Helcom Recommendation 2/4
adopted 17 February 1981, having regard to Article 13, Paragraph b) of the Helsinki Convention
RECOMMENDATION CONCERNING ESTABLISHING OF AN EARLY WARNING REPORTING SYSTEM FOR POLLUTION INCIDENTS
THE COMMISSION,
RECALLING the provisions of Regulation 5, para 5, of Annex VI to the Convention on the Protection of the Marine Environment of the Baltic Sea Area, 1974 , (Helsinki Convention), concerning the transmit of information on a casualty or the presence of spillages of oil or other substances to any other Contracting Party which may be affected,
RECOGNIZING the importance of an early warning reporting system in the Baltic Sea Area as a means of facilitating early and effective pollution combatting action by Coastal States,
BEING AWARE of the great value of a simple and standardized reporting system,
RECOMMENDS that Governments of the Contracting Parties to the Helsinki Convention:
a) in case of an actual or impending pollution incident should, in order to give a quick and easily understood notice to any other contracting party which may be affected, use the POLLUTION WARNING BALTIC Procedure with the provisions set out in Attachment l to this Recommendation and
b) for the exchange of information more detailed than that given by the POLLUTION WARNING BALTIC procedure should use the POLLUTION REPORT BALTIC procedure in accordance with the provisions set out in Attachment 2 to this Recommendation.
ATTACHMENT 1
POLLUTION WARNING BALTIC (POLWARN BALTIC)
The purpose of this report - see Appendix l - is to give easily understood first notice of a pollution incident as well as information about the occurrence of an imminent pollution threat. The report must be self
explanatory so that anyone receiving the report will under stand its contents without difficulty. Consequently,
abbreviations and letter codes are omitted as far as practicable. The report should be in English.
"FROM, TO" The report should be used for transmission per telex. In order to enable the telex operator to transmit the telex without delay, the telex No. (or telex Nos. if there is a distinction between normal working hours and outside normal working hours) of the Baltic countries should be printed on the report.
"POLLUTION WARNING BALTIC" This is the identification of the report. "POLLUTION" indicates that the report might deal with all aspects of pollution (such as oil as well as other harmful substances). "WARNING" indicates that the report is an initial notice only, to be followed by detailed information as to the incident, for instance as stated in the attached POLREP. (Please refer Attachment 2.)
"BALTIC" is the only codeword of the report and is included to identify the agreement in question.
"INCIDENT" The nature of the incident should be stated here such as BLOWOUT, TANKER GROUNDING, TANKER COLLISION, OIL SLICK, etc.
"OUTFLOW" The nature of the pollution should be stated here such as CRUDE OIL, CHLORINE, DINITRO PHENOL, -etc. If there is no pollution, but a pollution threat, the words NOT YET followed by substance for example NOT YET FUELOIL should be stated.
"POSITION" The position should be stated for instance in latitude and longitude, or bearing and distance from a location known by the receiver such as 56 00 N, 03 00 E or 270-KULLEN-4,0.
"DATE AND TIME" The day of the month as well as the time of the day when the incident took place or an observation
was made (cause of pollution unknown), should be stated with 6 figures. Time should be stated as GMT, for example 091900 GMT (i.e. the 9th of the relevant month at 19.00 GMT).
EXAMPLES
1)
FROM 64471 SOK DK
TO 17198 TULLSTH S
POLLUTION WARNING BALTIC
INCIDENT TANKER COLLISION
OUTFLOW CRUDE OIL
POSITION 5750N 1040E
DATE AND TIME 172100 GMT
2)
FROM 17198 Tullsth S
TO 64471 SOK DK
POLLUTION WARNING BALTIC
INCIDENT TANKER GROUNDING
OUTFLOW NOT YET CHLORINE
POSITION 27 0-LANDSKRONA-1
DATE AND TIME 020200 GMT
3)
At exercises the following wording should be used
FROM............................
TO .......................'.....
EXERCISE
POLLUTION WARNING BALTIC
INCIDENT........................
OUTFLOW.........................
POSITION........................
DATE AND TIME...................
EXERCISE EXERCISE EXERCISE
ATTACHMENT l Appendix 1
POLLUTION WARNING BALTIC
FROM.................... DENMARK: 64 471 SOK DK
TO .......................
FINLAND:
12-4865 RULE SF
GDR: 0318526/0318559
FRG: 02 32154
POLAND: 054-285 PL
SWEDEN: 17982 COASTG S (17198 Tullsth S GMT 1500-0700)
USSR: 501, 502, 503
HELCOM:
12-5105 HLCOM
POLLUTION WARNING BALTIC
INCIDENT......
OUTFLOW.......
POSITION...............
DATE AND TIME ................
ATTACHMENT 2
POLLUTION REPORT BALTIC (POLREP BALTIC)
1. For the exchange of detailed information the attached report format should be used (please refer Appendix 1).
2. The report can be used for information about oil and other harmful substances as well as for requesting assistance from other Contracting Parties.
3. The individual report should be easily identified, and the receiver should be able to check that he has received all reports of the pollution in question. This can be done by using a stroke system as follows:
POLREP 1/1 relates to the first report of the pollution in question,
POLREP 1/3 relates to the third report of the same pollution.
If the pollution splits up in separate areas, the following wording should be adopted:
POLREP 1 now splitting in POLREP 2 and POLREP 3.
The stroke system can hereafter be applied as follows:
POLREP 2/5 is the fifth report of the pollution area with identification number 2.
ATTACHMENT 2 Appendix 1
POLREP BALTIC
Example
Identification No. POLREP BALTIC 1/1
1. Date and time (in GMT) 1. 120930 GMT
2. Position (Latitude & Longitude) 2. 5510N 1400E
3. Pollution Source
(Spell out or use Single Letter Code) 3. A
A. Heavy Oil
B. Crude Oil
C. Light Oil
D. Other Harmful Substances (specify if possible)
4. Length & Width of Slick 4. 5 x 0.5
(in nautical miles)
5. Course and Speed of Slick 5. 090-0.6 (Degrees and Knots)
6. Wind Direction and Speed (Degrees and m/sec) 6. 270-12
7. Current Direction & Speed (Degrees & Knots) 7. 090-0.2
8. Polluter (Name, Flag and Call-sign) 8. discharger/farawaya7oily
9. Reporting Ship or Ships on (Name, Flag and Call-sign) 9. Esso Baltica/danish/ovqz
10. Oil Sample (if yes, state telex No. of sampling authority) 10. 64471 SOK DK
11. Action taken: 11. M (Letter Code)
N: No action
A: Sorbents
B: Booms
M: Mechanical Recovery
D: Dispersants
F: Burning
SD: Selfdispersing
12. Other information including request for assistance 12. WEST COAST OF BORNHOLM ESTIMATED AS THREATENED