OTEKO: Early Warning, Protection, and Response System in the Face of New Threats

Large port and transport-logistics infrastructure facilities concentrate tank farms, complex process units, power hubs, and a large workforce on a single site. Under modern conditions, conventional industrial safety and civil defense measures are no longer sufficient: facilities face threats of third-party interference and unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs). This carries the risk not only of direct hits, but also of secondary accidents, falling debris, loss of communication, panic among personnel, and sudden equipment shutdowns. Guided by the principle that "the simplest solutions turn out to be the most effective," Vladimir Stepanov, Director of Industrial Safety and Occupational Health Department at OTEKO, breaks down the design of the early warning, protection, and response system using the example of two marine terminals on the Taman Peninsula.

Regulations, Zoning, and "One-Button" Alert Activation

The vast area of the terminals required dividing the territory into more than 14 zones and moving employees not directly involved in production operations into a safe perimeter. Response procedures were regulated through four signal levels: normal operations, heightened alert with a slowdown of process operations, immediate evacuation to shelters with a complete halt of all work and vehicle traffic, and all-clear.

To eliminate time loss in a stressful situation, the IT team integrated all communication channels into a unified system. When the third signal level is declared, the chief dispatcher presses a single button to trigger sirens, SMS broadcasts via telecom operators, instant messenger alerts, emails, and notifications on computer lock screens. Because the loamy soil of the Taman Peninsula dampens sound and radio waves, and communications may experience disruptions, the alert system was physically duplicated: manual sirens were purchased and red flashing lights were installed at entry gates to prohibit site access during an alarm. Additionally, the signal log and data collection from designated personnel regarding headcount in each shelter were digitized.

Protecting People: From Shelter Design to Overcoming Curiosity

Due to the lack of ready-made regulatory standards for mobile above-ground blast and fragmentation shelters, the company's specialists conducted their own structural engineering assessment of concrete thickness and reinforcement. Monolithic reinforced concrete modules were chosen: unlike prefabricated alternatives, they can be quickly installed directly from a flatbed trailer. To absorb the kinetic energy of projectiles and fragments, the shelters were surrounded with sand-filled bulk bags (FIBC) and covered with netting to protect the bags from UV degradation. Inside, the walls were lined with OSB panels for psychological comfort, and the units were equipped with water, HVAC systems, stretchers, and first aid kits.

The first aid kits were custom-assembled in-house after training department specialists in tactical medicine, and the standard 16-hour first aid course was redesigned into a practical express course focusing on bleeding control, resuscitation, evacuation, and panic management. At least two people in every shift and crew were trained, with their hard hats marked by a special sticker.

A serious challenge at the outset was human curiosity: during an alarm, some workers went outside to watch what was happening instead of heading to a shelter. Beyond updating the safety induction and broadcasting a series of short videos filmed by employees themselves in the canteens, working through frontline leaders proved most effective. Department supervisors moved pre-shift briefings and mini-trainings directly inside the shelters, personally leading their crews there and reviewing emergency procedures. At the senior management level, a Crisis Management Center was established to evaluate personnel actions and adjust response scenarios from a protected command post.

Engineering Solutions for Emergency Containment and Firefighting

The presentation examines in detail the experience of technically upgrading firefighting and emergency rescue equipment through the efforts of the in-house emergency response team and engineering services:

• Accelerating foam attack. When extinguishing a tank farm fire, the speed of refilling foam proportioning tanks with foam concentrate is critical. Previously, refilling staging stations took two hours, which reduced firefighting effectiveness. Purchasing laminar-flow pumps and increasing pipeline diameters cut the process from two hours down to 15 minutes.
• Protecting water supply from pressure drops. The simultaneous operation of up to 26 fire trucks causes a sharp surge in water demand across the network. To maintain pressure, idle storage tanks were repurposed as water reserves, a fivefold supply of foam concentrate was distributed across protected zones, and at the berths, seawater pumping into the onshore firewater network using the company's own tugboats was implemented.
• Retrofitting vehicles. A water spray truck was converted into a 10-cubic-meter mobile foam concentrate tanker, and a construction concrete pump was transformed into a third firefighting aerial foam appliance using removable attachments that can be mounted in half an hour, with 38 designated deployment pads prepared across the site.
• Tooling for hazardous zone operations. To seal leaks in shrapnel-punctured pipes, clamp-on patches with hinges for jet fires were developed alongside long-reach pole holders that allow a wooden plug to be driven in with a single strike from a safe distance. To close gate valves when automation fails under extreme heat—where manual operation requires up to 400 turns of the handwheel—a custom valve wrench adapter for an impact driver was fabricated.

As forward-looking solutions, the company is testing a local AI assistant for the dispatcher to automatically aggregate data from sensors and cameras, as well as portable high-pressure foam generators with hot-tapping devices for pressurized pipelines to enable subsurface fire extinguishing.

What You Will Learn from This Presentation

• How to build a multi-channel "one-button" personnel alert system and compensate for signal attenuation across difficult terrain?
• What criteria to use when selecting, fortifying, and equipping mobile above-ground shelters in the absence of underground facilities?
• How to redesign a first aid course by incorporating tactical medicine skills and psychological first aid?
• How to work through frontline supervisors to overcome employee curiosity and achieve discipline during shelter evacuation?
• How simple engineering solutions can cut foam attack preparation from two hours to 15 minutes, prevent water pressure drops, and make shutting off damaged pipelines safer?