White Paper
Are HNS spills more dangerous than oil spills?
Dr. Karen Purnell, Managing Director, ITOPF Ltd., UK
(Written with contributions from a consortium comprising the IMO, EMSA and
CEDRE)
Instinctively, there is greater concern about spills of Hazardous and Noxious
Substances (HNS) from ships than from spills of oil.
But is this concern misplaced? What makes an incident more or less dangerous?
With forecasts of increasing volumes of HNS being transported by sea globally
are there lessons that can be learnt from past incidents to help us prepare
better? The dramatic reduction in oil spills from tankers over the last four
decades demonstrates the effectiveness of the various Conventions and safety
measures that have been put in place to address ship safety and management, and
preparedness and response to oil spills. These Conventions and safety measures
could serve as useful models to assist governments, industry and
responder in the event of a spill of HNS, provided that the obligations
contained in these
‘instruments’ are understood and adhered to.
This paper recalls the progress that has been made in preparing for and
responding to spills of HNS and highlights lessons that have been learnt from
spills of both oil and HNS worldwide. Factors that make HNS spills more or less
dangerous are discussed and examples are provided from real incidents;
additional case studies have been provided in a separate appendix to complement
the examples used in this paper. Areas where more information is needed have
been identified and some suggestions for possible R
&D investment have been made.
In many references oil is also referred to as HNS but for the purpose of the
White Paper, oil has been discussed and compared as a separate substance.
