IMPROVING THE RESPONSE TO CATASTROPHIC OIL AND HAZARDOUS CHEMICAL SPILLS: THE FEASIBILITY OF A COMPUTER-BASED INTERACTIVE VIDEO TRAINING SYSTEM

A VITAL PART OF ANY EFFORT TO IMPROVE THE EFFECTIVENESS OF CATASTROPHIC OIL AND CHEMICAL SPILL RESPONSE IS IMPROVING RESPONSE PERSONNEL TRAINING. SEVERAL ISSUES THAT ARE UNIQUETO SPILL RESPONSE TRAINING LIMIT THE EFFECTIVENESS OF A CLASSROOM APPROACH TO MEET NATIONAL CONTINGENCY PLAN TRAINING REQUIREMENTS, INCLUDING THE RAPID PACE OF TECHNOLOGICAL INNOVATION IN SPILL RESPONSE, THE NUMBER AND GEOGRAPHICAL DISPERSION OF PERSONNEL WHO REQUIRE TRAINING, AND THE LIMITED AVAILABLE RESOURCES. A SYSTEM IS NEEDED TO COMPLEMENT AND SUPPLEMENT THE EXISTING U.S. COAST GUARD SPILL RESPONSE TRAINING PROGRAM. RESEARCH WILL FOCUS ON DEVELOPING A COMPUTER BASED INTERACTIVE VIDEO (CBIV) TRAINING SYSTEM. THIS SYSTEM WILL USE PERFORMANCE BASED TRAINING METHODOLOGY TO PRESENT STATE-OF-THE-ART SPILL RESPONSE INFORMATION TO PERSONNEL WHO WILL USE THE SYSTEM ATTHEIR OWN PACE. COMPUTER BASED EXAMINATIONS WILL BE INCLUDED TO ENSURE THE EFFECTIVENESS OF THE TRAINING PROGRAM. THE CBIV TRAINING SYSTEM WILL BE FLEXIBLE TO ALLOWUPDATES OF NEW SPILL RESPONSE TECHNOLOGY. IT WILL ALSO BE CAPABLE OF TRAINING LARGE NUMBERS OF PEOPLE THROUGHOUT THE NATION, AND IT WILL REPRESENT COST SAVINGS OVER CLASSROOM TRAINING PROGRAMS. PHASE I WILL BE A FEASIBILITY STUDY. PHASE II WILL BE THE DEVELOPMENT AND TESTING OF PROTOTYPE.