Plan and run the quarterly marina fire and spill drill

What is going on

The quarterly marina fire and spill drill is due before the end of September. Dave Whakaari has set the scenario: a fire in the engine space of a visiting 16 metre cruiser at berth C14, close to the fuel wharf, with fuel in the water spreading toward the wharf. The visiting yacht at C14 has agreed to take part. The fuel wharf staff, the marina office and two boatyard workers are available. The last drill found that the spill boom took eleven minutes to deploy and that the muster point sign was hidden behind a trailer. The drill must test the alarm, the evacuation of the fuel wharf and nearby berths, extinguisher and hose reel use, boom deployment and the accounting for people at the muster point.

Your brief

Plan the drill from the Fleet and Marina Emergency Response Plan, brief the participants and observers, run the drill safely with the fuel wharf shut down, time each response, record the drill and its weaknesses in the Marine Incident and Hazard Register and write a debrief with improvement actions for the Marina and Boatyard Manager.

Work through it

You do not need to do it all. Doing a few of these will show you what the work is like. Your ticks and notes stay on this device.

• Read the marina fire and fuel spill section of the Fleet and Marina Emergency Response Plan and the Environmental and Pollution Prevention Policy and list every action the drill must test.
• Write the drill plan: scenario, timings, participants, observers with stopwatches, safety controls so that no real fuel or fire is involved, and the point at which the drill will be stopped.
• Complete a Job Safety Analysis for the drill covering the risk of a real incident, boom handling on the water and the visiting crew's involvement.
• Brief the participants and the visiting yacht's crew, confirm the fuel wharf is closed and the marina office will announce the drill on the public address system.
• Run the drill, recording the time to alarm, to fuel wharf shut-down, to evacuation of berths, to boom deployment across the fuel wharf entrance and to full muster count.
• Hold a debrief immediately afterwards and capture what worked, what did not, and any participant concerns.
• Record the drill in the Marine Incident and Hazard Register as a drill with the timings and the weaknesses found, and raise improvement actions with owners.
• Write the debrief report for Dave Whakaari and recommend changes to the plan, the equipment or the signage.

What someone in this role would produce

• Drill plan and Job Safety Analysis
• Timed drill record
• Register entry with weaknesses and actions
• Debrief report with recommendations