Soundkeeper's Log

The Prince William Sound Regional Citizens Advisory Council contracted for an audit to be performed on the Alyeska Pipeline Service Company's (Alyeska) maintanence management systems, process, proceedures and hardware at the Valdez Marine Terminal (VMT).  An additional audit was also done on how well the terminal was performing under Part Two of the VMT Oil Discharge Prevention and Contingency Plan.

The report states that the maintenance processes at the VMT are "overly complex," and Alyeska is too reliant on "a very few key individuals" to keep its maintenance systems working.

"It is the opinion of the Consultants that the real work to maintain and operate the VMT is being done by dedicated workers, not through efficient or effective processes, but in spite of burdensome systems, processes, and procedures," the report says.

"Evidence suggests that in the case of managing and monitoring maintenance at the VMT, with the exception of a few key individuals ...employees either do not know the processes and procedures, or the processes and procedures are simply too disjointed for them to support the work," the report says. "This complexity results in increased likelihood of errors and inefficient use of employees' time."

The complete can be found at report: 
http://pwsrcac.org/brdmtgs/documents/110823.4-3Attachment.pdf