Disaster Response Plan for Anchored Ships - Essay Example

DISASTER RESPONSE PLAN FOR ANCHORED SHIPS Contents I. Objective. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .3 II. Scope. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3 III. Responsibilities. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .3 IV. Procedures. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4 V. Normalization . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8 VI. Disaster Recovery . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8 VII. Post Incident Review. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8 VIII. Records the Incident Generated. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9 IX. Critique of the Disaster Recovery Plan. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10 I. Objective: This paper will be the basis of the action of on-board ship personnel during the pre-determination, during incidents and post incident stage of an emergency defined by the scope. II. Scope: This emergency manual shall cover events that would involve explosion of unknown origin and cause. III. Responsibilities: The Captain: at all times during the emergency shall remain on the bridge as the center for communications and coordination. He shall also be the main spoke person and source of all information including orders with regards to movement of personnel. The captain shall likewise be responsible for moving the ship in coordination with the local authorities or upon his determination of the danger to the immediate vicinity’s population and structure. The First Officer: shall proceed to the immediate vicinity of the explosion. To assess and investigate the explosion within the ship together with the security officer and Medical officer with filter masks and oxygen on hand. He shall likewise be responsible for the onsite coordination of external agents like the local authorities and other emergency personnel. The Medical Officer shall conduct a triage of the victims with triage cards in preparation for the arrival of rescue teams. He shall ensure that the medical response team is well appraise of the situation and is prepared to handle the situation. The Security Officer shall survey and conduct a quick investigation if other explosive devices are still present or could be present within the ship or if there is an imminent danger to rescuers or first responders to be in danger too because of secondary explosions. The Local Authorities (Police/Coast Guard) shall be the final authority that will decide if there are still residual danger, or threat. Imminent or otherwise. They shall provide recommendations on how best to proceed. They or their agents shall be the incident manager with the Captain of the shil and his men following their lead and instructions. Other ship personnel shall perform with fealty the lawful order of the captain as directed by the Local Authority’s lead incident manager. IV. Procedure: 1. At the instant that the Captain is aware of the situation he shall immediately station himself on the deck or at the center of communication of the ship. To coordinate all actions and implementations of all emergency protocol. 2. The Captain shall contact, inform and coordinate with the local port authority with regards to the incident and relay all available information about the situation 3. The Captain shall contact, inform and coordinate with the ships’s owner about the incident and relay all available information about the situation as they come to his attention. He should also give his recommendation with regards to information dissemination to other stakeholders 4. The Captain shall also order the Medical station to standby and prepare for the injured and to activate the Emergency Response Team with focus to smoke inhalation and blast injuries and other information that will protect the responders a. The Emergency Response Team shall organize and prepare to respond to smoke inhalation and blast injuries. 5. The Captain shall also order additional security personnel to be stationed at the port access ramp to control ingress and egress to limit the number of potential victims. 6. The Captain shall order the engine room to make the ship ready to depart in case there is a need to leave the dock to protect the immediate environment. a. The Captain shall also order for deck hands to prepare for anchors away 7. The Captain shall also order the First officer to proceed to the site with smoke and oxygen gear with the Medical Officer and Security Officer. a. Upon arriving at the scene i. The Medical Officer shall triage all visible victims in the area and give the most coherent victim to the First Officer. ii. The First Officer shall conduct an interview to find out what happened and the extent of the damage iii. The Security Officer shall survey and conduct a quick investigation if other explosive devices are still present or could be present within the ship or if there is an imminent danger to rescuers or first responders to be in danger too because of secondary explosions. iv. The Security Officer shall then determine if there is danger to the surrounding ships and environment that would necessitate for the ship to undock and leave to protect the immediate environment. b. Assessment and Analysis i. The Medical Officer shall inform the First Officer of the number of victims and the type of injuries of the victims ii. The Security Officer shall inform the First Officer of his assessment of the security situation and residual threat situation based on his initial findings iii. The First Officer shall relay the information to the Captain for proper disposition c. Remedial Actions i. The First Officer and the Security Officer shall help in the evacuation of remaining incapacitated personnel from ground zero ii. The Medical Officer shall apply first aid and resuscitation to victims until help arrive base on the triage card iii. The Medical Officer will then go to the Medical Station as soon as the first responders arrive. 8. The Captain shall relay the medical message to medical station a. The Medical stations shall prepare the station by clearing normal office clutter to prepare for patients b. The Medical stations shall advice and augment if need be the medical response team to prepare for the type of injuries they will be facing 9. The Captain shall likewise update the local authorities with regards to the situation 10. Escalation of emergency a. Explosion within the ship i. Procedures 1 to 9 b. Escalation of Explosion with fire spreading within the ship i. Procedures 1 to 9 ii. Contact, Inform and Coordinate with the local fire department iii. Activate the fire response team of the ship and direct them to the area and turn-over the command of the fire response team to the First Officer. iv. Evacuate all the other passengers and other non-essential personnel to the shore through the designated exit points or its alternative. v. Move the ship away from the dock or the shore to keep the fire from spreading in-land but at a distance where shore-based fire fighting equipment is still effective c. Explosion occurring outside the ship i. Move away the ship from the origin and cause of the explosion without hampering any rescue efforts and other response team. This will protect the ship from further attacks and will also prevent the presence of the ship in ground zero from impeding rescue efforts. ii. All extra hands not on duty at the time shall be activated to provide assistance to the emergency under the supervision and direction of the local response team iii. No on-duty personnel shall leave their post or station without the consent of the captain or the Captain to ensure that the ship is well protected from further attack. V. Normalization 1. All clear – shall officially be declared only by the local authorities. 2. Damage assessment and inventory – Before the start of any operation a damage assessment and inventory shall be conducted for the insurance investigators and other stakeholders. 3. Clearing Operation – Shall only commence when all of the above conditions are met. It will be conducted independently with the cooperation of the insurance company and the head office. VI. Disaster Recovery 1. Repair and reconditioning – After the Normalization Process shall the Repair and Reconditioning commence. 2. Testing – Under no circumstances that the ship will be allowed to sail without first testing the component that was damage or affected VII. Post Incident Review 1. Incident and Vulnerability analysis a. A full incident report shall be obtained from all the people present and absent from the scene of the incident b. The full findings of the local authority with regards to the investigation it conducted shall also be gathered. c. The full findings of the insurance company shall also be gathered for the incident review board. d. The review board sole purpose is to determine and uncover any vulnerability in the ship’s security and operation that lead to the explosion 2. Vulnerability Remediation a. Risk assessment will be conducted to cover the remediated vulnerability b. Change Management will document the changes 3. Incident Personnel Action Investigation a. Using the result of 1.a under this heading additional testimonial inquiry will be conducted to determine the reaction and response of personnel involved in the incident b. No administrative sanction will result from this investigation but its findings shall be available to the authorities c. The result of this investigation shall be the basis of any changes in this plan VIII. Records the Incident Generated Response time – as determined from the investigations as input during DRP testing Disaster Preparedness Equipment performance/failure – as determined from the investigation Critique of the Disaster Preparedness Plan The Disaster Preparedness Plan failed to indicate; what is the priority in case of a disaster that would guide any user and set the tone of his succeeding actions. A policy statement similar to: “Human life is more important than any procedure or protocol or even the ship itself”. The policy statement should also include the primary purpose of the document that is similar to: “The purpose of this plan is to ensure that number of victims of a disaster is equal to zero if not the nearest possible value to zero through a systematic approach in implementing procedures designed to save lives”. This will ensure that the choice of the user will always be for the greater good and that following the plan in detail will save lives. Perusing through the disaster response plan, the most noticeable areas of concern with regards to potency of the Disaster Preparedness Plan are its inflexibility when it comes to the assignment of responsibilities. This is highlighted by the fact that only the Captain is authorized to be the person responsible for the entire execution of the Disaster Preparedness Plan. But what if he is not around? It is recommended that instead of the Captain the Disaster Response Plan should read, the “Most Senior Officer in the ship (MSO)”, and instead of the First Officer it should read the “Next Senior Officer (NSO) in the ship”. Instead of the Medical Officer it should read the “Most Senior Medical Officer in the ship” and instead of the Security Officer the “Most Senior Security Officer in the ship”. The recommended changes will conform to the hierarchy command structure of any seafaring vessels. The disaster preparedness plan also lacked the constant vigilance mechanism that enables the organization to actively monitor for any sign of an impending disaster. To illustrate: The fire alarm is a passive-active device that automatically monitors any sign of an impending fire based on a certain criteria. The radar alarm is also an example of a device that monitors impending collision. The Disaster Response Plan did not indicate any device that would detect and monitor the exact location where an explosion can occur. It should be noted that Communication Device was not mentioned as well, and what will be done if in case it is not functional. The manner by which information shall be relayed to the bridge or to the Captain was not indicated in the Disaster Response Plan. Before going into the details of the procedures in the Disaster Response Plan another area of concern is the lack of crowd control which may impact the security of the cargo and other asset within the ship. Ingress and egress may have prevented threats coming from the outside but for threats originating from those allowed the perimeter of the ship. No solution was presented. However, normally it is the responsibility of the First officer to oversee the operational safety and security of the entire ship. During emergency situations this function should be delegated to the Ship’s Captain or the MSO utilizing the off-duty personnel. This will ensure that no more security incident will happen as a result or consequence of the disaster indicated. Moving to a safer location may compromise any evidence that will point to the perpetrators as indicated in 10.b.v. A command decision has to be made to determine the right course of action. The Disaster Response Plan in this instant may paralyze the user of the plan through indecision. The Disaster Response Plan should command and provide guidance on what to do and not provide any user with options that has the tendency to paralyze. In the same breadth what if moving the ship is not feasible? It is therefore recommended that the information and coordination shall also be extended to the captains of other ships for a concerted effort to ensure safety. Procedure 10.c.i may hamper the rescue efforts of any outside organization with limited capacity seeking to assist the ailing ship Procedure 10.c.ii that will direct all personnel under the supervision of the local emergency response team will encounter a problem if the local emergency team take time in arriving. Procedure 10.c.iii is in violation of the time honoured humanitarian tradition to assist those in peril at sea. It is recommended that as soon as the ship is determined secure all personnel willing and able to help be allowed to help. Read More