Development of a conceptual model for a marine oil spills management system in South Africa
Abstract
The impacts of oil pollution incidents on a pristine marine environment threaten the biodiversity of the
affected ecosystem and exert pressure on the socio-economics of the concerned region. These
pressures, nevertheless, offers an opportunity for advancing resilient development. An innovative
approach that is prominently developing in the oil sector is promoting the Incident Management
System (IMS), also known as Incident Command System (ICS). This system is expected to improve
marine oil spill response readiness mainly.
The “all-hazard” approach form of ICS for incident response has been adopted in South Africa.
Concerns have, however, emerged on the value of the system on the overall incident and disaster
risk management, which is beyond the response operations. Regrettably, the current literature on
ICS conceptualisation and implementation is predominantly informed and aligned to emergency
response. This form of conceptualisation does not sufficiently apprehend the root causes, drivers,
opportunities and challenges surrounding the adoption of ICS within the principles of the disaster
management continuum. The system's mechanistic and hierarchical decision-making benefits are
the main point of contention between the ICS proponents and opponents.
Decision making appears to be conceptualised on the premise of a highly bureaucratic temporary
structure adopted during emergency response operations. Interference from politicians and highranking
bureaucrats with limited consideration to efforts invested during the preparedness stages
of incident management thrives. Subsequently, this limiting perspective has undermined
commitment to the adoption and the potential benefits of ICS to a larger extent. Essentially, the
inconstancies in embracing ICS may indicate a broader context of continuous relationship trait that
affects decision-making than the literature reveal. Several conflicting theories supporting ICS were
identified. While these theories hold some desirable aspects and features, not all these facets are
relevant and rationale for all hazards in every context.
Based on the identified gaps in the current knowledge, this study undertook an organizational theory
approach to comprehend ICS implementation in the context of marine oil spills incidents. A
conceptual model was created to investigate the processes needed to develop a comprehensive,
sustainable Incident Management System (IMS) in South Africa. In this process, the organisational
theory was applied for the analytical evaluation of the rationality behind the system's theoretical
foundations and practical applications. Based on these theoretical paradigms, exploratorysequential
mixed method research of data collection was adopted, whereby both qualitative and
quantitative data were collected chronologically. Initially, themes were developed from the
qualitative data, followed by a subsequent investigation of these identified themes through
quantitative data collection. The qualitative phase allowed for a non-linear but purposive research
path that embraced an understanding of respondents’ values, behaviours, assumptions and beliefs.
These were subsequently triangulated with quantitative data to provide a perspective that informed
the conceptual model's development. A total of 121 individuals and 32 organisations participated in
either the qualitative or quantitative study phase. Five key questions addressed the key research
problem through four research articles developed during this study.
In article 1, the question intended to establish the oil spill risk management profile of South Africa
whereby three elements that require attention were identified. Firstly, the existing legislative
arrangements mandating the oil spill management function was found to be fragmented,
highlighting a need for integrated policy reform. Secondly, stakeholders involved in ex-ante and expost
activities have limited technical capacity in oil spills risk management, signifying the need for
structured training and exercise inputs. Lastly, the complexity of the current financial arrangements
creates a gap that undermines resilience, calling for the adoption of budgetary re-allocation and
alternative forms of funding. This study was unique in its methodology and approach to oil spill risk
management. Previous studies have explored scientific variables to be considered for preventing
oil spills. While there has been a generic focus on marine legislation, studies focusing on institutional
and governance principles for managing oil spill risk have been lacking, particularly in South Africa.
Subsequently, article 2 pursued to understand the legal framework governing oil spill management
in South Africa. A content analysis of international conventions and the national policy and legislative
documents relating to marine oil spills was conducted. In this regard, three international
conventions, two marine civil liability laws, seven environmental and conservation management
laws for marine pollution, and two disaster risk management policies and legislative frameworks
were analysed. The findings of this paper demonstrate that South African marine pollution
management is on a reasonable development path. However, invariably, challenges in terms of
enforcement capacity, complicated and ineffective provisions continue. This study thus called for an
institutional and legislative reform that will embrace integrated management strategies, clearer
provisions of legal powers, and strict enforcement of existing laws.
Understanding the South African marine oil spill legal framework in Article 2 led to the need to
investigate and identify practices that enhance a coordination process for an effective management
of oil spill pollution, which was carried out in article 3 through the grounded theory approach. The
empirical evidence included observations of meetings and oil spill exercises held to support the
coordination process employed in instituting a National Incident Management System for the marine
oil spill in South Africa. This was followed by 54 individual open questionnaires for data triangulation
and validation. Analysis of developing an Incident Management System process revealed that when
designing a novel long-term project which is reliant on a shared vision from multiple organisations,
enhanced coordination and collaboration for successful implementation is dependent on the
following practices: (i) political commitment, (ii) bridging knowledge gaps and (iii) sharing of
resources.
Subsequently, Article 4 focused on presenting a conceptual model for marine oil spills in South Africa.
The article drew from the three previous articles and empirical data. In developing the proposed
conceptual model, challenges aligned with reactive response efforts' traditional environmental
disaster management efforts were considered. The model demonstrates an integrative coordination
continuum with a stringent focus on coherent multi stakeholders’ incident management
collaborations. The model is valuable because it focuses beyond the traditional emergency
response tool but is fundamental in effecting adherence to reporting lines, performance standards
and information integration. Additionally, the model reconciles oil spill risk minimisation policies to
the inter and intra-organisational planning and preparedness processes. The model has been
designed to mainstream the organisational views that perceive disaster management and offshorerelated
activities as unfunded mandates, especially where response operation and sustainable
rehabilitation programmes are concerned.
In applying the Incident Command System and the organisation theory, this study provides
numerous contributions to the literature. Initially, the thesis contributes to the literature of incident
command system-risk management-marine oil spill management relationship. Literature that
focuses on these three concepts concurrently is limited regardless of its dominance in general
emergency and crisis response. The research study provides a perspective that mainstreams inter
and intra-organisational planning, preparedness and response to marine pollution and oil spill risk.
Research in oil spill risk management is predominantly considered within environmental sciences,
yet this study was tackled within the disaster management lens within the South African context. The
thesis thus contributes to environmental management and the ICS literature, focusing on the
disaster management continuum. Furthermore, there are limited empirical informed studies that
focus on the value of ICS theory for the pre-disaster, specifically the preparedness phase, hence,
this thesis and precisely the reason for developing the proposed conceptual model. In sum, such a
holistic approach to the Incident Management System further contribute to the preparedness needs
for managing the overall risk of marine oil spills.