Development of an Oil Spill Incident Action Plan for the Hawaii Area Contingency Plan

Abstract

Lessons learned from oil spill incidents, such as the M/V COSCO BUSAN response in 2007 indicate the importance of developing and maintaining area-specific contingency plans, as well as supporting documents such as pre-generated Incident Action Plans (IAPs). The IAP is the integral document produced through the Incident Command System (ICS), and provides the operational plans required to execute an oil spill response. Development of these tools foster partnership and readiness while addressing key stakeholder concerns. Coordinating with the Hawaii oil spill response community, I developed a sample IAP based on past responses and the Hawaii Area Contingency Plan. This IAP highlights the importance of stakeholder collaboration and demonstrates how Area Committees can develop tools and plans based on Best Management Practices to facilitate effective responses to oil spills within their local area.