NEWS

ALL-IRELAND ACCREDITATION SCHEME STEERING GROUP SPRING 2012 MEETING

The next meeting of the ISAA All-Ireland Spill Response Organisation Steering Group will take place at 1030 am on 9 May 2012 at the HQ of the Irish Coastguard in Leeson Lane, Dublin.

The Agenda will be sent out shortly.  All stakeholders are invited to come to the meeting. As usual, for security reasons, all attendees are in advance requested to advise the Administrator of their intention to be at the meeting.

For more information go to the Meetings Page


FEBRUARY 2012 MEETING

The next meeting of the All-Ireland Accreditation Scheme Steering Group will take place on Wednesday 29th February 2012 at 10.30 am at the Hillsborough office of NIEA.  For more info see Meetings Page

ATG GROUP JOINS THE SCHEME AND GAINS ACCREDITED STATUS

November, 2011 - ISAA welcomes ATG Group as a new member. Following assessment the ATG Group has been awarded accreditations - Groundwater Level 3, On-land level 3 and Freshwater level 1.


ISAA TRAINING EVENT AT CORK, IRELAND (From ISCO Newsletter 31 October 2011)

Some 40 delegates from City and County Councils, Oil Spill Response Contractors and Fuel Oil Distributors attended the ISAA Training Event held at the National Maritime College at Ringaskiddy near Cork. The theme for the training was inland spill response.

Those attending the Desktop Exercise received an introduction to Inland Oil Spill Response Contingency Planning, participated in a lively discussion and received expert presentations on inland spill response. During the afternoon delegates were able to view response activities being undertaken by delegates participating in the “hands-on” practical course. The Desktop Exercise ended with an interactive session focused on the initial actions and considerations that need to be addressed by response managers during the critical initiation phase of response.

In the forenoon students participating in the Practical Course received classroom training on response to oil spills on inland surface waters, then an introduction to the equipment to be used in the afternoon exercise. This was followed by practical exercises on aspects of spill containment and recovery.



INTRODUCING ASSOCIATE MEMBERSHIP OF ISAA  (Posted on 21 March, 2011)

At recent meetings of the ISAA All-Ireland Accreditation Scheme Steering Group it was decided that a new class of Associate Membership of ISAA should be created. Currently, the membership of the Association includes all of the response contractors that hold Accredited Status.

In introducing ISAA Associate Membership, the aim of the Steering Group is to build on the relationship between the Association and stakeholders who support its aims and the work that it does in raising standards in spill response. For those stakeholders – the insurance community, councils, oil companies and fuel distributors, ports and harbours, manufacturers, public utilities and others who have an interest in ensuring that pollution events are dealt with in an efficient and cost-effective way – becoming an Associate Member will help us to advance programmes of training, seminars, and other activities in a way that will be of direct benefit in helping to protect our environment.

All Associate Members will enjoy special discounts on fees for staff participation in training courses, attending seminars and other events organised by the Association.

By arrangement with the International Spill Control Organisation you will be entitled to receive a free Newsletter that is focused on international, regional and national news, technical articles, legislation and other matters of interest to companies and organisations with an interest in oil and chemical spill control.

A Certificate of Associate Membership will be forwarded by post in the near future.

Please note that Associate Membership is not available to response contractors who do not currently hold ISAA accredited status. This is because non-accredited contractors are eligible for full Membership at no cost upon successful completion of the accreditation process carried out by the Accreditation Scheme Assessor.

COUNTY AND CITY COUNCILS

Associate Membership is free of charge for regulatory authorities and councils.

OTHER STAKEHOLDERS

Associate Membership will cost £ 200 / € 230 per annum. This can be treated as an allowable business expense for tax relief.

Associate Members will enjoy special discounts on advertising in the Handbook of Accredited Spill Response Organisations in Ireland, distributed as a free publication to the insurance community, councils, fuel distributors, ports and harbours, and other stakeholders.

Associate Members will enjoy special discounts on exhibition space at conferences and other ISAA events and will have opportunities to demonstrate spill response equipment and materials at these events.

ACTION REQUIRED

Just send an email to the ISAA Administrator at john.mcmurtrie@spillcontrol.org with the name of your nominated contact person, his/her email address, name of your company or organisation, mailing address and other contact details.

Commercial entities will receive an invoice.







SHORELINE TRAINING AND PRACTICAL EXERCISE AT LISBURN AND CARRICKFERGUS

Courtesy of MCA and NIEA a limited number of staff from ISAA Accredited SROs were able to join NIEA personnel in participating in a two day Shoreline Oil Spill Response Training Course at Lisburn (classroom training) and Carrickfergus (practical exercise). Feedback from those who attended was that the course was excellent and well worth attending.





ISAA CONFERENCE IN CORK

This event has been postponed and will now take place in September 2011. More information later.



 

ISAA TRAINING DAYS EVENT SUCCESSFULLY COMPLETED


 

DATES NOW SET FOR ISAA CONFERENCE IN CORK

The first International Oil Spill Conference and Exhibition to be held in Ireland will take place in the beautiful city of Cork on April 5th and 6th, 2011.

You can read more about this by scrolling down on this page to view the original news release on the conference and more information will be published on this page as it becomes available.

 HAZCHEM TRAINING FILM TO BE SCREENED AT FORTHCOMING ISAA TRAINING DAYS EVENT - HOW PERSONNEL DEAL WITH THE DANGERS OF UNKNOWN SUBSTANCES

"Hazardous Waste" is a DVD-based training video for clean-up personnel and emergency responders who may have to deal with unknown toxic materials during the course of their duties. The program describes:
• How to identify hazardous substances
• Factors to consider in planning a response
• Air monitoring procedures
• Maintaining a defensive approach.
• Resource CD-Rom with Powerpoints included in package.

The ISAA All-Ireland Accreditation Scheme 2010 training Days Event will be held at Castle Archdale Country Park, near Enniskillen, Northern Ireland on Wednesday 15th and Thursday 16th September, 2010. The final programme and booking form have been sent by email to stakeholders on the ISAA mailing list. If you are not on the ISAA mailing list and would like to receive more information about the event, please contact the Administrator at john.mcmurtrie@spillcontrol.org or visit http://www.isaa.org.uk/ireland/training.html
You can find more information about the film at http://www.efilmgroup.com/HazMat-Hazwoper/HazChem-Series-Video.html

The above was published in Issue 246 of the ISCO Newsletter 23 August 2010
 

 ISAA ALL-IRELAND SCHEME 2010 TRAINING DAYS EVENT
 

Castle Archdale Country Park, Nr Enniskillen, N. Ireland
Wednesday 15th & Thursday 16th September 2010

This year, Day One will be dedicated to the Inland Oil Spill Training Course which has now been expanded to include an Introduction to Shoreline Clean-up. The classroom part of the course will be in the forenoon with the practical exercises taking place in the afternoon.

The programme for Day Two is not yet quite finalised but the provisional programme is expected to include practical application of bioremediation techniques, the role of the loss adjustor in oil spill events, waste management in the context of oil spill response and best practice in managing land contamination.

This year accommodation is not included in the course fee but ISAA has negotiated a special rate for course delegates of £67 (approx. €82) per person for B&B at the Manor House Country Hotel, Killadeas, Co Fermanagh, Tel + 44 (0) 28 6862 2200 Fax + 44 (0) 28 6862 1545. Delegates should make their own bookings no later than 1st September, quoting block booking reference POLY150910

We have made a determined effort to contain costs and the overall cost of attending the complete event (including hotel) is virtually the same as in 2008. With the difficult economic climate, we are also offering the option for delegates to attend on one day only.

As before, the course dinner on Wednesday evening will be held during a cruise on the beautiful Lough Erne aboard the MV Lady of the Lake and the cost is unchanged at £30 (approx. €36) per delegate. Places are limited and early booking is advised. The after dinner speaker will be Captain Jack Richmond and I can promise that this will be a very enjoyable event.

The next meeting of the Steering Group will be held on the day before the start of the Training Days on Tuesday 14th September at 3 p.m. at NIEA in Lisburn. It is anticipated that most of those attending the meeting will travel on to Enniskillen after the meeting is concluded.

The number of places on the course is limited to about 30 and, in order to secure places, the booking form should be completed and sent in as soon as possible.

The detailed programme and booking form will be soon be posted in the Training Section of the website.

IRELAND: ISAA STEERING GROUP AND TRAINING DAYS DATES ANNOUNCED

The next meeting of the ISAA All-Ireland Scheme Steering Group will be at 1030 hrs on Tuesday 10th August 2010 at the Irish Coastguard HQ in Dublin. All interested stakeholders are invited to attend. The Meeting Agenda will be issued later this week.

The ISAA 2010 Training Days event will be held over the days Wednesday 15th September and Thursday 16th September at Castle Archdale Country Park, near Enniskillen. Details of the programme, booking form and other information will sent out soon.

IRELAND: INTERNATIONAL OIL SPILL RESPONSE CONFERENCE AND EXHIBITION TO BE HELD IN CORK

The first International Oil Spill Conference and Exhibition to be held in Ireland will take place in the beautiful city of Cork in early April, 2011. The three day event is being organised by the International Spill Accreditation Association at the National Maritime College of Ireland (NMCI), a 14,000m2 facility built on a 10 acre waterside campus. It was purpose built to serve the training requirements of the School of Nautical Studies, Cork Institute of Technology and the Irish Naval Service. At the ISAA meeting held earlier this month John Dawes, Chairman of the event organising committee, said “the college has one of the best conference facilities I have seen in the UK and Ireland”.

The main auditorium has seating for 130 and is fitted out with the very latest audio-visual and other facilities. There are several adjacent meeting rooms that will allow for side meetings. The very large and brightly lit glass-fronted foyer will be used as the exhibition area. The core facility has easy access to the harbour and inland waterway, both providing ideal facilities for live demonstrations of oil spill equipment.

More information about this forthcoming event will be released in later editions of the ISCO Newsletter. 

IRELAND: NEW HANDBOOK OF ISAA-ACCREDITED OIL SPILL RESPONSE CONTRACTORS IN NORTHERN IRELAND & THE REPUBLIC OF IRELAND

The International Spill Accreditation Association (ISAA) has just published a free 24 page handbook giving information about oil spill response organisations in Ireland that have gained accredited status under the “All Ireland Accreditation Scheme”.

The purpose of the accreditation scheme is to raise standards of performance within the oil spill response industry and thus give service users confidence that they will receive a high standard of professional and cost effective performance from contractors who have taken the trouble of seeking and achieving accredited status.

The accreditation assessment process involves a detailed assessment of candidates in regard to their conduct of operations and to their competency and preparedness in relation to different types of spill scenarios and capability levels at which accredited status is sought.

ISAA adopts a pro-active approach in helping responders to improve performance by providing advice, technical support and by organising training events and seminars.
Copies of the new handbook are being distributed to a broad spectrum of interested stakeholders, including government authorities, ports and harbours, insurance interests, fuel distributors and major handlers of petroleum products.

ISAA is working with governments and other parties to establish similar Accreditation Schemes in other countries. Interested government agencies and others can get more information through the ISCO Secretariat, from whom copies of the new handbook are also available. Contact info@spillcontrol.org 
 

ISAA TO ADOPT SHORELINE CLEAN-UP AS A SEPARATE ACCREDITATION DISCIPLINE

 

 In the picture: at the recent IMO TG8 meeting in London, left to right, ISAA Chairman, Dr Douglas Cormack, ISCO Secretary John McMurtrie and ISCO Member of Council for the UK, Kevin Miller.

The International Spill Accreditation Association (ISAA) is the world authority for accreditation of spill response organizations (SROs) and is dedicated to the raising of standards in spill response. As a not-for-profit NGO, ISAA sets international standards for spill response in all areas including inland and marine spills. ISAA accreditation is not only applicable to privately owned spill contractors but can also be used by governments and others for independently checking their own response capabilities. ISAA accreditation schemes in each participating country or region are controlled by ISAA in partnership with steering groups that include representatives of appropriate government departments and other relevant organizations.

ISAA also organises training courses and seminars to assist SROs in gaining required levels of competency in ISAA accreditation subjects. In order to gain and maintain accredited status SROs are regularly audited by independent experts.

Currently, accredited status may be awarded at one of three levels in spill response disciplines that include marine (including inshore, offshore and shoreline clean-up), freshwater, on-land, groundwater, and road/rail tanker spills. ISAA auditors examine every aspect of each candidate’s operations in accordance with a comprehensive accreditation matrix. It is now proposed to treat shoreline clean-up as a separate subject for accreditation purposes. This change has been prompted by experience during recent large scale beach cleaning situations where there have been problems in finding enough trained people to organise operations and supervise large numbers of volunteers and other unskilled labour. An effect of the change will be to help inland SROs to gain competency in managing beach cleaning work and generally to increase the availability of qualified personnel.

The Secretariat of the International Spill Control Organisation (ISCO) provides administrative support to ISAA and, at the recent IMO OPRC-HNS TG8 meeting in London, ISCO has undertaken to submit a paper on Accreditation in the context of shoreline clean-up operations in response to marine spills. 
 

MARCH 2009 MEETING OF STEERING GROUP
 

This meeting will be held at Clarence Court, 10-18 Adelaide Street, Belfast on 25 March at 1030. Unfortunately no parking is available on site but there are public car parks within easy reach. Clarence Court is close to Great Victoria Street Railway Station (approx 5 minute walk) or a 15 minute walk from Central Station. A list of names of individuals attending will be required prior to the meeting. NIEA will provide morning coffee and a sandwich lunch for those attending the meeting. If you intend to come to the meeting, please advise by email to john.mcmurtrie@spillcontrol.org

IRELAND: ISAA OIL SPILL TRAINING DAYS “A HIGHLY SUCCESSFUL EVENT”
 

Last Thursday and Friday more than 30 delegates from spill response organizations from Northern Ireland and the Republic of Ireland joined together for the International Spill Accreditation Association two day event held at Castle Archdale near Eniskillen in Northern Ireland.

IRELAND: ISAA ALL-IRELAND ACCREDITATION SCHEME 2008 TRAINING EVENT
 

Following the July 30, 2008 meeting of the Steering Group of the International Spill Accreditation Association (ISAA) All-Ireland Accreditation Scheme, it can be announced that the 2008 Training Event will take place over September 25-26 at Castle Archdale, near Eniskillen, Northern Ireland. The focus of the intensive two-day training course will be on response to inland oil spills – on land spills, including groundwater pollution, and spills in streams, rivers and lakes. Theoretical training will be complemented by practical exercises with participants working in small teams. The Training Event is open to attendees from participating response companies, staff from regulatory authorities, local councils and other stakeholders. Booking forms and full details of the programme are available on application to john.mcmurtrie@spillcontrol.org The number of places on the course is limited and intending participants are strongly advised to submit applications as soon as possible.

ISAA All-Ireland Oil Spill Response Organisation (OSRO) Accreditation Scheme

Learn about the Scheme’s objectives and how it works

What we’re doing in Ireland

The All-Ireland Scheme Steering Group is determined to raise response standards and is actively addressing -

· Upgrading standards of training and response personnel competency
· “How clean is clean?” – development and adoption of spill clean-up standards
· Review of OSRO insurance cover requirements
· Improving spill response administration and provision of information to clients
· Upgrading of response call-out and stand-by arrangements
· Upgrading of the ISAA web site and a new database of services provided by members
· Creation of a members forum and access to technical support for response capacity development
· Extension of the Scheme to address chemical incident response competency

Enhanced standards will be embodied within the All-Ireland Scheme Rules and Protocols. This means that, in addition to accreditation under the International ISAA matrix, members in Ireland will be signing up to providing clients with even higher levels of professional service.

Spill Response Seminar and Workshop

A Spill Response Seminar and Workshop will be organised in Ireland later this year with participation of regulators, members and other interested organizations. Non-members will be welcome to join in.

Watch this page for further news updates

We’ll be keeping you up-to-date on Scheme improvements as they are implemented.