Spill Alert Issue 24

WORKING GROUPS REPORT

Our working groups are proving a good method for members to direct the activity of the Association to their benefit/interest. They meet at least quarterly and help to direct the work of the Association!

MARINE AND MANUFACTURERS WORKING GROUP

The group was largely at Interspill in June and reported positively on the event with good quality visitors and a strong technical conference. We are planning a marine event in spring 2023 and a webinar series in the autumn and spring covering Equipment

Selection in spill response; Shoreline Assessment Criteria and how it is changing and risks evolve; Tier 1 and 2 spill response; surveillance.

The group is working on a draft standard for temporary tanks used in spill response. Once we have developed this standard we will then concentrate on using the same format of document for skimmers.

INSURANCE WORKING GROUP

The Group was initially formed to lobby on behalf of members to the Environment Agency to seek changes in the awkward working in their best practice guidance called Land Contamination Risk Management (LCRM).

We are making slow progress with the EA but are slowly winning the battle to ensure LCRM wording will be changed in particular removal of the words ‘return the site to its original state’.

The group have suggested:

‘suitably mitigate identified impacts tohealth and the environment and otheridentified receptors’

However issues remain with adopting a risk assessed approach to initial response. When LCRM Stage 1 talks about remediation it does not encourage the use of a risk based approach which we have strongly objected to and have suggested following the risk based approach

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throughout Stage 1,2 and 3 of the guidance– a submission to explain why this is criticalwas submitted in mid October.

We wait their response but we are trying topush them to update LCRM by Christmas.

WE ARE GETTING SOMEWHERE!

The rapid growth of Sedgwicks/EFI Globaland Crawford Environmental Consultantshas unsettled many members who provideconsultancy and contracting services toCrawford and Sedgwick loss adjusters.

Our next meeting on 20 October 2022 willdiscuss these issues but also to look at howwe better engage with the Loss adjusterindustry.

Recently joined members EFI Global,Crawford, Questgates are APS Env arejoining the group.

We have all contributed to the consultationon mobile plant permits and hope for achange.

We are also lobbying for a RegulatoryPosition Statement to allow temporarydischarge consents to be given forremediation systems engaged in recoveryof pollution from the ground on anemergency basis.

It seem illogical for these incidents, whichare relatively few in number, to have towait 8 weeks of so for a discharge consentto be issued. The EA support this howeverhave not effected this yet.

PLASTIC POLLUTION WORKING GROUP

In February 2022 the group set itself quiteambitious goals that would results in bestpractice guidance being made availableonline to all involved in dealing with aplastic pollution incident.

These are very well written documents and provide high quality knowledge that will benefit the spill community and those involved in managing the risk and response to such incidents.

Once these are peer reviewed they will be published online at www.ukeirespill.org and for each goal we will be running a webinar to explain its contents, this will also be available on the website.

One of our goals is to produce a Good Practice Guide which will represent what the Group feels is the ay to plan for, respond to and manage these incidents. IPIECA have offered to support this document and will be publishing this on behalf of the group during 2023.

One of our members is University of Southampton and the Group is now liaising with them about project for post-graduates undertaking Masters and PhD study which will enable members to direct research to evolve and trial solutions that will aid spill response.

our members, further.

We have joined Operation Clean Sweep(managed by British Plastic Federation) –supporting better management of plasticproducts by those who handle it in thesupply chain.

EMPLOYMENT OPPORTUNITIES WORKING GROUP

Through collaborative working this groupis seeking to generate and evolve careerpathways for those involved in spillresponse or brownfield remediation. Thisis to encourage people to join our industryfrom others and provide structure to thecareer of those within the industry . Thiswill be supported by participating in careerdevelopment through independentlyassessed qualifications such as :

Registered Environmental TechnicianRegistered Environmental PractitionerChartered Environmentalist

The group have met six times so far thisyear and has produced a document forConsultation that sets out a new trainingand competency matrix for the differentparts of the industry that places emphasison a high standard of training and a logbook of individual experience as the basisfor advancement in the industry.

The Consultation Document is discussedelsewhere in this issues and may be viewedon www.ukeirespill.org.

We are very keen to hear your views whichwill be presented at the Annual Conferenceon 10 Nov 22.

The Group has a huge depth of knowledge in dealing with plastic pollution incidents with experience going back to MV RENA and most incidents since including MV X-Press Pearl more recently.

Of our 10 goals members have now released papers for group peer review on:

We are also bidding for support from ITOPF for research funding which needs to be submitted by Christmas.

We have also submitted to the consultation on the Marine Litter Scotland Strategic Plan and spoken to Keep Northern Ireland Beautiful working group.

Goal One: Plastic Pollution: Sources, Pathways and Impacts of Microplastics

Goal Two: Equipment for the recovery of microplastics from shorelines and nearshore environments

Our work is having impact outside of DEFRA/EA world and we are in touch with British Plastic Federation, Rivers Trust, Marine Conservation Society, Seas-at-Risk, Ocean Generation and to NE P&I club and are looking to extend our reach, through

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EMERGING AND FUTURE RISKS WORKING GROUP

For some time we have had quarterly catch ups with theEnvironment Agency Incident management Team. These havebeen very useful as a conduit for exchanging information andknowledge.

WORKING GROUPS

The EA have asked us to Chair and provide the secretariat for a new working group with the following objective:

To assist the Environment Agency (and others of devolved nations that subsequently join) and the Fire and Rescue Service in producing initial response plans for unplanned releases of products that are currently in the market or are planned to be released in the future. To review those previously released in light of experience.

REPORT

The Group will initially involve the EA, UKEireSpill and the Fire and Rescue Service. However, once we have met and the Group is starting to work the EA are keen to involve NRW, SEPA, DAERA and where appropriate Public Health Agencies from all devolved nations.

The Group’s initial working is on:

HVOLithium Ion BatteriesAmmonia as a propulsion fuel.

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