Emergency at the Ports of Auckland

In June, a forklift carrying an intermediate bulk container (IBC) of a toxic flammable liquid crashed into a barrier, accidently knocking a person to the ground and spilling an unknown amount in the process. Three staff members were injured as a result - two with head wounds and another mildly injured after knocking his head.

Fortunately for the victims and the surrounding environment, the emergency was a realistic scenario, rather than a real event, staged to test the team on their first aid and spill response.
The scenario was organised and run by Quality Environmental Consulting Ltd (QEC). QEC recently offered one lucky company to be the winner of a hazardous substance team training exercise, and Ports of Auckland won.

First aiders were called to the incident to attend to the ‘victims’ and other staff members on hand were asked to manage the chemical spill.

"The focus on injured staff was good, making sure everyone was okay," reported environmental health and safety officer, Gillian Somerville.

"It was a really good test of our spill kit and the bunding," said Phil Eades, a participant and a manager of the engineering department at Ports of Auckland. The consultants and team members had plenty of good ideas to improve the response even further following the debrief, including Phil’s suggestion to "yell more".

There are a number of benefits to running emergency scenarios like this one. Firstly and most importantly, staff are better prepared to respond to a real life event, reducing the likelihood of a serious outcome to people and/or the environment. A scenario can also provide a boost to staff morale and confidence in workmates – even if the scenario goes badly, constructive feedback can really help focus the team on issues and get traction for addressing specific issues.

This scenario was designed to test the engineering teams’ response to an unusual event. To affect this, QEC placed hazardous pictograms on the ‘chemical’ container. The liquid in the container was in no way harmful to people or the environment.

Bridget Derham is a consultant at QEC, specialists in emergency scenario training. For further information:
Call: 07 827 0075
Visit: www.qec.co.nz/training-programmes