Woof etc
13th Dec 2006, 13:38
Came across this piece on the net. What struck me from the article is the huge ramifications one little human error can have in our business - from a human perspective, financially and on the environment.
As they say: "If you think safety is expensive- try having an accident"
MK Airlines Crash Site Clean Up
Crash site clean up offers technical and human challenges
On October 14, 2004, MK Airlines flight No. 1602 crashed shortly after takeoff from the Halifax International Airport. Jacques Whitford Limited was immediately retained by MK Airlines through their agents Clyde & Co. of London U.K. to assist with the cleanup of the crash site. This began an assignment that is expected to last for approximately 1 ½ years and has challenged Jacques Whitford’s staff technically and personally.
The wreck of the aircraft, including most of the debris, sat on Transport Canada land extending south of the Old Guysborough Road, a rural connector route running adjacent to airport property. It was a complex situation involving loss of human life and a variety of materials debris. Among them, concerns were identified resulting from the loss of approximately 100,000 litres of fuel from the aircraft during the crash. It was determined that Jet A fuel entered a trench for water and sanitary lines that was located in the vicinity of the crash site, traveled along the trench (which acted as a conduit) towards the south-southeast and entered a downgradient stream located near a Halifax Regional Municipality (HRM) Sewage Treatment Plant.
Jacques Whitford provided emergency response service, including a comprehensive health and safety plan, and was responsible for the overall Project Management. This endeavor: the environmental investigation, debris clean-up, and environmental remediation, was one of the largest projects Jacques Whitford has undertaken. It needed to be handled with extreme sensitivity, particularly surrounding recovery of the remains of the crash victims, compassionate consideration of the involvement of their families and the associated stress on Jacques Whitford staff and contractors working on site. Such a cleanup must also proceed with strict attention to a variety of regulatory and insurance protocols.
The site response required thoughtful yet rapid action, Conditions were made even more complex as a significant portion of the cargo was composed of fresh fish and lobster that was broadly exposed over the crash site, attracting large numbers of birds to an area intersecting with air traffic.
Since the plane only burned for 8 minutes, the majority of the fuel (required to fly a fully loaded 747 from Halifax to Spain) discharged into the soil and fractured bedrock. A Phase II Environmental Site Assessment (ESA) was conducted to assess soil and groundwater conditions at the subject site. This involved conducting over 400 test pit excavations to determine the absence/presence of soil impact and drilling 18 boreholes/monitor wells to determine the absence/presence of impact in the soil and/or groundwater in the vicinity and downgradient of the main crash site.
A total of over 32,000 tonnes of hydrocarbon impacted soils were removed from the site, in many cases directly overlying bedrock, and replaced with imported granular fills. In addition, more than 5 million litres of surface and groundwater were collected and treated through on-site treatment facilities or taken off-site for further treatment.
A road was constructed along the service trench and a new temporary sanitary service line was installed along the trench, insulated and covered with gravel for protection. Sampling of water and sediment in watercourses, upstream and downstream of the crash site, was conducted to determine whether chemicals of concern from the crash site remained in the surrounding watershed.
Miscellaneous metal debris and the dismantled cockpit and tail section of the plane were transported and disposed of at Dartmouth Metals. Waste organics and inorganics were transported to a landfill, and hydrocarbon impacted grubbings and soils were transported to Envirosoil Ltd., a firm specializing in environmentally progressive soil treatment, for treatment and disposal.
Work is continuing at the site and a new sewer and water system will be installed to replace the original system, which was impacted with jet fuel, and has now been removed. The project should be completed by the spring of 2006.
Through work on this project our teams have gained an even greater appreciation of the often close interrelationship between technical planning and engineering challenges and the people closely affected by them.
As they say: "If you think safety is expensive- try having an accident"
MK Airlines Crash Site Clean Up
Crash site clean up offers technical and human challenges
On October 14, 2004, MK Airlines flight No. 1602 crashed shortly after takeoff from the Halifax International Airport. Jacques Whitford Limited was immediately retained by MK Airlines through their agents Clyde & Co. of London U.K. to assist with the cleanup of the crash site. This began an assignment that is expected to last for approximately 1 ½ years and has challenged Jacques Whitford’s staff technically and personally.
The wreck of the aircraft, including most of the debris, sat on Transport Canada land extending south of the Old Guysborough Road, a rural connector route running adjacent to airport property. It was a complex situation involving loss of human life and a variety of materials debris. Among them, concerns were identified resulting from the loss of approximately 100,000 litres of fuel from the aircraft during the crash. It was determined that Jet A fuel entered a trench for water and sanitary lines that was located in the vicinity of the crash site, traveled along the trench (which acted as a conduit) towards the south-southeast and entered a downgradient stream located near a Halifax Regional Municipality (HRM) Sewage Treatment Plant.
Jacques Whitford provided emergency response service, including a comprehensive health and safety plan, and was responsible for the overall Project Management. This endeavor: the environmental investigation, debris clean-up, and environmental remediation, was one of the largest projects Jacques Whitford has undertaken. It needed to be handled with extreme sensitivity, particularly surrounding recovery of the remains of the crash victims, compassionate consideration of the involvement of their families and the associated stress on Jacques Whitford staff and contractors working on site. Such a cleanup must also proceed with strict attention to a variety of regulatory and insurance protocols.
The site response required thoughtful yet rapid action, Conditions were made even more complex as a significant portion of the cargo was composed of fresh fish and lobster that was broadly exposed over the crash site, attracting large numbers of birds to an area intersecting with air traffic.
Since the plane only burned for 8 minutes, the majority of the fuel (required to fly a fully loaded 747 from Halifax to Spain) discharged into the soil and fractured bedrock. A Phase II Environmental Site Assessment (ESA) was conducted to assess soil and groundwater conditions at the subject site. This involved conducting over 400 test pit excavations to determine the absence/presence of soil impact and drilling 18 boreholes/monitor wells to determine the absence/presence of impact in the soil and/or groundwater in the vicinity and downgradient of the main crash site.
A total of over 32,000 tonnes of hydrocarbon impacted soils were removed from the site, in many cases directly overlying bedrock, and replaced with imported granular fills. In addition, more than 5 million litres of surface and groundwater were collected and treated through on-site treatment facilities or taken off-site for further treatment.
A road was constructed along the service trench and a new temporary sanitary service line was installed along the trench, insulated and covered with gravel for protection. Sampling of water and sediment in watercourses, upstream and downstream of the crash site, was conducted to determine whether chemicals of concern from the crash site remained in the surrounding watershed.
Miscellaneous metal debris and the dismantled cockpit and tail section of the plane were transported and disposed of at Dartmouth Metals. Waste organics and inorganics were transported to a landfill, and hydrocarbon impacted grubbings and soils were transported to Envirosoil Ltd., a firm specializing in environmentally progressive soil treatment, for treatment and disposal.
Work is continuing at the site and a new sewer and water system will be installed to replace the original system, which was impacted with jet fuel, and has now been removed. The project should be completed by the spring of 2006.
Through work on this project our teams have gained an even greater appreciation of the often close interrelationship between technical planning and engineering challenges and the people closely affected by them.