The oil and gas industry recognises that a major objective is to prevent incidents occurring, and if they do occur to control them and minimise their effect. It is important therefore to set common standards in emergency response and to ensure that they are maintained. Before personnel can be assessed against the standards they will require the knowledge and skills to enable them to carry out the emergency response tasks involved. They will require emergency response training and practice before being assessed.

The purpose of this standard is to set out the basic training, further practice and assessment requirements for Offshore Emergency Response Team Leaders which will be conducted at an onshore training centre. The delegate should recognise that this is only part of a broader training programme. There will also be company and installation-specific emergency response training, most of which will be conducted offshore on a regular basis as offshore drills and exercises.

For the purposes of this standard the definition of an Offshore Emergency Response Team Leader is a person who:

• Has responsibility for an individual Emergency Response Team
• May take responsibility for more than one team as the Senior Team Leader