Imagine you came across a tanker roll-over and discovered that 35,000l of jet fuel was leaking into a nearby creek. It’s raining, wet and muddy. The creek is a tributary to a river that supplies a local town’s drinking water. The people in the town are told to fill their bathtubs, basins, anything they can, because their water will soon be contaminated. What would you do?
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An SOS to Canberra for help draws a blank - there is no equipment in the nearby nation’s capital to deal with the emergency. Equipment eventually arrives from Sydney, but by then it is dark and raining and no-one knows the topography and what's brought turns out to be unsatisfactory. The entire 35,000l drains into the creek and heads downstream.
That was the situation that confronted Brian O’Connor on May 8, 1989 on the Federal Highway. The creek was Brooks Creek and the town water supply about to be contaminated was Yass. It was, as the newly announced Member in the general division of the Order of Australia (AM) told the Tribune, “a nightmare”.
At the time, Mr O’Connor was Caltex’s terminal operator of the Canberra Inland Terminal. For someone dedicated to lifting standards and improving environmental performance in his own patch of the oil industry, this was a terrible situation.
When the team sent from Sydney eventually reached the scene of the accident, they were confronted by a Channel 9 helicopter. The oil industry was attacked on TV, radio and in the papers. Politicians jumped on the bandwagon. It took a week or more to clean up the spill.
Obviously, the situation was unsatisfactory. Brian O’Connor and his mate Don Kirk from Kirks Tanker Services (KTS) decided to fix the problem. On May 16, 1989, they called a meeting of the oil distributors/agents and tanker operators in the Canberra area. CROIERG (the Canberra & Regions Oil Industry Emergency Response Group, Incorporated) was born.
Fast forward 27 years and CROIERG now has 34 trailers with close to $800,000 in assets. Funded by annual membership subscriptions from its 38 members, it is recognised as the leading oil industry emergency response group in Australia. Its 32 spill response trailers are based from Rockhampton to Melbourne and one in South Australia. It also has two specialised training trailers.
CROIERG’s emphasis on training intensified following a court case involving emergency response. It became apparent that there was no national competencies covering training for industry responders to road tanker incidents. No one seemed to take this seriously - until two people died.
Brian O’Connor had been researching North American emergency responder training and, after a scoping study, the CROIERG committee decided to press ahead and develop a training program.
The CROIERG Training Program for industry responders was contracted to the Transport Industries Skills Centre (TISC) of Canberra and detailed training courses developed, using the research conducted by Brian O’Connor as the base for the programs. Competencies were developed, scrutinized and eventually national accreditation approval obtained.
These CROIERG training courses are the only national approved courses for industry responders to road tanker incidents in Australia.
So far nearly 400 people have been trained and 124 people have qualified for the nationally recognised Bulk Tanker Emergency Responder Card.
CROIERG has provided all of the specialised training equipment for running the courses - at considerable expense. Courses are conducted at the large TISC Training Complex on Sutton Road, where CROIERG also has its main equipment base.
Mr O’Connor still does all the administrative tasks for CROIERG. He is the editor of their website and monthly ENEWS.
The oil industry stalwart’s initial reaction to his Australia Day honour was a humble “it’s a bit embarrassing really”.
“I’m pleased for the group that it’s come out this way. And I’m pleased for my kids. They know how much work it’s taken.”
The proud father explains to the Tribune that his daughter Cara lives in Thailand with two children and is Coca Cola’s Marketing and Operations Director for ASEAN. Patrick is a banker with three children. Mollie lives in Canberra with two children.
On top of all his other roles, the 84-year-old is the long-term full-time carer of his wife Susan, who suffered a stroke a number of years ago.
Mr O’Connor’s other achievements include President of the Caltex Distributors Association at the time of the Caltex swoop on Golden Fleece, Secretary of the APADA (Australian Petroleum & Distributors Association) NSW Branch and for three years he was also a National Board Member of APADA.
On the home front he served 13 years as a Councillor on the fast growing Yass Valley Council, including committees such as Aged Care Services, Disability Access, Landscape and representation for Yass on regional bodies. He was honoured as Yass Citizen of the Year in 2009.
As a young man, while working for his father Joe in the Yass Caltex Distributorship, Mr O’Connor was awarded a Queen’s Commendation for Brave Conduct for his attempts at rescuing four people when a car went into the flooded Yass River at Pearce’s Bridge in 1956.
