New Tools for the SCAT Program: An Innovative Approach to Assimilating Newer Responders into the Shoreline Cleanup Assessment Technique Program

In recent years, the Northwest Area Committee (NWAC) has adopted a strategy to reorganize the Northwest Area Contingency Plan by improving usability and regaining lost momentum in collaboration on annual plan updates. Operational guides, checklists and response tools were moved out of the body of the plan into appendices in Chapter 9000 that can be easily removed and used for responding. The NWAC also launched an annual NWACP Summit, during which a series of short-lived, annual Task Forces are proposed and voted upon. The Summit is a call for ideas for improvement to the NWACP; discussion of lessons learned as proposals for new or improved policies; and ideas for development of response tools. Task Forces differ from standing Workgroups or Subcommittees in that they last only one year and have very specific tasking – typically development of a product, tool or section for the ACP or a policy rewrite – which all must be completed in time to match the ACP's annual revision cycle. This approach has been very successful at renewing energy and encouraging broader involvement with maintaining and updating the Northwest ACP.

In 2012 an NWAC Task Force was formed and assigned the development of a set of SCAT Tools. Their task was to provide step-by step guidelines to set-up and manage an entire SCAT program. The Task Force was also asked to develop tools that explicitly linked the SCAT program to ICS and the Planning P, something which no published guidelines or manual has done to date (de Bettencourt et al, 1999). The resulting product underwent a rigorous, thorough review and editing process, by local as well as national and international parties, during the 2013 work cycle. The final NWAC SCAT Tools have been included in Chapter 9000 of the 2014 NWACP as a stand-alone response pullout guide.

The NWAC SCAT Tools are comprised of two “stand-alone” documents. The first is an overarching document called “Establishing a Shoreline Assessment Program” (Program Document). This Program Document provides a comprehensive approach to the key elements in setting up, running, maintaining, and completing a thorough Shoreline Assessment program for the duration of an oil spill response.

The Program Document's front matter summarizes the objective, use and contents whereas the remainder is comprised of the tools themselves. The introductory material, useful for training responders, outlines principals driving oiled shoreline response in the Pacific Northwest of the United States – including the need to incorporate the concerns of stakeholders in achieving an overall benefit to the environment for the proposed response actions and treatment endpoints.

The Program Document is not a text based document, but a compilation of checklists and diagrams connected via hyperlinks, designed to maximize efficiency and ease of use for responders who won't have time to sit down and read through lengthy manual during a response. These are “grab and go” tools. The lists of the individual tools contained within the Program Document include:

• An organization chart for smaller, less complex spills and another for larger, more complex spills. There are color-coded descriptions of the roles For SCAT positions within the ICS.

• Work flow/process diagram with major milestones for SCAT in a simplified format to show the life cycle of a SCAT program. This can also serve as a SCAT Coordinator's checklist during a smaller, less complex response.

• Depiction of key SCAT program tasks relating to the ICS Planning P process diagram depicting information flow from the field to decision makers. Long-form SCAT Coordinator's Checklist, designed to aid users in establishing a comprehensive SCAT program, showing three phases: Reconnaissance Phase, Systematic Survey Phase, Monitoring/Inspection Phase. It is further organized by position-specific responsibilities (also color-coded) and includes Best Practices where applicable.

Two organization charts provides a SCAT organization for a small response (Figure 1) and a large response (Figure 2). Note the Communication Channels shown as dotted lines to indicate the best practice of interaction with members in other sections and units. Descriptions and responsibilities for these roles are outlined in the long form SCAT Coordinator's checklist. One of the newer positions in a SCAT Program in use since the Selendang Ayu SCAT program in 2006 (Owens et al, 2006) and formalized during the Macondo spill in 2010 (Owens et al 2011), is the SCAT/OPS Liaison function. Responsibilities for this position are described in more detail in the long form SCAT Coordinator's checklist in the Program Document.

This list outlines the major members and positions in a comprehensive SCAT Program and outlines key duties (Figure 3). One unique feature in this document and not found in other SCAT guidelines is the linkage to ICS and key meetings in the Planning P cycle, in particular the Prep for Tactics Work Period (USCG IMH, 2006).

This diagram, also unique to the NWAC SCAT Tools (Figure 4), is a “snapshot” of the life cycle of a SCAT Program. There are three logical phases: Reconnaissance Phase (the initial phase of a response, gearing up for a full SCAT Program); Systematic Survey Phase (Full SCAT Program implementation); and Monitoring/Inspection Phase (after cleanup activities are completed).

This diagram is designed to familiarize and refresh SCAT Program members about the key meetings and events in the typical daily Planning Cycle, or Planning P, and where products, work flow and tasking fits into the SCAT process as well as to help plan the timing of their daily activities (Figure 5). The SCAT Program is singularly a response activity that is designed to support Operations. SCAT data and recommendations must be managed in a way that follows the development of the Incident Action Plan, leading to the ICS-204 Work Assignments. While SCAT data summaries, maps and treatment recommendations are all valuable tools in keeping the Unified Command and external stakeholders aware of shoreline oiling conditions and associated treatment plan, the primary purpose of SCAT is guiding Operations. The timing of their flow must match the tempo of the ICS Planning P.

The Process Flow diagram provides an overall sense of how the data received in the field will be translated into treatment recommendations which eventually, in most cases, lead to treatment completion and segment sign off (Figure 6). It is modified from a version found in the NOAA Shoreline Assessment Manual for ease of use (NOAA, 2013).

This three-phase checklist is essentially a “recipe” to for the establishment and management of a comprehensive SCAT Program.

The Reconnaissance Phase begins when initial responders receive notification that a spill has occurred. This phase may last no more than a few days and is comprised of planning and preparation for the Systematic Survey Phase.

The Systematic Survey Phase may begin one and several days into the response. This phase involves field surveys, data collection/analysis, treatment/cleanup endpoint recommendations, as well as shoreline treatment monitoring.

The Monitoring/Inspection Phase begins when Operations has completed the treatment or cleanup of affected shoreline segments and requests confirmation inspections by SCAT Teams and land owner/managers.

The Reconnaissance Phase checklist (a portion of which is captured in Figure 6) contains a broad range of considerations, elements and best practices. It has important elements not found in other SCAT guidance, such as a list of Potential Initial Cleanup Guidelines, information on incorporating Endangered Species Act and National Historic Preservation Act consultation requirements into a SCAT Program. The checklist also provides cues to the SCAT Coordinator such as providing early shoreline cleanup recommendations to Operations in the first days before the SCAT Program is up and running. Historically SCAT may have taken several days to start their surveys, organize their data before providing treatment recommendations to Operations. To account for this, this section of the NWAC SCAT Tools provides some suggested approaches to deal with this concern (Figure 7).

The Systematic Survey Phase Checklist involves recommendations for field surveys, data collection/analysis, treatment/cleanup endpoint recommendations, and shoreline treatment monitoring during active cleanup (Figure 8).

The Monitoring/Inspection Phase Checklist includes considerations and best practices for the final phase of shoreline treatment completions and segment sign off (Figure 9).

This second of the two NWAC SCAT Documents is a template to develop a SCAT Work Plan. This provides a single source to capture the elements of a comprehensive SCAT Program, and is recommended to be completed or started during the Reconnaissance Phase. The template contains standard items, such as Purpose, Objectives, Fundamental Principles, etc. The template also suggests including details on safety for the field survey teams and recommends where each SCAT organization position will function (i.e. Command Post vs. in the field).

The Example SCAT Plan recommends including tabularized guidance on various activities, such as SCAT Survey Methods, as shown in Figure 10.

Other guidelines that are recommended for inclusion in a SCAT Plan include:

• Segmentation Strategy for shorelines

• Field Documentation and Information Transfer and Data Management Protocols and timelines

• Cleanup Endpoint – development procedures and how they will be utilized in the Sign Off process

Lastly, the Appendices contain a range of helpful items such as SCAT forms to be used, as well as newly developed forms to help manage SCAT field team deployment assignments.

The SCAT documents discussed above finished final editing and vetting in early 2013 and were published in January 2014 as part of the NWACP 2014 revision. They are available for download from the NWAC website: www.rrt10nwac.com

These documents are designed to be flexible, scalable and adaptable on small to large incidents. The documents and tools are broad enough to be easily adapted in any region. Finally, the development of the NW Area Committee SCAT Tools serves as a successful demonstration of how knowledge gained over many years by numerous experts, representing agencies, industry, contractors and consultants, can be captured, organized, and presented to the benefit of current and next generations of responders. As experienced responders retire or leave the field, mechanisms for capturing and publishing knowledge in formats that are easily digestible, field ready, and operationalized are becoming more important to produce and use. The NWAC SCAT Tools are one example of that type of collaborative effort that memorializes best practices based upon a range of experiences and backgrounds, that allows responders to “hit the ground” ready to respond.