EM - December 2013/January 2014 - (Page 16)

16 GENERATION & WHOLESALE MARKETS Poolbeg hosts Process international counter- Safety in terrorism event G&WM 8 At the request of the gardaí, the decommissioned Poolbeg Thermal Station hosted one of the biggest exercises ever held in Poolbeg. The international event was one element of a European-wide counter-terrorism exercise organised by the Atlas Group. Garda ERU on the River Liffey. Sgt. Andy Keegan, Chief Superintendent Finbar O'Brien and Inspector Martin McConnell discussing planning details with Brian Clarke, Shift Team Leader, Poolbeg and Robbie Masterson, ex-Poolbeg and Exercise Coordinator between ESB and the gardaí. ATLAS WAS ESTABLISHED following the events of 9/11 to ensure the EU had the capacity to respond to a largescale terrorist attack. Atlas comprises of 35 EU-wide police special anti-terrorist units, with Ireland represented by the Garda Emergency Response Unit. On April 17th, nine simulated terrorist attacks took place across Europe, each attack responded to by a different combination of police anti-terrorist units. All events were monitored live by video in various European command centres. The Poolbeg exercise, organised by the gardaí and Atlas Project, was based around a terrorist attack on an urban Power Station. Four police teams were on site; The Garda ERU, the HMSU Police Service of Northern Ireland, the SCO19 London Metropolitan Police Service and the DSI Police Service from The Netherlands. Mobilisation commenced on April 15th when Police Force personnel, Much planning, by both the gardai and ESB, was necessary leading up to the exercise to ensure the appropriate risk assessments, indemnities, insurances and facilities were in place. Poolbeg Thermal Station Turbine Hall and basement together with the Thermal Station Control Room were provided for the hostage scenario and the old Administration Offices were provided for Tactical Command posts during the exercise. Police Teams entering the Poolbeg Thermal Station Unloading Bay. As part of the exercise, a medical evacuation was carried out by an Air Corps AW139 helicopter. Dublin Fire Brigade was on site for the arrival and departure of the medical evacuation helicopter. transport and equipment arrived at Poolbeg with a full-scale walk through of the exercise undertaken the following day. On April 17th, the Exercise Common Challenge 2013 took place from 08.00 hours. A 24hour armed Garda security detail was on-site for the duration of the exercise with radio communication established between the gardaí and the Poolbeg CCGT Control Room. Approximately 150 people were involved in the exercise and it ended with the police forces successfully storming the Thermal Station Control Room. The closing moments were witnessed across Europe by live video transmission and included Paddy Hayes, Executive Director G&WM and other ESB personnel as well as Police Commissioners from the participating police teams. Brian Clarke, Poolbeg, commented: "All the event planning paid off and despite all the staged bombings, shootings and storming activities, there were no injuries to report, which was a good result". The gardaí were pleased with the international success of the exercise and thanked the Poolbeg staff for facilitating the event.  THE KEY OBJECTIVES of this Programme is the integration of Process Safety into the core 'the new way we do business', ensuring consistent standards are applied across the business, delivering sustainable improvements, information for real-time risk management decisions, ownership and a focus on indicators which predict how likely things are to go wrong and how severe will the consequences be. Process Safety vs Occupational Safety. Process Safety vs Occupational Safety Occupational safety is concerned with protecting the safety, health and welfare of people engaged in work or employment, i.e. preventing slips-trips-and-falls etc, however Process Safety is focused on preventing plant integrity issues, fires, explosions and toxic incidents which can lead to multiple fatalities and significant asset, production and environmental damage. December 2013/January 2014 * www.esb.ie/em CE and Board members visit Carrington and Fullabrook Chief Executive Pat O'Doherty and Board Members pictured during a visit to Carrington. ON THURSDAY 26TH September, Chief Executive Pat O'Doherty and Company Secretary John Redmond accompanied a number of ESB Board members on a visit to Carrington. The non-executive Board members who visited the site were Anne Butler, Ellvena Graham, Noreen Wright and Noreen Kelly. Following a round of introductions to members of the Carrington team and site safety inductions, the Board members were given a walk around the construction site where the 881MW Combined Cycle Gas Turbine (CCGT) power plant is being built in Carrington, near Manchester. The following day, Friday 27th September, a number of the visiting group went on to visit Fullabrook Wind Farm in Devon. There Visitors were given a tour of Fullabrook wind farm. they met Wind Farm Manager Ian Whitehead and members of the Renewables O&M team and also took a tour of the 66MW, 22-turbine site. During both visits, it was widely acknowledged that investment in Britain is a huge statement of intent and of confidence that ESB can compete and prosper in the emerging British/Irish integrated electricity market.  Aghada Noticeboard The Swiss Cheese Model. Protecting ourselves from major incidents To protect ourselves from major incidents happening, ESB is adopting the 'Swiss Cheese' model which describes incident causation as a serious of events which must occur in a specific manner for a catastrophic failure or accident to occur. The people, process and plant barriers contain a combination of latent and active 'holes' and if these holes are aligned then the defenses will be defeated and harm occurs. Each slice of cheese or control barrier is an opportunity to stop an error, the more layers, the less likely an accident is to occur.  The forth year Electrical Engineering students from CIT recently paid a visit to Aghada Power Station. John Sadlier, Asset Management Team, is seen presenting to the group on the upcoming CCGT C inspection. Also pictured are station staff Jim Murphy, John Fitzgerald and Paddy Fogarty. The staff at Aghada Station recently said goodbye to Aaron Doherty. Aaron worked at the station for the past nine months as a Draughtsman under the JobBridge Internship Scheme. Aaron is waiting on a kidney transplant and Liam Ring, Station Manager, and all his colleagues at the Station would like to wish him the very best of luck for the future. http://www.esb.ie/em

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of EM - December 2013/January 2014

EM - December 2013/January 2014
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EM - December 2013/January 2014