This series of messages is aimed at keeping you informed of the operations of NOPSA.

Please pass to all concerned.

 

PERSONNEL:

· Ray Wells in the Melbourne Office has been confirmed as Team Leader, after an initial period in an acting capacity.

· Karin Illenberger commenced as the Office Administrator in the Melbourne Office.  Karin joins us from RMIT University, where she worked in a number of administrative capacities since starting there in 1989.  Her most recent role at RMIT was as Executive Officer on the Master of Commerce Programme.

· Recruitment of OHS inspectors for the Perth Office:  Interviews have been completed,; two offers accepted;  process ongoing.

· The position of Assistant Information Officer for the Perth Office was advertised in last weekend’s West Australian newspaper.

 

MELBOURNE OFFICE:

· Now fully equipped and on-line to the Perth NOPSA IT systems.

· Continues to deal with a range of Safety Case revisions for drilling and facility modifications.

· The planned inspection programme is fully underway, and a total of 10 inspections should be completed by the end of NOPSA’s first six months of operations.

 

INDUSTRY MATTERS:

· The CEO met with the Hon Alan Carpenter MLA, WA Minister for State Development; Energy.

· NOPSA hosted two workshops in Perth in March, with a video link to Melbourne, to clarify and communicate issues surrounding Operator Nominations and the broader “facility” definition that now includes, for example, pipelay and construction vessels in the safety case regime.  The workshops were very well attended with over 80 people in Perth and 12 in Melbourne.  Positive feedback was received.  NOPSA is considering hosting similar workshops in the future and seeks suggestions from Industry for topics.

· NOPSA and DoIR met as part of the programme of regular two-monthly meetings.

· NOPSA continues to develop Memoranda of Understanding (MOU) with relevant stakeholders.  MOUs have been signed with four Commonwealth Agencies and four Designated Authorities, and a further 11 are under development.  NOPSA has sought agreement from the signatories to post copies of the MOUs on the NOPSA website.

· Please visit the NOPSA booth at the forthcoming APPEA Conference in Perth, 11-13 April.

 

NOPSA BOARD:

· The second meeting of the Board will be held in Perth on 11 and 12 April 2005.

 

OVERVIEW OF OPERATIONS FOR THE FIRST QUARTER 2005:

Incidents and Complaints

· During the first quarter there were 31 notified incidents and 12 complaints.  Two of the incidents, one relating to man riding and the other to electric shock, could have resulted in single fatalities.  Of the 31 incidents, 10 resulted in injury to workers and 17 were dangerous occurrences.  10 of the incidents related to lifting operations.  The complaints varied in nature from unsafe working practices through to poor accommodation.

 

Enforcement

· 13 Improvement Notices (INs) and no prohibition notices (PNs) were issued.  Four INs related to lifting operations and three to unsatisfactory use of permit to work (PTW) systems.

 

Inspections

· There were 17 inspections of offshore facilities.  Some good standards of health and safety were observed, however,  in some cases, significant improvements are required.

 

Common Themes

· Some common themes emerging from incidents, complaints and inspections relate to:

à poor use of PTW systems;

à poor workplace risk assessments;

à significant maintenance backlogs;  and

à a whole raft of issues to do with mechanical handling and lifting operations.

 

Safety Case Assessment

· Fourteen safety cases (SC) were assessed.  Some SCs were good but for others issues relate to poor or incomplete documentation e.g. sections of SC missing, incorrect referencing and wrong diagrams and tables.  Importantly, there were also poor demonstrations for safety, in particular, poor links between hazards, control measures and performance standards.

 

 

 

JOHN CLEGG

Chief Executive Officer

NOPSA