A Tool that should Work

You need oil spill response plans. Company policy demands it, legislation demands it and common sense tells you that planning for emergencies is simply the right thing to do. Unfortunately good intentions can often end up with something that ‘ticks the box’ but does not provide your organization with what it needs… the best tool to really help you when an oil spill happens. Why?

Many contingency planners lack the experience or appreciation of what responders actually need and how they react when accidents happen. Long lists of responsibilities are produced, communication procedures are identified, and guidance on actions are drawn up. These and the other necessary elements of effective contingency planning are well known. Unfortunately the failure of many contingency plans is in their lacklustre presentation and this is a fundamental issue. Without the distillation of key information into highly graphical planning documentation, supported by appropriate job aids, the plan rapidly turns into that wordy document that is all but useless in the charged atmosphere of an emergency response.

Our Approach

We address the contingency planning process in an internationally recognized and approved manner. We work with our clients to gather the appropriate background information on risks and the local environment, involving oil spill modeling where necessary; we develop appropriate strategies based on the tiered response concept and then we devise the action plan, which results in the documentation known as the contingency plan.

We are thorough in all stages of the process but it is to the final product where we apply our unique touch. Our plans are extremely rich in their graphical content. We have in-house design capacity to ensure information is presented in a way that not only looks good but is easy to access. Diagrams, figures, charts, forms and tabulation are all used to maximum effect to ensure users are drawn to vital information.

Further Enhancements

Our contingency plans are extremely functional; the purposeful design helps make them genuine tools to help responders do what they need to do. However we can take our philosophy further, through the evolution of the plans into fully integrated electronic planning tools. These are easy to use, easy to update and allow better access to supporting information and related areas of the plan, using appropriate electronic linkages.

Furthermore we can incorporate our Responder® Toolkits into electronic plans. This raises the plans effectiveness to another level by providing exactly what responders need – oil spill tools designed with them in mind. These tools build additional confidence in the plans and make them central to response – exactly where they should be; gathering fingerprints, not dust.

A Complete Range

Our oil spill contingency planning services cover the entire range of potential needs: this means industry’s site plans to their crisis management plans and authorities’ local plans (e.g. port plans) to full national plans.