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Dave Salt, OSRL/EARL
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Andy Nicoll, OSRL/EARL
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Claudia Koh, OSRL/EARL
VIDEO INTERVIEW |
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Dave Salt, OSRL/EARL
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Andy Nicoll, OSRL/EARL
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Claudia Koh, OSRL/EARL
VIDEO INTERVIEW |
What is ITAC?
The Industry Technical Advisory Committee (ITAC) is a body drawn from the
response community of the oil industry, not-for-profit response organisations
and other bodies that have oil pollution response and preparedness as their
principal goals. ITAC acts as a focal point for these organisations on technical
issues and provides a forum for information exchange and opportunity for development
and convergence on common issues.
Key areas of interest include:
• Spill response techniques
• Technological developments
• Response capabilities
• Responder training
ITAC members undertake projects to provide advice, technical support, best
practice guidelines and benchmarking to ensure a consistent approach across
the spill response community.
The outcomes of ITAC projects are communicated through ITAC papers, which
are distributed to members and made publicly available on the ITAC website.
One such paper, 'Management of Volunteers in Spill Response' covered Planning,
Registration, Skills Assessment, Preparation and On site Management processes.
Volunteers can be an invaluable asset during a major spill response. Where
this resource is managed appropriately and integrated into the overall response
structure, their contribution is significant. Some of the identified contribution
areas are; wildlife rehabilitation, logistics, transportation, food preparation
and distribution, medical and personnel services. The paper also recommended
the appointment of a Volunteer Coordinator to work with the Response Command
team.
The paper is posted at the ITAC website www.industry-tac.org
ITAC website
www.industry-tac.org
The recently upgraded ITAC website is the primary means by which ITAC disseminates
project outcomes and technical documents to the wider spill response community.
The website also provides information on recent ITAC research activities,
forthcoming events and educational videos. In addition, the website has a
restricted section for ITAC members, where meeting documents, presentations
and materials for ongoing discussion and development can be accessed.
Meetings
Formal ITAC meetings are held twice a year and are usually hosted by response
organisations or linked to a major oil spill conference. ITAC works closely
with the IPIECA Oil Spill Working Group (OSWG) and the meetings are often
held consecutively to minimise travel requirements for those members attending
both. The October 2006 ITAC meeting, hosted by Clean Caribbean and Americas,
was extremely successful and significant progress has been made on many projects.
The first 2007 meeting will be held in March in Perth
Australia, immediately preceding SpillCon. To find out more about the ITAC
discussion held in Perth, click here.
Promoting Best Practice
ITAC has become an important forum for developing technical issues on spill
response. Current project work includes:
• Oil spill modelling - advice on best use/application
• Cold weather and ice conditions - review
of response options
• Vegetable oils - review of key response
issues
• Vessel dispersant application systems
- operational guidelines
• Telecommunications - briefing on hardware and inter-operability
• Dispersant effectiveness - guidelines
for response decision-making
• In-field dispersant testing - review
of current technology
• Management of volunteers - guidelines for response
organisations
• HNS-Petrochemicals - review of OSRO
strategies
• Dispersant stocks - strategic review
of global stockpiles
• Avian flu- operating guidelines for
wildlife response
For more enquiries, please contact: claudiakoh@osrlearl.com
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