Planning for Chemical Spills

ABSTRACT During a spill and at the contingency planning phase, there are three main stages to consider in dealing with a chemical incident at sea: risk identification, risk assessment, and emergency response. The incident of the multitank Ascania is used in the paper to illustrate how this decision process works in a real spill using 24-hours-a-day, 7-days-a-week, 366-days-a-year response services. The role of software tools for providing rapid, reliable, and relevant information is discussed within the context of these tools being used by trained emergency responders. The paper then illustrates how scenario analysis and running marine chemical spill exercises can be used to plan for a response to chemical spills.