The Autonomous Community of the Canary Islands has its own legislation on self-protection, regulated in Decree 67/2015, of April 30, which approves the Self-Protection Regulations required for certain activities, centers or establishments that may give rise to emergency situations in the Autonomous Community of the Canary Islands, which necessarily imposes the figure of the Drafting Technician.
The Drafting Technician is the technical personnel with competences for the elaboration of the self-protection plans, and must have an official accreditation issued by Civil Protection of the Autonomous Community of the Canary Islands.
The following is a brief description of what this project consists of and the general lines of action to carry it out.
The project covers the preparation of five different self-protection plans with very different characteristics on the island of Lanzarote, managed by Canal Gestión Lanzarote, the company in charge of the production, supply, sewerage, treatment and reuse of water in Lanzarote and La Graciosa.
- An office and customer service building (OFICINAS CENTRALES DIAZ RIJO)
- Two desalination plants (DIAZ RIJO AND EDAM JANUBIO)
- Two wastewater treatment plants (WWTP ARRECIFE II and WWTP TIAS)
The planning of the work is carried out in a standard way, in three stages, which, when completed in their entirety, will allow us to achieve the five plans.
- Field work to obtain data in situ.
- Cabinet work in which the different plans are designed and the necessary drawings are made.
- Implementation of the different plans through training courses and simulations.
The field work, the first and essential part of this process, is the one that must be prepared most thoroughly, since it is through the on-site visits that will be made to each and every one of the facilities, it serves to contrast the data obtained with those previously available and to know on site and on the ground the risks and the people who will be affected by these plans.
In this case, the difference between the different plans must also be taken into account:
- The two desalination plants DIAZ RIJO and EDAM JANUBIO offer, in addition to their industrial activity of peculiar characteristics, added risks. The first one is located near the coast, in an area of industrial activity with risk companies nearby, it consists of a large area of land with a large number of buildings, some of which are operational and others in disuse, and there is also a shortage of personnel, both during the day and at night. The second is isolated, but quite far from any population and from health and firefighting services.
- The two wastewater treatment plants, EDAR ARRECIFE II and EDAR TIAS, are also centers of industrial activity with special characteristics. As in the previous case, there is a shortage of personnel in the day and night shifts, but these are facilities that, although isolated, are closer to the populations and to the sanitary and fire-fighting services.
- The cabinet work is the backbone of this project, and includes the design and specific development of each one of the Self-Protection Plans focused on each one of the facilities, analyzing their peculiarities and differences.
Once this phase is completed, we enter the third phase, implementation. We will carry it out by means of training courses and evacuation and fire drills.
The following training courses have been given:
- General knowledge courses on risks and emergencies for First Intervention Teams and Evacuation Teams, with a participation of ninety people.
- Twenty-seven people participated in more specific courses on firefighting and fire extinguishers, who became part of the Second Intervention Teams.
The five evacuation drills were carried out, and although they were not totally perfect, as is usually the case, because the personnel get stressed by new situations that they do not control and make mistakes, it should be noted that none of them were important and can easily be corrected with the more usual practice of drills. In any case, everyone participated with motivation and good disposition.
To highlight and thank the excellent work of the Department of Water Quality and Quality Management System, as well as all members of Canal Gestión Lanzarote, for their extraordinary collaboration both while we were in person and during the time that lasted the cabinet work, not hesitating to resolve any questions that arose or contrasting the information as if we were in the facility.
Finally, the different self-protection plans were registered in the Canary Islands autonomous registry of self-protection plans.
We remain convinced of a job well done and of the team collaboration that made it possible to bring it to a successful conclusion.
Francisco de la Poza
Self-protection Technician
