECHNICAL TEAM Three main teams with specialist sub groups The team composition will be dictated by the nature and scale of the incident Waste management Health and Safety IT and comms team PROCUREMENT TEAM National Contingency Plan – Environment Group Training

Management Team function To assess the threat, determine priorities, define strategy and objectives - Liaise with Environment Group (EG) Monitor progress against the agreed strategy and adjust as necessary Agree press releases and attend press briefings - Focal point for briefing of elected members, Ministers, VIPs, media, public Strategic function – the big picture – ensuring everything needing to be done is done. LA will need help from Central Govt – MCA etc. National Contingency Plan – Environment Group Training

Management Team members LA designated Chief Oil Pollution Officer, MCA and Chairs of the various Teams/Groups, as a minimum - ITOPF, Oil Company by invitation Essential that members of the team have the authority to agree actions and spending Big issues: reasonableness of actions – going too far (too expensive) with the clean-up Recovery of costs Causing damage by inappropriate methods Record keeping National Contingency Plan – Environment Group Training

Media and public relations team The Technical Team MANAGEMENT TEAM Media and public relations team Strategy sub-group Administration team TECHNICAL TEAM Waste management Health and Safety IT and comms team PROCUREMENT TEAM National Contingency Plan – Environment Group Training

Technical Team function Determine appropriate clean-up techniques Allocate resources Communicate decisions to local Beachmasters Monitor the progress of operations and brief the Management Team Draw up a waste disposal plan Ensure Health and Safety requirements are met Technical people tasked with technical work How to best clean-up and deal with waste generated LA unlikely to have had much past experience Need to engage experienced people Contractors must be supervised – especially where heavy plant is utilised Need for clear orderly links with EG on a site by site basis And management team to ensure consistency with overall strategy National Contingency Plan – Environment Group Training

Technical Team members MCA, District Liaison Officers, Environmental Regulator, LA Waste Disposal Officer, Health and Safety Officer, Contractors, HMCG, Police, ITOPF, UKPIA, UKOOA, Oil Company Members of this team must be knowledgeable on beach clean-up, waste disposal, H&S and be able to provide local knowledge Chair = Local Authority or MCA Previous Shoreline Response Centres have been chaired by MCA – though Local Authority has first option Local knowledge is a must Horses for courses – aim for best expertise available National Contingency Plan – Environment Group Training

Media and public relations team The Procurement Team MANAGEMENT TEAM Media and public relations team Strategy sub-group Administration team TECHNICAL TEAM Waste management Health and Safety IT and comms team PROCUREMENT TEAM National Contingency Plan – Environment Group Training

Procurement Team Function Obtain the necessary resources and dispatch them to the agreed beaches Monitor the levels of deployed resources Recover and re-deploy resources as they become surplus to requirements Inform the Technical Team of any resources shortfall Ensure that finances and/or contracts are available to implement the decisions of the Technical Team Self explanatory – can be a big job in a major clean-up operation Tight controls necessary for successful cost recovery Must be able to demonstrate value for money and technical reasonableness National Contingency Plan – Environment Group Training

Procurement Team members Local Authority, MCA, Environmental regulator, Oil Company, County/District Finance Officer Members must be aware of resources available and how they can be contracted Membership includes anyone who is procuring resources and spending money. National Contingency Plan – Environment Group Training

The role of the Beachmaster The SRC is the ‘executive function’ of shoreline clean-up A Beachmaster is the operations manager at the front line of the response Implements the clean-up strategy devised by the SRC technical team Reports back to the SRC on progress and problems Beachmasters should be trained Can be drawn in from commercial organisations Many LAs have trained people – via MCA training courses National Contingency Plan – Environment Group Training

Communications in shoreline clean-up SRC Environment Group Management Team Technical Team Procurement Team Balance between keeping all informed and information overload Develop communications strategy asap Equipment / resources Environmental advice Strategy Reports BEACHMASTER National Contingency Plan – Environment Group Training

The Beachmaster Supervisory position requiring initiative, practicality and the ability to improvise - within overall remit Man management experience ability to motivate and manage unskilled labour Sound knowledge of HSE Rules Understand environmental constraints – links with Environment Group National Contingency Plan – Environment Group Training

Record Keeping and Cost Recovery Exhaustive records essential What we did, and why, with what, how much ……………… Otherwise – we may jeopardise cost recovery SEA EMPRESS Claim – Insurers questioned purchase of individual garden rake! Local Authority claim was £5m+ Claim took over two years ITOPF can provide advice on level of detail required. National Contingency Plan – Environment Group Training

Shoreline Response Centre Your LAs arrangements for SRC? Accommodation identified? Who would chair? Joint SRC with neighbouring Authorities? What details in your own plans? For SRC structure, who in which role in which teams? See Pembs plan – for details National Contingency Plan – Environment Group Training

Shoreline Response Centre MANAGEMENT TEAM Media and public relations team Strategy sub-group Administration team TECHNICAL TEAM Waste management Health and Safety IT and comms team PROCUREMENT TEAM National Contingency Plan – Environment Group Training