7.

1 Hazardous Materials Management Plan and Disaster Management Plan (DMP)

The cargo proposed to be handled at Alvekodi is mostly non-hazardous in nature. However, to meet
any eventuality and to combat disasters from Harbor operations, a Disaster Management Plan (DMP)
is a pre-requisite. In order to manage potential hazards and disasters effectively and minimise
damage, an onsite emergency plan approach has been adopted and details are presented in this
Chapter.

7.1.1 Definition

A major emergency is one, which has the potential to cause serious injury or loss of life. It may have
caused extensive damage to property and serious disruption, both inside and outside the Harbor
premises, if not managed. It would require the assistance of outside emergency service agencies to
handle it effectively. Although, the emergency may be caused by a number of different factors, e.g.
system failure, human error, earthquake, vessel collision or sabotage, it will normally manifest itself in
the form of fire, explosion or material release.

Department Of Fisheries with complete liaison and co-ordination with outside agencies will work to
manage and minimize the effect of disaster / emergency. The major function of the plan is to
formulate a procedure for:
 Controlling accidental events with minimum damage to men, material and machine
 Rescuing victims and treating them suitably
 Identifying the persons affected
 Informing relatives of the casualties
 Providing authentic information to news media and others
 Preserving relevant records and equipment needed as evidence in any subsequent enquiry
 Rehabilitating the affected area.

The plan also delegates specific assignments to available manpower within or outside the Harbor
premises in exigencies with a view to avoid over-lapping of activities between various groups.

7.1.2 Scope

The aim of disaster management is concerned with preventing accidents through good design,
operation, maintenance and inspection. In this way, it is possible to reduce the risk of accidents, but it
may not be possible to fully eliminate them. Since absolute safety is not achievable, an essential part
of major hazard control must also include minimising the effects of a major accident.

An important element of mitigation is emergency planning i.e. recognising that accidents are possible,
identifying the types of accidents which may occur, assessing the consequences of such accidents
and deciding on the emergency procedures, both on-site and off-site, that would need to be
implemented in the event of specific type of emergency.

Emergency planning is just one aspect of safety and cannot be considered in isolation. In particular, it
is not a substitute for maintaining good standards within Harbor operations. Before starting to prepare
the plan, Harbor Management should ensure that the necessary basic standards and safety
precautions are administered.

Emergency plans are likely to be separate for on-site and off-site, but they must be consistent with
each other i.e. they must be related to the same assessed emergency conditions. The on-site plan is
called Disaster Management Plan (DMP) and the off-site plan is called Emergency Preparedness
Plan (EPP).

7.1.3 Objectives

The overall objectives of an emergency plan are:

 to have advance planning, for each possible emergency scenario, to combat and minimise
the adverse effect
 To know initial actions to be taken like warnings, evacuation of surrounding personnel, etc.
 to rescue, provide relief and assist affected people
  to localise the emergency and, if possible, eliminate it; and
 To minimise the overall and long term effects of the accident on people and property.

Elimination of hazards will require prompt action by operators and emergency staff using firefighting
equipment, Emergency Shut Down Systems and water sprays. Minimising the effects will include
rescue, first-aid, evacuation, rehabilitation and giving information promptly to people living nearby.

7.1.3.1 Identification of Hazards

This stage is crucial for both on-site and off-site emergency planning and requires to systematically
identifying the potential emergencies at the port. These could range from small events, which can be
dealt with by Harbor personnel without outside help to the largest event conceived in the Harbor to
have a plan. Experience has shown that for every occasion that the full potential of an accident is
realised, there are many occasions when some less severe event occurs or when a developing
incident is mitigated before reaching full potential.

Most major accidents of the Harbor fall within one of the following categories:
 Impact of harbour bound MFV’s operations on the surrounding marine structures.
 Grounding of Harbour bound vessels
 Collision of MFV’s
 Fire or explosion.

7.1.3.2 Assessment of Hazards

The assessment of potential incidents should include:

 the worst events considered
 likely other failure cases
 the relative likelihood of occurrence of events and
 The consequences of each event.

7.1.4 Hazardous Materials Management

There are no Hazardous Cargo Handled in this fishing Harbour

7.1.4.1 Screening of the Materials

This is the first step in the hazardous materials management program. The screening will involve
formulating hazardous materials table, which include substance code, threshold quantity, class,
description, etc. to produce a summary with the following information:
 Material quantities (Daily/Weekly/Monthly)
 Characteristics
 Hazard level (low to high)
 Threshold quantity.

7.1.4.2 Hazardous Materials Management Program

The hazardous materials management program is a comprehensive system that sets out written
policies and procedures to implement the program, assigns responsibilities for implementing the
program and provides training, monitoring, recording and performance of the system. Also, it provides
a system for periodic evaluation such as compliance audits in meeting the objective of the program.

The components of the program are:

 Management actions
 Preventive measures
 Emergency Preparedness and Response Plan.

7.1.5 Formulation of DMP

7.1.5.1 Formulation of DMP and Emergency Services

The assessment of the risks and hazards lead either to improvements being made at the installation
in the form, for example, of additional safeguards or better procedures, or the decision being taken
that the risk is sufficiently small to be accepted.

The DMP must be related to the final assessment and it is the responsibility of the Harbor
Management to formulate it. The plan will be a comprehensive document including the following
elements:
 Assessment of the magnitude and nature of the events foreseen and the probability of their
occurrence
 Formulation of the plan and liaison with outside authorities, including the emergency services
 Procedures for
 Raising the alarm
 Communication both within and outside the Harbour
 Appointment of key personnel and their duties and responsibilities (organisational structure)
 Harbour incident controller
 Harbour main controller
 Emergency Control Centre
 Action on site
 Action off site.

The plan would set out the way in which designated people at the site of the incident can initiate
supplementary action. An essential element of the plan would be the provision for attempting to make
safe the affected unit, for example by shutting it down. On a complex site, the plan would contain the
full sequence of key personnel to be called in from other sections or from off-site. The elements
described above, forming part of Disaster Management Plan, have been explained in detail in the
following paragraphs.

7.1.5.2 Organization Structure

The first few minutes after the incident / accident are invariably the most critical period in prevention of
escalation. Therefore, the personnel available at or near the incident site (and often responsible for or
carrying out that particular activity) on round the clock basis play a vital role in an emergency. This
concept is made use of in nominating the Key Persons.

In each hazardous location, it is necessary to nominate a functionary as the "Incident Controller" who
is invariably the In-charge of cargo operations at the Harbor. The Incident Controller tackling the
emergency in real-time requires support from various other services e.g. fire and safety, medical
services, security, engineering, administration, technical services covering communication, transport
and personnel functions, etc. A Key Person for each one of these services, therefore, should be
nominated.

Finally, there can be only one top person in a hierarchy. He is the "Site Main Controller" (SMC). In
the present case, the SMC will be the In-Charge of the Harbor. Various controllers on the one hand
co-ordinate with the SMC in their respective functions and they co-ordinate at the same time with the
functional Key Persons at the incident site. This is the basic concept of nominating Key Persons and
corresponding Controllers. The Key Persons will generally be at the site of incident and the
Controllers will report at the Emergency Control Centre (ECC).

The duties and responsibilities of various Key Persons and Controllers will be written down ensuring
no grey areas or overlapping responsibilities.

Various Controllers will be drawn from the organisation and clear-cut responsibilities will be spelt out
for the following controllers:
 Operation Controller
 Maintenance Controller
 Fire and Safety Controller
 Communication Controller
 Environment Controller.

Succession Chart (Second-Line Controller)

It is a good practice to develop a succession chart. Succession chart will be developed as above
nominating a second-line controller who would act as controller in the absence of any of the above
officials.

7.1.5.3 Roles and Responsibilities of Emergency Team

Site Incident Controller

A. Establish Emergency Control Centre and inform SMC

B. Ensure availability of Controllers / Team Members

C. Priority decisions for:

 Strategy for development of resources for fire fighting / rescue
 Fish catch details & receipts

D. Periodic Assessment of
 Actual disaster zone
 Resource deployment (own / external)

E. Periodic Status report of SMC

F. Seek help for:

 fire-fighting
 medical aid
 rescue
 transport
 traffic arrangement
 law and order

G. Inform the following authorities at Uttara Kannada about the incident:

 District Collector
 Superintendent of Police
 District Environmental Engineer
 District Health Officer
 Inspector of Factories

H. Establish contacts with the following, through Controllers:

 Superintendents of nearby hospitals
 Chief Fire Officer of nearby fire services
 Insurance Company
 Establish First Aid Centre through Manager-Medical
 Establish Information Centres.

7.1.5.4 Communication

An essential component of any emergency preparedness programme is the communication links for
gathering information needed for overall co-ordination e.g. emergency control centre with in-house as
well as outside emergency services. Too much reliance on the telephone system is risky as it can be
overloaded in an emergency situation. Radio links, pager system, mobile handsets are recommended
for higher reliability.

The description of the tasks and responsibilities, reporting place, etc. for each key functionary will be,
as far as possible, so drafted as to reduce the communication needs between the interacting groups
and permit good mutual understanding and well-coordinated independent actions to tackle emergency
situations.
Harbour offices / operational areas will be provided with modern telecommunication system consisting
of telephone, telefax, e-mail, etc. EDI will be available for online data exchange with ships and
shipping agents.

7.1.5.5 Emergency Control Centre

The Emergency Control Centre (ECC) will be established and will be equipped with the following:
 An adequate number of external telephones. If possible, one should accept outgoing calls
only, in order to bypass jammed switchboards during an emergency.
 An adequate number of internal telephones.
 Radio equipment / pager system.
 A layout plan of the Harbour showing:
 Location of possible spillage / fire points
 Sources of safety equipment
 The other fire-fighting system elements.
 A nominal roll of employees at the Harbour
 A list of KEY PERSONNEL with addresses, telephone numbers, etc.
 An adequate number of personnel protective / safety equipment available on-site / backup in
warehouse or with other member groups of mutual aid programme.
 Locations of various fire fighting arrangements at the terminal.

7.1.5.6 Alarm Systems

The emergency (due to fires or spillage) would be initiated by the first person noticing it by activating
the fire alarm from the nearest call-point or by contacting the fire control room immediately on the
internal telephone if an emergency has occurred at the berths or on the ship.

If in the opinion of the Harbor In-Charge in consultation with the Fire Safety Officer (both at the ship
and the Harbour), the severity of the emergency is such that it can primarily be coped with Harbor’s
own resources (aided by fire-fighting appliances from the fire brigade, if required), but which would
require assistance from the civic authorities to marshal and control movements, the siren code for
ONSITE CRISIS will be sounded through the hooter.

The siren codes for distinguishing between an ONSITE and OFFSITE CRISIS will be clearly
established. Further, separate siren codes will be laid down for various hazardous locations, which
will be of immense help for guiding personnel safely in an ONSITE crisis.

In the present case, siren codes would be different for the emergencies occurring at berths and
vessel. A coded siren will be developed for indication of incidents at any of the above incident sites.

The onsite / offsite siren codes would be informed to the neighbouring population of the Harbour.

7.1.5.7 Mutual Aid Scheme

Assistance in terms of equipment and manpower will be taken under a Mutual Aid Scheme from the
industries located in nearby areas. The arrangements for requesting of services of agencies such as
Coast Guard, Navy, Air force of Government of India and Department of Fisheries of Government of
Karnataka will be defined.

7.1.5.8 Assembly Points

Shifting or evacuating facility personnel during an on-site crisis will be done to a pre-determined
assembly point in a safe part of the facility / installation. The assembly point will be identified at safe
locations.

7.1.5.9 Onsite Emergency Plan and Rehearsals

Once the emergency programme is finalised, it would be made known to all personnel so that each
one knows his or her role in the event of an emergency. The plan will be regularly tested through
rehearsals at a regular frequency.
7.1.5.10 Emergency Plan for the Terminal and Vessel

7.1.5.10.1 Terminal Emergency Plan

This plan will be drawn up in consultation with Fire Brigade, Coast Guard, Police, etc. The plan will
include:
 Stopping of unloading operation immediately at the terminal.
 Specific initial action to be taken by those at the location of emergency (to notify time,
position, source and cause of spill) to control room and to Department of Fisheries, Coast
Guard, Indian Navy, etc.
 Immediate action to combat pollution
 Evaluation of situation by on-scene controller regarding threat posed by spill and identify
threatened resources
 Co-ordinated arrangement for quick and safe release of tanker in case of an emergency
 Details of communication system available and siren code
 An inventory, including location details of emergency equipment
 Sound alarm-terminal fire-fighting staff to fight fire
 Un-berth vessel to depart
 Electric power to switch off and emergency lighting to switch on.

The ships calling at the terminal will be advised of the terminal's emergency plan particularly the alarm
signals and procedures to summon assistance in the event of an emergency on board.

7.1.5.10.2 Vessel Emergency Plan

Planning and preparations are essential if personnel are to deal effectively with emergencies on board
a vessel. Though various types of emergencies can occur on the ship, only fire on the vessel at the
terminal is of major concern in the present context. The immediate action to be taken by the master
of the vessel will include:
 Raise the alarm (also sound the terminal fire alarm to support ship's efforts to control fire) and
commence shutting down any discharging, bunkering or de-ballasting operations which may
be taking place.
 Fight the fire from Tug with fire-fighting equipment
 Locate and assess the incident and assess possible dangers.
 Organise manpower and equipment for quick control of the incident
 Co-ordinate arrangements for quick and safe release of the vessel
 Mobilise Harbour tugs and launches and keep pilots and mooring staff and standby to remove
vessel from the terminal, if required.

7.1.5.11 Disaster Management Plan for Cyclones

Department Of Fisheries will develop a customised DMP to cope during disasters from natural
calamities such as rough weather conditions, cyclones, etc. Proper planning can reduce the potential
damage from disasters in terms of losses to human lives, plant / Harbor assets, and environmental
damage and rehabilitation costs. The DMP for Cyclones will be prepared by Department Of Fisheries
in consultation with the Department of Fisheries, Government of Karnataka.
The rough weather operations will be controlled in three stages:
 Green Status – The operations of loading / unloading will be carried out as planned.
 Yellow Status – This is an alert stage indicating possibility of rough weather. Still operations
can be continued with all emergency precautions
 Red Status – Emergency situations or rough weather; operation will be suspended. Activities
controlled by in-charge of emergency operations. The vessel / tanker are to be moved to safe
anchorage or will be advised to proceed to sea.

The main components of the DMP for cyclones will include the following:
 Pre-Disaster (or Pre-Cyclone) Plan
 On (or During Cyclone) Disaster Plan
 Post (or After Cyclone) Disaster Plan.
7.1.5.11.1 Pre-Cyclone Plan

Pre-Cyclone Measures

The Alvekodi Thinganagundi Fishing Harbour will maintain and exchange information continuously
with the local IMD authorities at Uttara Kannada for continuous updates of meteorological conditions,
in general, and emerging / predicted weather phenomenon such as cyclones, in particular. Upon
issue of a cyclone warning by the IMD, the Alvekodi Thinganagundi Fishing Harbour would
immediately initiate the Pre-Cyclone Measures. The Department of Fisheries and District Collector of
Uttara Kannada would be informed of the imminent cyclone. All Alvekodi Thinganagundi Fishing
Harbor officials dealing with operations and disaster management will be informed.

Pre-Cyclone Exercise

On signaling of a cyclone alert, the Control Room will be manned 24 hours a day for disaster
management. The ‘Weather Signals’ depending on the data available about the cyclone and it’s threat
perception will be informed to all personnel. The cargo handling operations will be regulated as per
the rough-weather classification and will be continued with all emergency precautions. The different
personnel of Alvekodi Thinganagundi Fishing Harbour would assume their roles and responsibilities,
as previously identified, for disaster management. The standby arrangement for power supply will be
checked. Pre-identified ‘Rescue Centers’ will be kept in readiness. A pre-alert will be issued
regarding suspension of all operations in case of emergency and to await instructions regarding the
same. All Harbor Crafts, Tugs and Ships will be fully secured inside the harbor area. Booms of
mobile cranes will be lowered. Communication system including standby arrangement will be tested
for working condition. Vehicles involved in rescue operations will be checked for working condition.
Harbor Crafts, Tugs to be engaged in rescue will be kept in readiness. The safety of cargo in the
Harbor area will be ensured.

7.1.5.11.2 During Cyclone Plan

The emergency alarm siren will be raised as per the ‘Alarm System’. All personnel will be evacuated
except essential operational personnel and personnel dealing with disaster management. The cargo
handling operations will be suspended. The vessel will be moved to safe anchorage or will be advised
to proceed to sea. The stored cargo will be protected and secured. Power supply will be disconnected
and alternative power supply will be restored in essential operational areas. Harbor Crafts and Tugs
will continue to be in readiness for rescue.

7.1.5.11.3 Post Cyclone Plan

This would be the rescue and rehabilitation stage after passing of the cyclone. The damages would
be assessed and rehabilitation work initiated to restore Harbor operations at the earliest. The records
of the events during the cyclone will be maintained and reviewed for possible enhancements to the
DMP.

7.1.5.12 Breaking of Moorings

 Supervisor / unloading operator to sound alarm

 Secure vessel again
 Monsoon vessel surging – un-berth vessel
 Ship staff to be notified on arrival, of mooring instructions, wind / waves, tidal range, strong
currents, etc.

7.1.5.13 Oil Spills

The oil spillage due from MLV’s is only accidental and very rare. This is contained using absorbent
material.

7.1.5.14 District Level Emergency Committee

The District Level Emergency Committee is set up for major off-site emergencies. This committee
would comprise of the following members:
 District Collector, Uttara Kannada - Chairman
 Regional Transport Authority, Uttara Kannada - Member
 District Medical Superintendent, Uttara Kannada- Member
 Inspector of Factories, Uttara Kannada- - Member
 Inspector of Police, Bhatkal - Member
 Fire Officer, Bhatkal - Member
 Officer In-Charge, Alvekodi Fish Landing Center Member

7.1.5.15 Community Involvement and Awareness

The nearest settlements to Alvekodi Thinganagundi Fishing Harbour are Alvekodi & Thinganagundi
village and it is necessary to appraise the local communities about the activities involved in the
development and operation of the project. The following information would be listed in the project site:
 Providing general information on the nature and extent of off-site affects in the event of
unforeseen circumstances.
 Details of the safety measures to be adopted in tackling the hazards in the event of any
disaster.
 Involving the community members and developing awareness in them regarding emergency
preparedness and disaster management.
 Record keeping.

7.1.6 Details of Proposed Safety System

In the planning and design of the Harbor facilities, high importance is given to the safety and
environmental aspects. For the present project, a number of environmental pollution / risk reducing
measures have been introduced. They are:
 Safe and efficient cargo handling equipment
 Standard operational procedures
 Apart from the above, the following additional safety actions / measures are recommended:
 Preparation of detailed operational procedures including instructions for emergency situations
 Preparation of standard working procedures in connection with repair and maintenance.
 Minimize the number / duration of personnel at the berths during unloading operations.

7.1.7 Recommendations for the Implementation of the Off-site Emergency Plan

 The emergency control centre will be the focal point to co-ordinate emergency activities. The
emergency control centre would be equipped with an adequate number of equipment
mentioned under heading 'Emergency Control Centre’.
 Succession or second-line controllers would be named for assuming responsibilities in case
disaster occurs in absence of principal co-ordinators.
 Department Of Fisheries would make arrangement for coded siren system or through some
other suitable means to alert people in surrounding areas in case of off-site crisis.
 A summarised version of action procedures detailing the "Role of Essential Staff in Major
Emergency" would be issued in a flip chart like booklet form to all concerned persons (officers
and supervisors) at the berths and also to senior officers of the civic administration.

7.1.8 Conclusion

The Hazardous Materials Management Plan and Disaster Management Plan is prepared in
conjunction with and taking into consideration all technical reviews and suggestions as per acceptable
norms and hence, will meet with any eventuality.