President Obama has called it "a massive and potentially unprecedented environmental disaster." Clean-up of the Deepwater Horizon oil spill will likely take years. More than 200,000 gallons of oil per day is flowing from three damaged sections of piping on the sea floor, 5,000 feet below the surface. Two weeks after the initial explosion, the spill is now the size of Delaware, and growing. Four states – Louisiana, Mississippi, Alabama, and Florida – are under threat from the spill.
Hundreds of thousands of feet of boom have been deployed to contain the spill, yet with more staged and ready to be deployed those already in place have been compromised by weather conditions. Engineers are working to inject dispersants at the oil’s source to minimize an oil plume on the surface. Other relief efforts, including drilling of a cut-off well, installation of a collection dome, and skimming on the surface are being hampered by the high winds and rough seas.
Federal response
The National Response Team (NRT), an organization of 16 federal departments and agencies responsible for coordinating emergency preparedness and response to oil and hazardous substance pollution incidents, has been activated and a coordinated group of federal partners, including the United States Coast Guard, Departments of Homeland Security, Commerce, Interior and the Environmental Protection Agency, is directing and overseeing the response of BP, the responsible party.
Training for clean-up crews
Volunteers are being recruited to assist in the clean-up efforts. Local fishermen with boats are being trained to serve as 'Vessels of Opportunity" to assist contractors in deploying boom. All clean-up workers must receive training as well as necessary protections from the hazards of this work. OSHA is consulting with BP, as well as federal agency partners, to ensure that workers receive appropriate training and protective equipment.
The hazards that oil spill response and cleanup workers face will depend on the jobs they are doing, how the work is being done, and where the worksite is located. Workers must receive -- at the minimum -- four hours of training on both the hazards at the site as well as any hazards involved with the manner in which the cleanup is carried out. BP is required to provide this training. Workers involved at the oil spill cleanup sites are covered by OSHA's Hazardous Waste Operations and Emergency Response (Hazwoper) standard, which requires that workers be provided protective equipment and special training by personnel who have received extensive training.
Oil Spill Response training
Oil Spill Response is a 5-part intensive course for clean-up personnel about oil spill safety. Created with the assistance of the US Coast Guard, the EPA and major clean-up contractors, it addresses OSHA’s Hazwoper requirements and is in use by the Coast Guard and some 500 other organizations worldwide. The course examines all recognized clean-up technologies, with emphasis on waste management techniques. This DVD-based course includes more than two hours of video as well as a Leader’s Guide that outlines a course of instruction. It was produced by Emergency Film Group, who has been creating training programs for emergency responders since 1984. For details, click here or call 800-842-0999.
