Managing the Unexpected

Earlier this year, SpillConsult were fortunate enough to be asked by one of our customers in Australia to help their in-country team prepare for an important exploration project — a single exploration well in the Carnarvon Basin, offshore Western Australia.

We were incredibly excited to be part of this work and, after a productive kick-off meeting with the customer and other stakeholders, a 'gold-standard' training programme of workshops and practical exercises was developed to meet the project’s specific needs.

Then... COVID. How could we deliver on our promise of best-in-class training without making the 18,000+ mile round trip again? We did what we do best and set to work on a pragmatic solution.

By applying our deep understanding of incident management, extensive in‑the‑field experience and agile technological capability, we rapidly developed, tested and deployed a virtual incident management platform that allowed us to deliver a comprehensive package of training and exercising remotely.

This was a big ask, but with a clear focus on the high standards of our service and the capabilities of the newly developed platform, we helped the team in Perth evolve from emergency response novices into a group demonstrably capable of effectively managing a major incident.

While there truly is no replacement for face-to-face training, the experience has taught us to keep challenging ourselves and to innovate whenever opportunities arise. Managing the unexpected is our day job, after all.