The Houston–Galveston Navigation Safety Advisory Committee
The Houston–Galveston Navigation Safety Advisory Committee (HOGANSAC) is hereby recognized as the 2007 Harbor Safety Committee of the Year for significantly improving marine safety in the Houston–Galveston maritime area. In 2007, HOGANSAC strengthened its enormously successful maritime relationships and improved safety by identifying concerns and creating forums that achieve real-world results through innovation. HOGANSAC influenced policy at the national level through recommendations on deep draft ship entry facilitation, a two-day course of study known as “Brown Water University,” and its facility visit teams for safe access.
HOGANSAC’s Brown Water University grew out of its initial development of a publication to educate junior-level Coast Guard personnel, who were new to the region, on the unique characteristics of Houston’s inland towing operations. First taught in October 2007 to an audience of 30 Coast Guard personnel, the course grew in 2008 to include not only Coast Guard personnel but mariners and industry professionals as well. It is now recognized as an Industry–Coast Guard best practice to rapidly enhance the knowledge and understanding of the roles of industry and the Coast Guard in the inland transportation of goods on U.S. waterways.
HOGANSAC’s Navigation Operations Subcommittee developed safe navigation practices to reduce incidences of passing traffic pulling ships and barges off docks, efforts that resulted in a 25% decrease in parted lines in 2007. HOGANSAC also created facility interview teams who reviewed 256 vessel casualties occurring over a four-year period and implemented recommendations to reduce the number of incidents. The committee’s ATON (aid to navigation) Work Group partnered with Houston Vessel Traffic Service to revise the Quick Response Card in order to facilitate continuity of commercial operations after a self-reported ATON knockdown. ATON self-reporting has increased from 14.8% in 2006 to 48.5% today. HOGANSAC’s Harbor of Safe Refuge Subcommittee developed plans and procedures for conducting risk assessments, consistent with resolutions of the International Maritime Organization, to facilitate decision making when a vessel is in distress or seeking safe refuge. They completed chemical and gas dispersion models, identified offshore safe refuge locations, and created a decision tree for oil, chemical, gas, and other cargo vessels. The Harbor of Safe Refuge model is being incorporated into the South Texas Coastal Area Plan. Outreach and training initiatives for critical decision makers and other stakeholders is under way.
The exceptional actions and distinguished service of the Houston–Galveston Navigation Safety Advisory Committee reflect the strong support and teamwork of both government and industry. The committee’s efforts are most heartily commended and are in keeping with the 2 highest traditions of maritime service and industry.
Friday, August 28, 2009
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
WELCOME!
Welcome to the U.S. Coast Guard's National Harbor Safety Committee Blog, the official blog for all things related to Harbor Safety Committees around the country. Please visit the U.S. Coast Guard homepage at www.uscg.mil for official information from the service in general. Any links provided to a U.S. Coast Guard presence on other third party sites are for your reference only. The U.S. Coast Guard does not endorse any non-government websites, companies, or applications.
Harbor Safety Committees
- Commonwealth Port Authority (Siapan)
- Greater Ketchikan Area LEPC
- Greater New Orleans Barge Fleeting Association
- Guam Chamber of Commerce
- Hawaii Ocean Safety Team (HOST)
- Jacksonville Marine Transportation Exchange
- Lower Columbia Region HSC
- Marine Exchange of Puget Sound
- Marine Exchange of Southern California
- Mariners Advisory Committee for the Bay & River Delaware (MAC)
- Maritime Navigation and Safety Association
- Miami River Marine Group
- Port of Morgan City
- Puget Sound HSC
- Savannah Maritime Association
- Southeast Texas Waterways Advisory Council
- Tennessee River Valley Association
- The Harbor Safety Committee of the San Francisco Bay Region
- The Maine and New Hampshire Port Safety Forum
- Toledo Metropolitan Area Council of Governments
- Waterways Association of Pittsburgh
Coast Guard & DHS Blogs
Topics
- 2010 Conference (4)
- 2011 Conference (3)
- 2012 Conference (2)
- CMTS (1)
- HSC Links (2)
- video (1)
National Harbor Safety Committee Blog Submissions & Authorship Policy
Note: All references to “blog” are to the National Harbor Safety Committee Blog (http://www. Harborsafetycommittee.blogspot.com).
All blog entries should conform to the blog’s purpose as “the official dialog on harbor safety committee issues nationwide” or to illustrate “best practices to improve the safety and efficiency of America’s Marine Transportation System.” Entries should include external links to references to build credibility and clarify information/facts. Entries shall also follow the guidelines set forth in the blog’s comment policy. SENSITIVE AND/OR SECURITY INFORMATION MUST NOT BE DISCLOSED OR DISCUSSED ON THE BLOG.
Blog administrators reserve the right to review post ideas/submissions to determine whether or not they will appear in the blog. Administrators may also edit submissions (not comments) for grammar and SAPP (security, accuracy, policy and propriety) prior to posting. The Coast Guard provides no compensation for submissions published on the blog.
Unless annotated, the person posting the entry is the author. If an entry was authored by someone other than the person posting it, the author’s name(s) will appear at the beginning of the post (“Post written by”). Blog administrators may occasionally exercise editorial control over the content, but everyone listed as an author has made a substantial, direct, intellectual contribution to the work and has approved the final version. If a person(s) contributed to an entry through research, data collection, creative idea, and the like, the contributor’s name(s) will appear at the beginning of the post (“ contributed to this post”).
All opinions expressed in blog postings are those of the individual authors and do not necessarily represent the views of the U.S. Coast Guard. Blog authors are solely responsible for the material they submit for posting.
Terms:
Administrator – Any person responsible for assisting with the management of the blog and blog content
Author – a person who writes blog submissions
CG-5521 – Coast Guard Ocean and Transportation Division; the people who manage this blog
Contributor – A person who assists with gathering content for a blog entry
All blog entries should conform to the blog’s purpose as “the official dialog on harbor safety committee issues nationwide” or to illustrate “best practices to improve the safety and efficiency of America’s Marine Transportation System.” Entries should include external links to references to build credibility and clarify information/facts. Entries shall also follow the guidelines set forth in the blog’s comment policy. SENSITIVE AND/OR SECURITY INFORMATION MUST NOT BE DISCLOSED OR DISCUSSED ON THE BLOG.
Blog administrators reserve the right to review post ideas/submissions to determine whether or not they will appear in the blog. Administrators may also edit submissions (not comments) for grammar and SAPP (security, accuracy, policy and propriety) prior to posting. The Coast Guard provides no compensation for submissions published on the blog.
Unless annotated, the person posting the entry is the author. If an entry was authored by someone other than the person posting it, the author’s name(s) will appear at the beginning of the post (“Post written by
All opinions expressed in blog postings are those of the individual authors and do not necessarily represent the views of the U.S. Coast Guard. Blog authors are solely responsible for the material they submit for posting.
Terms:
Administrator – Any person responsible for assisting with the management of the blog and blog content
Author – a person who writes blog submissions
CG-5521 – Coast Guard Ocean and Transportation Division; the people who manage this blog
Contributor – A person who assists with gathering content for a blog entry
Coast Guard Comment Policy
We welcome your comments on postings at all Coast Guard sites/journals. These are sponsored by the U.S. Coast Guard to provide a forum to talk about our work providing maritime safety, security and stewardship for the American people to secure the homeland, save lives and property, protect the environment, and promote economic prosperity. The information provided is for public information only and is not a distress communication channel. People in an emergency and need of Coast Guard assistance should use VHF-FM Channel 16 (156.8 MHz), dial 911, or call their nearest Coast Guard unit.
Please note: Anonymous comments have been disabled for this journal. It is preferred that you use your real name when posting a comment. WE WILL POST THE NAME YOU ENTER WHEN YOU SUBMIT YOUR COMMENT. Also, you are welcome to use Open ID or other user technologies that may be available.
All comments submitted are moderated and will be reviewed before posting. The Coast Guard retains the discretion to determine which comments it will post and which it will not. We expect all contributors to be respectful. We will not post comments that contain personal attacks of any kind; refer to Coast Guard or other employees by name; contain offensive terms that target specific ethnic or racial groups, or contain vulgar language. We will also not post comments that are spam, are clearly off topic or that promote services or products.
We will make our best effort to promptly post those comments that are consistent with the Comment Policy, but given the need to manage federal resources, moderating and posting of comments will usually occur only during regular business hours, Monday through Friday. Comments submitted outside of business hours will be read and posted as quickly as possible.
Please note: Anonymous comments have been disabled for this journal. It is preferred that you use your real name when posting a comment. WE WILL POST THE NAME YOU ENTER WHEN YOU SUBMIT YOUR COMMENT. Also, you are welcome to use Open ID or other user technologies that may be available.
All comments submitted are moderated and will be reviewed before posting. The Coast Guard retains the discretion to determine which comments it will post and which it will not. We expect all contributors to be respectful. We will not post comments that contain personal attacks of any kind; refer to Coast Guard or other employees by name; contain offensive terms that target specific ethnic or racial groups, or contain vulgar language. We will also not post comments that are spam, are clearly off topic or that promote services or products.
We will make our best effort to promptly post those comments that are consistent with the Comment Policy, but given the need to manage federal resources, moderating and posting of comments will usually occur only during regular business hours, Monday through Friday. Comments submitted outside of business hours will be read and posted as quickly as possible.
Total Pageviews
This is an official United States Coast Guard posting for the Public's information.
Our posting does not endorse this site or anything on it, including links to other sites,
and we disclaim responsibility and liability for the site and its content.
0 comments:
Post a Comment