Executive summary
Date(s) of inspection:
Aim of inspection
To observe an important aspect of emergency response training at Torness, the nominated site inspectors for Torness and Heysham2 observed a shift (training) emergency exercise at Torness with a colleague, The scenario was provided in advance.
The reason for observing this shift exercise was to gain evidence to support the close out of regulatory issue 10722 where shortfalls were identified during a Level 1 exercise demonstration "GILBERT".
Subject(s) of inspection
- LC11 - Emergency arrangements - Rating: Not Rated
Key findings, inspector's opinions and reasons for judgement made
Shift Exercise Garrett observation;
I observed the shift exercise in the CCR (simulator) for the first 35min of the exercise. In summary the CCR performed well, there was a good level of briefing and tannoy announcements to station on the incident, the Torness emergency response team were deployed to the incident area in good time. I then transferred to the ECC where I observed the initial set up and briefings, the ECC took control of the incident from the CCR around 45min after CCR tannoy announcement of incident. The decision was made by the CCR to set-up the alternative ECC due to the fire incident being close to ECC1.
The emergency controller set out clear focuses in the ECC during the incident.
The incident protection priorities were utilised by the ECC, and I observed the ECC considering if the incident may be security related and what environmental impact there may be due to fire water and debris.
Generally the briefings were good in the ECC by the emergency and deputy emergency controller. A good level of emergency services briefing was observed when they arrived in the ECC.
Management of the information boards in the ECC was good, however further improvements could be made regarding capturing and the close out of actions.
The muster was simulated with 4 persons unaccounted for, two casualties at the incident scene and 2 others at a separate location undertaking a confined space entry, one having injuries and the other un-mustered. All of the casualties and Un-mustered persons were locate and reported on within the ECC.
At the incident area, the IRT & SERT teams performed well with a sense of urgency shown, there were some issues regarding availability of emergency equipment and radio communication at the incident area which caused a slight delay in responding, however the response teams successfully addressed.
There were communications issues and a delay in deploying a team to assist in the recovery of the casualty in area of the confined space which was separate from the fire incident area, this resulted in the casualty being treated in the confined space for an extended period of time before no sign of life being announced.
I attended the hot debrief of the ECC & the collective debrief in the afternoon.
Conclusion
Overall the site response was adequate with a sense of urgency was seen by the response teams. In my opinion the mission would have been successful. There were however a number of learning points from the training exercises that will allow the site to improve, including improvements to availability of emergency equipment to ensure a speedy initial incident response, early identification of casualties and assistance required to support extraction and further improvements are required in managing the information boards within the ECC. These learning points were self identified by the site and so I consider that the training was successful. As this was a training exercise I have chosen to not rate the response.