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17.1
Legislation and areas of responsibility
17.1.1
The Civil Protection Act (2003) defines the different branches of
society’s rescue services and the responsibilities of each branch.
17.1.2
The Swedish Coast Guard has the responsibility for the maritime
environmental protection, which includes the response to oil and other harmful
substances in the territorial waters, the EEZ and in the larger lakes Vänern, Vättern
and Mälaren.
17.1.3
The fire brigade of the respective municipality is responsible for
response to oil and other harmful substances on beaches, in harbours and in
inland waters. The municipalities are supervised and supported by the Swedish
Rescue Services Agency.
17.1.4
The Civil Protection Act also states that for every response operation
there shall be a Response Commander. This person is given extraordinary rights
to take whatever measures may be necessary in order to save lives, property or
the environment.
17.2
Response at sea -
Requirements and strategy
17.2.1
The requirements from the Government to the Coast Guard are that:
·
measures to prevent the spreading of oil in an accident
should be started within four hours of receiving notification of the accident;
·
recovery operations should be started within eight
hours;
·
the Coast Guard should be capable of dealing with oil
spills of up to 10 000 tons using national resources;
·
response to chemical accident should be started within
four hours;
·
the Coast Guard should have sufficient capacity for
international cooperation.
17.2.2
The response strategy and priorities are:
·
as a first step, to stop the outflow of oil from the
vessel;
·
as a second step, to stop the spreading of oil on the
water surface;
·
as a third step, to recover the oil at sea before it
has reached the coastal zone, the archipelago and the beaches.
Organisation
17.2.3
The Swedish Coast Guard is organised into a headquarters and four
regional commands: North, East, South and West. There is also a separate flight
command.
17.2.4
The headquarters is responsible for long-term planning, overall capacity
and international co-operation (IMO, EU, HELCOM, the Bonn Agreement, the
Copenhagen Agreement and EPPR/Arctic Council). The headquarters always has an
officer on duty, for strategic decisions and for international co-operation.
17.2.5
Each of the four regions has a 24-hour command centre with officers on
duty and a Response Commander immediately reachable. Each region has at least
four units permanently at sea, of which one should be a specialised response
unit.
17.2.6
In an operation, the Response Commander has overall responsibility for
commanding for the entire response operation. The command at sea will be taken
by an On-Scene Commander (OSC) and if chemicals other than oil are involved
there will be an On Scene Commander/Emergency Responders (OSC/ER) appointed.
Resources
17.2.7
The Coast Guard has around 70 emergency responders, specially trained and
equipped for diving, response to chemicals and fire-fighting on board.
17.2.8
The Coast Guard also has a special agreement with six municipal fire
brigades along the coast in which each of the six brigades has agreed to assist
the Coast Guard in an accident at sea with a team of six firemen. These firemen
are specially trained for actions on board ships and for deployment from
helicopter together with light equipment. Such a helicopter deployment should as
soon as possible be assisted by a Coast Guard vessel with heavy equipment, such
as hoses, foam, cooling capability and everything needed for a protracted
operation.
17.2.9
The Coast Guard operates three surveillance aircrafts. For environmental
surveillance and support in an oil spill situation, the aircraft are equipped
with SLAR, IR/UV, FLIR, and camera equipment. They are also equipped with
sampling buoys, which can be dropped in an oil spill in order to obtain a sample
of the oil. The three aircraft have a total flying time of approximately 3500
hours per year (2004).
17.2.10
The main body of the resources for environmental response consists of
twelve environmental response vessels, all equipped with built-in or cassette
advancing systems (LORI/LAMOR). These vessels are also equipped with ordinary
skimmers, pumps and containment booms, and have a storage capacity of up to 400
m3. The storage capacity can be extended with the help of rubber
containers and barges.
17.2.11
For shallow water operations in the archipelago, there are twelve units
equipped with brusch-skimmers. These are designed for transportation by lorry or
by aircraft/helicopter.
17.2.12
For rapid containment of oil, the Coast Guard has fifteen sea-trailers,
each carrying 500 metres of booms, strategically allocated along the coastline.
These sea-trailers are designed for lorry transportation to an appropriate port
near the accident. The trailer can be launched into the water directly from the
lorry and can be towed to the site at a speed of up to 30 knots.
17.2.13
The Coast Guard has approximately 16 000 metres of “Rolund high sea
booms” and “Expandi” coastal booms”. The Coast Guard also has a number
of skimmers, containers, and transfer pumps. For backup and assistance in an
operation the Coast Guard has over thirty cutters and around sixty smaller
workboats.
17.2.14
For chemical accidents, most of the response vessels have special air
filters and an overpressure system which is used when operating in hazardous
atmospheres, thus allowing the crew to work inside the ship without carrying gas
masks etc.
17.3
Response on shore – Municipalities and Swedish Rescue Services Agency
The
local fire brigades of the municipalities are required to have a certain
capacity for beach cleaning and harbour spills. In the case of larger spills,
the Swedish Rescue Services Agency has allocated two larger equipment stores at
strategic locations. These stores support the local fire brigades with different
types of beach protection and cleaning devices, such as light booms, tarpaulins,
pumps, protective clothing, brushes and buckets.
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