FOUR of the country’s most important State entities — Petrojam, Office of Disaster Preparedness and Emergency Management (ODPEM), Jamaica Fire Brigade (JFB), and Jamaica Defence Force (JDF) — staged an oil spill drill last week to improve the island’s readiness in the event of an occurrence.

The simulation tested the country’s capacity to examine safety protocols, ensure appropriate notifications, and guarantee prompt response.

Spanning activities on land, including the activation of ODPEM’s National Emergency Operations Centre in New Kingston, the three-day drill, that ran from January 20-22, required the deployment of response equipment and personnel to effectively respond to a simulated oil spill in Kingston Harbour.

The participants were in a virtual race against time to prevent pollution that originated from crude oil escaping the hull of a vessel. On land, the scenario involved cleaning up of an oil spill from a truck that had overturned along the Palisadoes road while transporting the recovered oil.

Real world depictions of emergency management teams collaborating and coordinating their simulated responses added to the visual illustrations of how such an event would play out.

“Knowing the critical importance of swift and capable response in the event of oil spills, our experienced team at Petrojam is always willing to support other State agencies with simulated training that will be beneficial to how they react in the event the real thing happens,” a news release from Petrojam quoted General Manager Telroy Morgan.

Petrojam said that ahead of the theatre of activities, it hosted the joint teams in a classroom presentation on safe oil spill clean-up, followed by on-sea training on how to deploy containment booms to reduce the possibility of spilled oil reaching shorelines and affecting marine life.

In welcoming Petrojam’s participation in the joint exercise, Lieutenant Stefon Reid of JDF noted, “This exercise bolstered our capabilities by integrating skills learned and seeing how best we can use our skills and knowledge to coordinate with other agencies to support response to oil spills.”

Meanwhile, Jamaica Fire Brigade Deputy Commissioner Kevin Haughton lauded Petrojam for playing a pivotal role in the simulation, and underscored the importance of enhancing inter-agency collaboration,

“The JFB highlights this exercise as a valuable opportunity to assess response protocols, identify areas for improvement, and strengthen overall emergency management strategies,” the release quotes Haughton.

At the end of the simulation, acting director general of ODPEM Richard Thompson reflected, “The exercise was an eye-opener that helped us to identify gaps and to devise ways to plug those gaps. We were able to devise new concepts that will make our response more robust, while making more participants aware of the national plan when it comes on to these types of disasters.”