Management Of Oil Spillages From Inland Oil Terminals In Industrial Area Of Nairobi City County, Kenya
Abstract
Oil spills are one of the major environmental threats to both humans, animals and the physical
environment. Naturally, oil terminals are a safety hazard because they hold tons of this
dangerous, highly flammable product. Various mitigation measures to curb oil spillages have
been put in inland oil terminals in Kenya but, these spillages are still occurring. This study
focused on inland oil terminals located in industrial area of Nairobi City County, Kenya. The
main objective of this study was to examine the appropriateness of the existing mitigation
measures in managing oil spillages from oil terminals in the industrial area of Nairobi City
County, Kenya. The sub objectives were i) to identify causes of oil spillages in the terminals
ii) To examine the preventive and management strategies put in place to address oil spillages in
these terminals and, iii) To assess the policy, legal and institutional mechanism used to address
oil spillages in these terminals. Data collection was collected from 12 September 2017 to 19
October 2017, through Key informant interviews by use of semi-structured questionnaires
administered to the oil terminal representatives and relevant regulatory institutions. This data
was analysed and presented in form of bar charts and descriptive methods. The study has
identified that the leading cause of oil spillages in the oil terminals is lack of staff adherence to
the oil products loading instructions, followed by mechanical faults, equipment failure and lack
of induction to new staff involved in the loading procedures. The preventive and management
strategies put in place to manage oil spillages in the oil terminals are: i) implementation of
policy, legal and institutional mechanisms including Environment Management and
Coordination Act (EMCA) of 1999 and its (Amendment) Act of 2015, Environmental (Impact
Assessment and Audit) Regulations 2003, and (Amendment), 2016, National Environmental
Policy of 2013 and Environmental Management and Coordination (Deposit Bonds) Regulations,
2014. ii) preventive engineering works including installation of automated valves and alarms in
the terminals that stop any oil supply whenever a spill is detected in the system and iii) staff
training and awareness creation on the safety procedures to observe while conducting loading
procedures. However, these strategies have been analysed to be inappropriate in the management
of oil spillages due to short comings in their implementation key being, lack of adherence by the
workers to the laid down safety procedures in the terminals , poor maintenance schedules of oil
terminals equipment leading to mechanical failures, lack of coordination in the institutions such
as Ministry of Environment and Forestry, NEMA, NDOC and NCCG and, gaps in the existing
legislation such as lack of adequate responsibility allocation to the implementation of the
National Environmental Policy of 2013, and absence of relevant legislations including the
Petroleum and Energy policies. This study concludes that the mitigation measures put in place to
prevent and manage oil spillages in the inland oil terminals in industrial area of Nairobi City
County are inappropriate and need improvement to improve their effectiveness when
implemented in these terminals. The study has therefore proposed recommendations including
i) the oil terminals partnering with institutions such as OSMAG, DOSHS and NDOC to
conducting frequent refresher training to staff in the terminals on a need-based analysis.
ii) conducting induction to new staff. iii) collaboration of the Cabinet Secretaries in the Ministry
of Energy, Ministry of Petroleum and Mining, Ministry of Environment and Forestry and the
Ministry of Devolution and Planning to streamline their roles and avoid overlap to enable for
better implementation of the legislation and, to build on human and financial capacities in these
institutions all geared towards preventing and managing oil spillages.
Publisher
University of Nairobi
Subject
Management Of Oil SpillagesRights
Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs 3.0 United StatesUsage Rights
http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/3.0/us/Collections
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