HISTORY OF THE INTERNATIONAL SPILL ACCREDITATION SCHEME

Mark Orr and John Dawes with input from Roger Mabbott and John McMurtie (ISCO).

The birth of many oil spill control organisationswas the loss of 25-36 million gallons of crude oilfollowing the loss of the SS Torrey Canyon which,due to a navigation error, struck rocks by SevenStones reef between the Cornish mainland andthe Isles of Scilly on 18 March 1967.

The inadequacy of the response, theenvironmental impact and the fact that theloss was close to well populated shorelines ledto many changes in international regulationssuch as the International Convention on CivilLiability for Oil Pollution Damage in 1969 and theInternational Convention for the Prevention ofPollution from Ships 1973.

In February 1971, SS Walfra ran aground off CapeAgulhas, South Africa, following engine problemsand a lack of suitable towing vessels that couldpull her to safety. Part of her was towed outto sea and sunk but the loss, estimated to beup to 14 million gallons, caused significantand well publicised harm to wildlife and to theenvironment.

In March 1978, in very heavy weather in theBay of Biscay the steering on the SS AmocoCadiz failed. Whilst a tow was established itkept breaking and many attempts were madeto re-establish it. The Force 10 winds weretoo much for the tow and she struck PortsallRocks, just off the Brittany coast. The cargoof 220,800 tons of crude oil and 4000 tons of

bunker oil were washed ashore over 200 miles along the Brittany Coast with some parts being buried by 20 inches of oil. The effect on sea life, shellfish in the Brittany estuaries and rivers was significant as was the aggressive clean-up which lacked environmental sensitivity, leaving once thriving marine environments scoured by chemical dispersants, sand and mud removal which was never replaced.

These incidents, occurring in relatively close succession, caused Europe to wake up to the risk it carried in allowing lightly regulated vessels to navigate their waters with inadequate maritime pollution incident plans as demonstrated by the response to each of these pollution incidents.

With legislation in place governments responded by improving national plans and developing some international co-operation and agreements to share resources in major incidents. This promoted early discussions in the late 1970s at the Hamburg Ship & Machinery Exhibition to form a British organisation and thus British Oil Spill Control Association (BOSCA) was formed under the auspices of British Marine Equipment Council (BMEC).

BOSCA held its first exhibition at St. Catherine’s Dock in London in 1980. The exhibition incorporated a conference which attracted a considerable audience. Slowly BOSCA became involved in the development of national, regional, and local government spill response plans, using local contracting companies.

At about the same time Lt Cdr R G (Geoff) Teasdale was tasked, through the Royal Navy and MOD to set up over a period of years very comprehensive stockpiles of pollution control equipment which were operated by Royal Marine Auxiliary Service (RMAS). With large stockpiles at Portsmouth, Devonport and Rosyth and

smaller response capability at all locations from which Royal Navy vessels operated.

The oil companies, whose oil it was that spilled, were heavily fined and their reputations adversely affected. To mitigate further losses, they started to play a more active role in developing their own response organisations. In the UK British Petroleum (BP) set up a large oil spill response base in Southampton and also Vikoma – a company manufacturing oil skimmers and retention booms on the Isle of Wight. Subsequently the BP base was syndicated amongst various oil companies and Oil Spill Response Ltd (OSRL) was the result.

The formation of the International Tanker Owners Pollution Federation (ITOPF) was effectively an insurance fund set up by potential marine polluters worldwide to hopefully cover the costs of any future spill clean-up.

Warren Spring Laboratory (the Government Research laboratories based in Stevenage) operated a research division and carried out tests on oil spill control equipment under the leading scientist – Dr Douglas Cormack. They were the only organisation with authorisation to spill oil at sea. Allied with the research facility was the provision of oil spill control training.

The oil pollution section of the Maritime & Coastguard Agency (MCA) was formed, and this gradually took over responsibility from the Royal Navy for dealing with pollution in UK territorial waters. It developed its own stockpile of Tier 3 pollution control equipment and carried out training mostly for Local Authority coastal personnel. National contingency plans were drawn up and the MCA ensured that the UK was fully compliant with all International Regulations issued by the IMO which had been ratified by UK Government.

In the meantime, BOSCA continued to hold regular meetings with Brian Webb acting as secretary on behalf of BMEC. The Chairman for most of the period was Rear Admiral Michael Stacey who was also head of the MCA (in those days Marine Pollution Control Unit – MPCU). The Deputy Chairman was Dr Douglas Cormack – Head of Warren Spring Laboratory. The main work of the Association was to provide a meeting place where manufacturers could meet with spill responders and new response equipment could be discussed. The meetings were also attended by representatives from the Environment Agency, the Northern Ireland Environment Agency, Scottish Environment Protection Agency and, occasionally the MCA.

International Spill Control (ISCO) formed in 1986 and its mission was, and remains:

To raise worldwide preparedness and cooperation in response to oil and chemical spills, to promote technical development and professional competency, and to provide a focus for making the knowledge and experience of spill control professionals available to the IMO, UNEP, EC and other organisations.

This activity was timely as in March 1989 the SS Exxon Valdez struck Bligh Reef in Prince William Sound in Alaska spilling 10.8 million gallons of crude oil into this pristine environment. Exacerbated by its remote location, the response was difficult and resulted in slow containment and the contamination of over 200 miles of coastline. This was the final nail in the coffin of lax regulation and the IMO introduced various international pollution prevention rules through various conventions that have led to safer ships and cleaner oceans.

Regulation was tightened again but also the non-governmental organisations and the public started to ‘fight locally for protection of the environment around us’ and the harm that we can so easily do to it, by negligence or lax control.

This led to a flurry of new spill response companies to help businesses prevent pollution, to cope with spillages at sea and on land but also in the design and development of improved equipment and technology.

Whilst primarily marine focussed in the mid-1990s BOSCA started to reach out to inland response companies as by then there was a growing split between marine and inland response which to a

lesser extent remains. The IMO introduced internationally recognised marine training courses which were endorsed by the MCA. Several BOSCA members were approved by the Nautical Institute to deliver MCA courses. Inland surface water spill courses were offered by BOSCA and held at the Fire Service College in Moreton in the Marsh.

Following a meeting held between Oil Pollution Defence (OPD), spill responder and the then National Rivers Authority to discuss the standard of inland spill response. A further meeting with the newly formed Environment Agency was held in Warrington attended by, amongst others, Lord Peter Simon Rickaby (Braemar Howells) and John Dawes (OPD). As a result of this meeting the BOSCA Accreditation Scheme was formed with financial assistance from the Environment Agency.

Support for the accreditation scheme by the EA ended and Brian Webb retired from being BOSCA secretary and Society of Maritime Industries (SMI) appointed RogerMabbott in his place as Director of BOSCA. Sadly, with no government support, BOSCA closed in the early 2000s. However strong personalities supported by their own active businesses in this area were the catalyst for the formation of new and reasonably vigorous activity.

John Dawes had worked in several senior roles in spill response companies and Dr Doug Cormack, a marine scientist and former Chairman of BOSCA, formed the International Spill Accreditation Association (ISAA) in 2004. With some support and encouragement from Lord Rickerby, they continued with accreditation based on the BOSCA scheme. Whilst it primarily focussed on Republic of Ireland and Northern Ireland businesses it did attract UK Mainland members. Management of the ISAA Scheme was handled by ISCO for a number of years.

Meanwhile in late 2004, BOSCA membership transferred to UK Spill which was formed by Roger Mabbott as a UK oil spill trade association with support from Dave Salt, Operations Director at OSRL and Mark Calvert, then the owner of Adler and Allan, who became its initial Directors. The vision for Accreditation was maintained by both BOSCA and then UK Spill in contracting with John Dawes, as the independent Manager/Assessor, to maintain the scheme in the UK. JohnDawes continued in this role until 2007. Therafter Roger Mabbott became SchemeManager using independent assessors.

In December 2005 Adler and Allanwere spill response contractor to theHertfordshire Oil Storage Terminal atBuncefield that had a fire and series

of dramatic explosions that eventually consumed 20 large storage tanks on this site over one significant weekend in the history of UK spill response. The work on site consumed much of the UK’s spill response industry and activity proceeded on site for the next six months until the site was clear.

This incident highlighted the need for a robust inland accreditation scheme that the response industry could adopt so that businesses could have common standards. This would enable them to work together with common proficiency when managing inland spills. This was written by UK Spill based on the standards used by John Dawes and was supported by all environmental regulators. It was re-written in 2006 and 2007 by Stewart Ower and Mark Orr. It formed the backbone of the UK Contractors Accreditation Scheme that eventually went online in 2010. This scheme, with revisions in 2016, 2017 and 2018 carried out by Dr Jon Burton, is now being reviewed and updated.

In late 2017, the MCA introduced a draft Standard for Marine Oil Spill Response Organisations. United by their missions but divided by their history, Roger Mabbott asked if ISAA would join UK Spill in jointly tendering for the accreditation of businesses who would need to migrate from their own individual accreditation schemes to the new MCA scheme.

Both agreed to co-operate, and a

joint venture called International Spill Accreditation Scheme (ISAS) was formed. They were successful in their bid and subsequently have delivered this accreditation service with Captain Bill Boyle as the Marine Assessor. John Dawes was appointed as the UK Contractors Accreditation Scheme Manager in late 2018. In this spirit of co-operation, a Heads of Agreement was signed that expressed a desire by both Associations to merge.

In 2020, with the retirement of Roger Mabbott, it seemed timely to conclude this unfinished business. In September 2020 UK Spill and ISAA merged to form two independent companies, each limited by guarantee and each with independent Boards:

The Trade Association – UK and Ireland Spill Association Limited

The Accreditation Company – International Spill Accreditation Scheme Limited

In 2021 this is how the businesses currently operate – each independent of the other but both closely tied by a shared history, a common mission and each confident that they are working to raise standards, by sharing knowledge, developing expertise and working with national and local governments across the UK and Republic of Ireland.