Offshore Installations 5.1. The scope of our review extends to offshore installations which is consistent with our remit to consider how the National Contingency Plan for Marine Pollution from Shipping and Offshore Installations should properly reflect the balance of public interest in the conduct of emergency operations in which there is a risk of marine pollution. There are both similarities and differences between threats of significant pollution following upon an incident involving a ship and one involving an offshore installation. The similarities stem from the fact that in both cases the threat is to the marine environment.
Some installations are for practical purposes only a specialised form of ship on a mooring.
Others are not dissimilar to a ship that has intentionally taken the ground. All share the common characteristic that they are located at sea. Like ships they risk being run down by a moving vessel. Like ships, the first line of external assistance in the case of a serious incident is HM Coastguard. And, once the oil has escaped from the installation, the task of containment, dispersion or recovery is identical to that where oil escapes from a ship.