WAVES GROUP EXPANDS INCIDENT RESPONSE CAPABILITIES IN MARINE FIRE AND HAZMAT INVESTIGATIONS
Critical to any marine incident response is the ability to stabilise and assess the situation, put in place and implement a strategy for dealing with the incident and then to investigate the cause, so that the appropriate lessons can be shared and learnt.
With cases involving fires, this is especially important. To protect lives, minimise environmental damage and protect the asset, the right actions must be taken in the response phase. Subsequently, it is critical to preserve and collect the evidence to establish the cause and to properly evaluate the costs. Given the ongoing risks of marine fires, we are delighted to announce the expansion of our team to welcome Paul Coates.
Paul is a fire and hazardous material expert who joins our casualty response team, enhancing our expertise and adding to our many years’ experience in managing and investigating marine casualties.
Paul served for 30 years in the Hampshire Fire & Rescue Service, including as Fire Station Commander, Incident Commander and has a strong Marine and Hazmat (Hazardous Materials) background. Paul established, trained, and managed the Hampshire Fire & Rescue Service Maritime Incident Response Group (MIRG) team and has responded to ship fires as both On-Scene Commander and Specialist Marine Officer.
He has extensive experience of hazardous materials and dealing with ‘hazmat’ incidents. He has designed and delivered IMDG and HAZMAT awareness courses for Health & Safety professionals and has extensive experience in the response and investigation of numerous IMDG (International Maritime Dangerous Goods), Hazmat, drug laboratory and environmental protection incidents.
An experienced fire-fighting trainer, he has delivered training workshops on ‘ship firefighting’ to both EMSA (European Maritime Safety Agency) and the UK MAIB (Marine Accident Investigation Branch) and has trained Seafarers and others at Warsash Maritime College and Fire-Aid, delivering both Basic and Advanced STCW Maritime & OPITO Offshore Fire Prevention and Firefighting training.
Paul also has experience working as a Dry Dock Supervisor during ship refits, being responsible for the reviewing and approving of preparations for hot work, enclosed space entry and working at height. He has also served in the Royal Navy for 5 years.
We are delighted to have Paul join our team, further enhancing our casualty response capabilities. Waves Group’s casualty response team has many years of experience in the management and successful response to major casualties including salvage and wreck removals, crane damage, FFO damage, container fires and recovery and business interruption claims. We are investing heavily in combining our extensive practical experience with state-of-the-art digital data and tools for marine incident management and response.
For further information on Paul and our casualty response services, please email: [email protected]
