Definition of the scope of the OSWMP

As for a National Oil Spill Contingency Plan (NOSCP), an OSWMP is an operational document that relies on and takes into account the national rules and regulations.

The scope of the Plan must be defined, and roles and responsibilities clarified. An OSWMP should cover the waste recovered and generated during response operations and clean-up operations following accidental oil pollution incidents of minor, medium or large magnitude (often known as Tier 1, Tier 2 and Tier 3 pollutions).

The term “Oil” usually covers persistent hydrocarbon-based products.
The term “Accidental” refers to any incident resulting in the release of oil into the environment. Chronic pollution is not included in the scope of this document.

Response and clean-up operations refer to all the operations implemented to respond to the oil pollution, which may result in:

• the recovery of oil at sea (using booms and skimmers),
• the collection of oil on land (using manual or other tools), often mixed with other products (sand, waste, seaweed, etc.),
• generation of waste: oiled disposable response equipment (e.g. sorbent boom), oiled Personal Protective Equipment (PPE), etc.

See Appendix n°2: “Response strategies and their effect on waste generation”.