Venue: Barcelo Stirling Highland Hotel, Spittal Street, Stirling FK8 1DU

Cost: Complimentary

Organised by BAFSA, Central Scotland Fire and Rescue Service and The Institution of Fire Engineers.

The Seminar will be followed by a site visit of the Fire Precautions and Water Mist Systems at Stirling Castle.

Click here please

Our Scottish President, Jim Bennett,  ’Chaired’ and presented a paper at a New Delhi Conference on Emeregency Planning in Industries including HWM and Transportation of Petroleum, Petroleum Products, Natural gas by Pipelines and POL Tankers.

The conference  provided a platform for exchange of information and technical know-how to the entire Indian chemical industry including petroleum, petroleum products & natural gas industry. This will also help to reduce, through better emergency planning, the menace of on-site incidents and accidents associated with the handling, storage, warehousing and transportation of chemicals/petrochemicals leading to off-site emergencies.

Two areas of particular interest to Scotland were:

The Jaipur Terminal Fire - incident investigation report The Chief Factory Inspector Mr JB Verma gave a colourful update on his team’s ‘findings.’

The Bhopal Tragedy with 15,000 deaths?? –  The Supreme Court Re-opened the Bhopal Tragedy Case last week with a proposed charge of  Culpable Homicide.

Dr Bipin Verma, who was a first responder to the Tragedy, gave a medical update on the aftermath and the affect on the local communities.

 Eleven lives were lost in this incident and the MODU subsequently sank.

The well has not yet been secured, and the resulting release of oil has been declared a spill of US national significance with oil threatening sensitive coastlines and resources in the Gulf of Mexico. This  has having a Global Impact on offshore drilling well control.

Gulf of Mexico Emergency Response:

Please click here for current information…

Department of Interior Report - click here increased safety measures 27.10.10

What Went Wrong?:

At the time of the accident, the Deepwater Horizon was operating 52 miles from shore in 4,992 feet of water with a subsea Blow Out Prevention (BOP) stack. After the Deepwater Horizon sank, Remote Operating Vehicle’s confirmed that the riser was bent over and still attached to the BOP and that oil is flowing from leaks in the riser above the BOP. Numerous attempts to actuate the BOP have failed.

Corrective actions and Recommendations:

While the exact causes of this event are now under investigation, the tragic nature of this accident compels operators and drilling contractors to inspect their drilling equipment and review their procedures to ensure the safety of personnel and protection of the environment.

Within the Scottish Oil and Gas Sector the Health and Safety Executive Offshore Safety Division should be contaced for futher advice (click here for guidance overview)

Details of the meetings can be found on The SFRAU section of the Government website by clicking here.

It should be noted that we are also consultative members of the Chief Fire Officer’s Association, Scotland Practitioners’ Policy Forum.

Further details may be obtained by contacting the Branch Secretary.

Details of the Scottish Fire and Rescue Service Circulars/Dear Chief Officer’s Letters can be found by clicking here.

The Association of Brirish Insurers have issued a paper entitled “Tackling Fire: a call for Action” – for details of their proposals please click here.

Lessons Learned from the Scottish Fire Safety Legislation Implementation: next STEPS?

What has worked well?

What can we do better?

Next STEPS?

Brian Fraser, Head of the Scottish Fire and Rescue Advisory Unit (SFRAU), will introduce the topic.

Date: 14^th May 2010

Time: 1300hrs, buffet lunch at 1230hrs

Venue: Tayside Fire and Rescue Service Training and Development Centre, 401 High Street (Long Causeway), Perth, PH1 1PL, Tel – 01738 622226

Please advise secretary@ife-scotland.org.uk if you are attending. Visitors are also most welcome to the next STEPS discussion.

SIFE AGM MinutesRev1 – May 2010

Draft Fire Risk Assessment Document

Geoffrey Podger and Judith Hackitt of the Health and Safety Executive have issued guidance to clarify how the Fire and Rescue Service should comply with the UK Health and Safety at Work duties within their operational work. Please click here for the full statement and guidance.

Summary

The guidance may be summarised as follows:

• The 8 Scottish Fire Authorities/Fire and Rescue Services have a ‘duty of care’ towards their firefighters whilst at work.
• Fire and Rescue Activites are fast moving, at times very hazardous and emotionally charged.
• A balance need to be managed between meeting statutory Health and Safety regulatory requirements whilst providing an effective emergency service to our communities.
• It’s effectively a test of  ’appropriateness’ - “doing the right thing at the right time”.
• The “quantum of risk” is subjective and ultimately will be defined by ‘case law’ – the test will include “Would another competent Fire Commander do the same thing given similar circumstances? The guidance details the principles to be considered.

Improvements include a better national coordination of the CA’s priorities, improving performance monitoring against existing, and emerging new priorities, and ensuring that the CA continues to focus on the right issues.

The Competent Authority comprises three organisations: the Health Safety Executive (HSE), the Environment Agency (EA – for England and Wales) and the Scottish Environmental Protection Agency (SEPA). These three organisations are responsible for the enforcement of the Control of Major Accident Hazards (COMAH) Regulations.

The Competent Authority Strategic Management Group (CASMG) will meet quarterly, setting a strategic direction and plan of work for the CA s a whole. It will be responsible for reporting back publicly on progress both in the UK and to the European Union.

For more information – click here 

In Scotland we are reviewing our regulatory environment as described in the “Interpretation and Legislative Reform (Scotland) Bill: Consultation Paper” 
The principle is to facilitate moving from an ‘enforcement model to and enabling environment’. – Please forward comments to the Branch Secretary.