The Divulgare group has been involved for two years in the Mariner project (Enhancing HNS preparedness through training and exercising), coordinated by Cetmar, which aims to improve the response capacity to chemical spills by developing coordinated training and response plans between different regions of Atlantic Europe, such as the United Kingdom, France, Spain and Portugal. The Divulgare group has been involved for two years in the Mariner project (Enhancing HNS preparedness through training and exercising), coordinated by Cetmar, which aims to improve the response capacity to chemical spills by developing coordinated training and response plans between different regions of Atlantic Europe, such as the United Kingdom, France, Spain and Portugal.
Now that this initiative is coming to an end, researchers from the University of Vigo have just published a new video “that puts an end to the work that we have been developing over the last few years in the dissemination of the training work that is being carried out in the field of the fight against marine pollution due to accidental spills”. This last piece, seven minutes long, explains the different protocols for action in the event of a chemical spill, measures of particular relevance given the increase in the transport of chemical substances by sea in recent decades. Combining animation and real images of drills and training, it reviews the characteristics of ships, the different chemical substances and the measures to be adopted.
2000 different chemical substancesThe Divulgare researchers, coordinated by Professor Luis Navarro, recall that in the face of a maritime accident, lack of experience can generate chaos and social alarm and, when it comes to spills in which dangerous chemical substances are present, there is little experience. For this reason, this project sought to increase preparation for these contingencies, taking into account the added complexity posed by the enormous diversity of products of this type that are transported by sea, around 2000, with different behaviors in the marine environment. In this sense, under the auspices of the Mariner project, it was decided either to transfer the techniques already enabled for incidents on land, or to propose protocols designed ad-hoc.
The protocols start with the protection of the personnel on board the ship, the response teams and the population in the affected area. The second step will be aimed at stopping the spill and establishing exclusion zones to then combat the situation and mitigate the consequences. For this, it is necessary to identify the substances present in order to estimate their toxicity and the behavior of the spill to determine the type of protocol depending on whether it is gases, floating substances, sinking substances, containers, etc. During these two years of the project, the protocols were developed and improved, information was compiled, training days were held, operations were improved, cross-border guidelines were developed and educational materials were produced, such as the videos that the Divulgare group was responsible for.
Regional cooperation, essentialThe purpose of the Mariner project, which received European funding from DG-ECHO, was to improve regional cooperation in planning, preparing for and responding to spills of harmful and potentially dangerous substances (SNPP), training and raising awareness and promoting the transfer of R&D results. To this end, the entities involved (Directorate General for Humanitarian Aid and Civil Protection, Cetmar, the University of Vigo, Technological Institute for the Control of the Marine Environment (Intecmar); Galician Coast Guard Service; Interdisciplinary Center for Marine and Environmental Research (Ciimar) of the University of Porto; Centre de Documentation, de Recherche et d’Expérimentations sur les Pollutions Accidentelles des Eaux (Cedre) of France; the Portuguese company Action Modulers and Public Health England) committed to coordinated work to improve protocols and ensure a more efficient response to emergencies. “There should be no doubt that training exercises are key to having good response protocols and to improving the capabilities and skills of all personnel involved in a potential response and, on the Atlantic coast, at least, we are doing our homework,” they conclude.
Source: DUVI
