Jul 15, 2009

Vessel-mounted cameras can be effectively and economically used by ship crews investigating and responding to an oil spill. ASTM International Committee F20 on Hazardous Substances and Oil Spill Response is currently developing a proposed new standard on use of cameras in this realm.

WK24607, Specification for the Design and Use of Vessel-Mounted Camera Systems for Oil Spill Response, is under the jurisdiction of Subcommittee F20.16 on Surveillance and Tracking.

According to Mervin Fingas, senior scientist, Spill Science, and a longtime member of Committee F20, the primary users of the proposed new standard will be managers of spill cooperatives who will use it to purchase and optimize recovery vessel camera systems, as well as suppliers of such equipment.

“The purpose of these cameras is to help direct the crews toward the oil and toward the thicker oil on the sea surface,” says Fingas. “Viewers on the decks, nearer to sea level, cannot see oil sufficiently to navigate toward it. The motivation for putting forward the proposed standard is to guide the potential user in the purchases, advantages, limitations and applications of such technology.”

For technical information, contact Mervin Fingas, Spill Science, Edmonton, Alberta, Canada (phone: 780-989-6059; fingasmerv@shaw.ca).  ASTM Committee F20 meets Oct. 20-21 during October committee week in Atlanta, Ga.
 
ASTM International welcomes and encourages participation in the development of its standards. ASTM’s open consensus process, using advanced Internet-based standards development tools, ensures worldwide access for all interested individuals. For more information on becoming an ASTM member, please contact Jeffrey Adkins, ASTM International (phone: 610-832-9738; jadkins@astm.org).

Release #8295