U.S. Navy Ship Salvage Manual Volume 6 - Oil Spill Response

S0300-A6-MAN-060• Provision of functioning and adequately sized firefighting equipment.• Provision of adequate safety training and environmental hazard training to all responseworkers.• Ensuring that equipment is operated by properly trained and qualified operators.• Strict enforcement of boat safety requirements for boat and skimmer operations.• Provision of adequate first aid equipment, medical treatment facilities and evacuationcapability.Response managers must implement and enforce safety standards. Oil spills often occur in remoteareas and with harsh climates. In the intensity of a response, people become tired, careless andless alert than in their usual work place and routine.3-5.3 Documentation. Response management also must set up administrative and documentationprocedures on the first day. Persons must know where to report, where to mess and berth andwhat is expected of them. Costs must be documented. Cost tracking is vital when Navy forces areworking for the Coast Guard under the interagency agreement and must document reimbursableexpenses. Field accounting practices should be simple and uniform and kept up to date daily.Records not kept daily become garbled and require an inordinate amount of time and effort to correct.Cost accounting requirements are discussed in Paragraph 3-8.3-5.4 Coordination with Other Agencies. Coordination among the several agencies working ona spill increases the effectiveness of the operation. Sharing equipment and experts enhances effectivenessand develops a synergy that benefits everyone. Coordinated field activities assist planningfor future operations and demobilization.State and local governments are represented on the Regional Response Team to provide a conduitfor Regional/local information into the spill response decision-making process. State and localofficials have local knowledge of the environment impacted and how to do things. This sort ofinformation is helpful during a response and is not always obvious to military people who havebeen in the spill area only a short while. Local people can identify environmentally and economicallyimportant areas.State officials can bring on board manpower, such as police, marine patrols, conservation employees,firefighters and public health officials. Their organizations often have resources such as communicationequipment, four-wheel-drive vehicles, aircraft and boats that are useful during aresponse. Contingency plans should identify the contributions expected from or arrangementsmade with state and local governments.The Director of Military Support (DOMS), a military agency made up of representatives of severalDOD agencies, is activated in times of national crisis or emergency, to provide DOD assetsfor specific situations. During the EXXON VALDEZ oil spill response, DOMS coordinated flights3-18