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Simulated spill tests Port's emergency plan

An oil spill training drill was carried out at the Bunbury Port Authority last week to test its emergency response plans.

The port’s media spokeswoman Kylie Astbury said stations were set up around the port to clean the beach, attend to the wildlife, deploy booms to contain the oil and manage an incident control centre.

“The wildlife management station acted as an opportunity for volunteers and the department to get an idea as to how to go about cleaning the wildlife,” Miss Astbury said.

“The beach cleaning facility utilised oranges to demonstrate the movement of oil and force the workers to analyse the best possible way of containing and clearing the spillage.”

Miss Astbury said the three-day training drill allowed the company to work with State emergency equipment, which would be deployed if an emergency such as this was to occur.

“The event was set up to be as realistic as possible to test our emergency and oil spill plans,” she said.

“There were 150 participants Statewide, including representatives from all eight WA ports.”