Lowes Petroleum’s safety team and executives along with 30 ambulance, firefighter and police personnel from the St George command regional area have conducted a large-scale emergency drill at the company’s St George depot named ‘Operation Big Bang’
The drill surrounded the explosion of a small gas cylinder located on the back of a caravan at the Lowes BP station that caused two deaths, multiple casualties and a large lockdown area.
The initial dispatch detailed an explosion resulting in structural damage without revealing the details of on-scene casualties, with multiple callers reporting the incident.
Lowes Petroleum Health, Safety, Security and Environment General Manager Bernie Morris says the annual ‘catastrophic incident drill’ is an important event in the company’s calendar.
“We take safety incredibly seriously,” Morris says. “We can never be complacent that an incident will never happen to us.
“We undertake annual drills, and it worked out perfectly that we could do it with local rescue authorities allowing both parties to access our response capacities and also how we work with relevant authorities.
“This training provides invaluable opportunities to explore learning opportunities allowing the Queensland Ambulance Service (QAS) to manage a large-scale event beyond their daily response capabilities.
“While it allowed QAS to utilise SMART Triage tags in a real-time environment, it also created interaction with other emergency agencies and an opportunity for the Lowes Petroleum team to understand how we can assist and support them in a large-scale event.”
A key part of Lowes Petroleum’s business is hauling fuel through Australia’s regional and remote regions.
Morris says strong relationships with emergency services is key to ensuring should a real-world event happen, the response can be swift and effective.
“We practice scenarios at least once a year,” Morris continues.
“An exercise like this allows us invaluable insights into what to expect should a situation arise, but also ensure our crisis management/action plans are realistic and practical.
“St George is a part of a major transport thoroughfare, and, like most regional communities, essential resources can quickly be stretched and easily overwhelmed when presented with a mass casualty incident.
“Our relationship will all emergency services is critically important to us. This partnership in a training session on our property is incredibly valued.”
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