Motto Keep It Simple (KIS), it has its limits and needs direct follow-up action:

Transcription

1 Emergency Action Plan for the Nubarashen Obsolete and POPs pesticides burial site: Version 4 after discussions at Ministry of Emergency Services 21 April 2010 The plan is a total plan set up in various phases starting from a provisional ad hoc plan to cover the site till the final elimination of the obsolete and POPs pesticides Phase 1: securing population, water runoff and capping of burial site In this paper only Phase 1: Ad Hoc plan has been described in order to facilitate immediate start of the works Motto Keep It Simple (KIS), it has its limits and needs direct follow-up action: The plan was originally drafted on 15 of April and assessed on its feasibility on the site on Friday 16 April together with the representative of the Ministry of Emergency and the Ministry of Agriculture and thereafter adapted to the possibilities of obtaining and purchasing materials in Armenia 1. Inform population by Ministry of Emergency and AWHHE explaining the problems and the plans how to solve it 2. Install permanent guard and place clear signs about danger and prohibition of access 3. Place clear signs about danger and prohibition of access and mark the contaminated black zone with red and white tape connected to poles every 5 m. 4. Then install a specific grey zone for entering and leaving the black zone and install simple decontamination device with 3 water basins, on top of a plastic membrane, so people coming from black zone can be washed off and undress. Stage 1 (dirty section): Enter footbath and clean off boots and gloves Remove other heavily contaminated PPE for disposal If boots are dirty leave here Stage 2 (intermediate section): Remove remaining PPE and assess if can be re-used Leave clean boots and gloves in this section Stage 3 (clean section)

2 Dressing / undressing area for usual cloths Leave your personal clothing here on the way in Wash hands, face and exposed areas 5. All contaminated throwaway PPE should be disposed. Here bags/containers should be placed where after disposing all PPE a small shower should be used for each person leaving the grey zone. Materials that are re-used, should be completely clean and made ready for the next day. Sufficient space (covered space/shelter) for clean cloth. Please ask Mr. Hovhannes Hakobyan, for instruction as he has been trained accordingly. Example is shown below. It is recommended to use also the Moldova video for first instruction in the office, as support for the training in the field. Example of a three stage decontamination unit Principles are the same as previous example Stage 1 wash boots and gloves Remove boots and gloves Drums for removed contaminated PPE 6. Small shower could also be installed 7. Measures to deviate and to slow down water running down towards burial site: a. Construct a number of terraces to slow down run off speed upstream of burial site b. Upper drainage channel (see sketch) has only to be cleaned. It looks that no waste has entered there, so it is possible to work in a relatively clean zone, but operator will be confronted with vapours.

3 c. Bottom drain (see sketch) is completely covered with waste and other waste has been moved outside the drainage area. The waste passed the drainage channel, must be moved back towards the original burial site and thereafter the concrete channels have to be cleaned and the waste be deposited as well on the original burial site. The Ministry of Nature Protection will make a complete design of channels and terraces. According to that design works have to be executed. For the excavation of the contaminated materials, has been decided to use a crane instead of only hand excavation in order to reduce number of workers as much as possible that get in touch with contaminated materials. However there are no cranes that are equipped with the necessary overpressure cabin with is provided with active carbon filters, so the operator is not exposed to dangerous vapours. With the present limits, it is proposed to have cabin open and equip the operator with half face mask. In order to ensure problems for operator a frequent change of drivers is proposed. It is proposed to change driver every minutes. 3 drivers should be available to guarantee frequent rotation at the job. It is proposed that the crane, if possible remains in the clean zone, so also it has to be ensured that the arm of the crane is long enough to operate from the clean berm. It is forbidden that the crane will work on top of the exposed zone from 100 x 30 m!!!!!! d. Safety and Health: It is proposed that all workers that will work on the site will receive a specific Safety and Health training by Mr. Hovhannes Hakobyan before starting any works in the field. e. All other works executed by hand have to be done with workers equipped with PPE, half face mask for organic vapours. It is recommended that all workers wear safety boots, specifically as on top of the burial site a lot of old barbed wire, sharp metal parts of drums,glass bottles is present and normal shoes + shoe cover are not sufficient as protection. All workers have to follow the rules as trained and explained by Mr. Hovhannes Hakobyan and he should also regularly control if instructions have been followed accordingly during the progress of the works. Strict procedures on entering and leaving of the black zone have to be kept.

4 Old drainage not damaged, but to be cleaned Old drainage filled with waste over 70 m length will be cleaned, and waste outside the drain will be excavated and disposed inside the drainage channel and the existing concrete channel profiles will be repaired where necessary as well as the joints between the profiles Overview of PPE: so far all materials except safety boots and eye protection by means of safety spectacles + modification of Coveralls Type 4 (more resistant as Type 5/6) and more mechanically resistant Kevlar nitrile glove when we start to remove some of the sharp material, bottles that contains liquids, rusted drum parts also as on top of the burial have been present: see also items fat printed Coveralls COVERALL DISPOSABLE KEEPSAFE TYPE 4 C/W HOOD WHITE Manufactured in breathable fabric to reduce heat stress. Excellent chemical hold out and limited chemical splash. Front zip with flap cover. Elasticated hood, ankles and sleeves. Antistatic. Suitable for use with asbestos removal,100 - L, XL, white

5 Hand protection Flock lined nitrile gloves. Solvent resistance. Allround protection due to outstanding physical strength and chemical resistance + more mechanical resistance. Suitable for chemical processing, food processing, automotive and electronic industries. Sanitized/Actifresh Foot protection BOOTS Tuf Safety Wellington Boot PVC upper with PVC/nitrile sole. Ribbed heel with kick of tab to assist removal. Oil, acids, alkali and fat resistant. Please check if can be purchased at local market? SIZES TO BE CONFIRMED Respiratory Protection SPECTACLES SAFETY KEEPSAFE HURRICANE CLEAR LENS CLEAR FRAME Economical single polycarbonate lens wraparound style. Moulded browguard and vented side shields Half mask RESPIRATOR 3M 4279 EN405 FFABEK1P3 Protection against organics with BP>65ºC & good warning properties and inorganic vapours, acid gases, ammonia and particulates (water and oil based). 10 x WEL or 1000 ppm, whichever is the lower for organic vapours, ammonia, inorganic and acid gases, 20 x WEL for particulates Final decision on the respirator will be made on 22 April after testing with emergency equipment from the Ministry of Defence, if oxygen bags/balloons is possible. Most important for the tests will be to assess if labourers will be able to work adequately or will be too much exhausted under these conditions. During testing, time should be measured for working 15 minutes and 30 minutes and see what is feasible. After several hours testing the team should decide what method to be applied. If tests are successful, then this method will be applied and above listed masks will be eliminated. If tests are failing, then new masks have to be additionally be ordered in Vienna by OSCE. 8. Closing of burial area 100 x 30 m with 2-3 mm bitumen layer 9. Strategy is to use only locally available material, as purchasing from outside takes too much time a. Start with collection of sharp materials, and placing in hole to be excavated as close as possible to burial core b. Placement of bitumen with can be easily be rolled. No use of fire for gluing purposes allowed at this location, only overlap should be sufficient depending on width of roles. For all the following works

6 no mechanical equipment should be on top of burial in order to avoid damage. c. Cover bitumen with cm special clay and compact with small hand compactor. d. Downstream of the burial site, as upstream 3 or 4 terraces will be constructed as settling basins for sediment, but also to enable regular measurement of sediment on pesticides contamination. The downstream terraces can be used as sampling points for monitoring and if not contaminated the system of surface water run off can be then proven. If not, leakages are still taking place 10. For all works a maintenance component is very important: a. Upstream barriers have to be controlled after each considerable rainfall and where blocked cleaned-up and where damaged repaired. One must reckon, as all works are executed in a permanent active landslide zone, that frequent damage will take place b. Same applies for new drainage water channel and repaired drainage channel c. Clay cover needs to be inspected at dry periods, as soon as possibility of drying out occurs, fine water spraying has to be done in order to keep clay layer humid and avoid cracking of clay. Therefore a water reservoir should be established to enable spraying. d. Fixed monitoring points should be installed in order to follow eventual increases of pesticides loads e. Continuation of guards as long as burial sites remains f. Regular information to population of village on progress and developments by ministry of Emergency and AWHHE 11. Concept of terraces should be verified with local specialist on these matters to ensure optimal design and efficiency 12. Please consider that the agreed temporary solution is really temporary and cannot be held too long. Material should be removed within maximum 6 to 8 months year. 13. Concept should be verified with a local specialist in order to check on optimization of local materials and its feasibility