BINTULU: Port authorities, operators and users must receive proper emergency response training in order to respond quickly to emergency situations, said State Fire and Rescue Department (Bomba) chief Khirudin Drahman.
He stressed that the training was vital in view of recent world incidents involving ports like the Port of Tianjin blast in 2015, the collision of two ships off Pasir Gudang Port in 2017 and most recently the fire incident at Laem Chambang Port in Chonburi Province, Thailand this year.
Khirudin was commenting on the Emergency Preparedness Programme for top and senior management staff of Bintulu Port Holdings Berhad (BPHB) at a hotel in Bintulu recently.
The two- day programme, which included a dry drill, was organised by a local
consulting company, EPR (Kuching) Sdn Bhd, in collaboration with Bomba and Maritime Transport Training Institute (Matrain).
More than 40 senior management staff of BPHB attended the programme.
The training was conducted with the objective of validating BPHP’s emergency response, business continuity and crisis communications plans and evaluating the ability of personnel to carry out their assigned roles and responsibilities.
One of the speakers Matrain director Dr. Julyus Mobilik praised the initiative taken by BPHB to have the training and drill that included the Oil Spill Respond Preparedness for its management.
He hoped more ports in Malaysia would conduct similar training in the future.
Another speaker was the former director general of the Malaysian Fire and Rescue Services and currently the Fire Defence Expert of Asia Productivity Organisation, Tokyo, Japan, Datuk Dr Soh Chai Hock.
Dr Soh appreciated the leadership of BPHB chief executive officer Datuk Mohammad
Medan Abdullah who initiated the programme to reskill and upskill the senior management of BPHB.
