This series of messages is aimed at keeping you informed of the operations of NOPSA. Please let us know if you would like to be added to the distribution list

 

PERSONNEL:

· Ms Natalie Goodban joins us as Information Officer.  Natalie brings with her many years of experience of records management in the pharmaceutical manufacturing industry and local government.  She is working on the finishing touches to a Masters of Information Management.

 

· Kevin Hall has retired from the Financial Controller’s role after leading the development of NOPSA’s financial systems and guiding the Authority to a sound end-of-year financial result.  Kevin will be succeeded by Dahlia Beitmanas who will be acting in the position.

 

· OHS inspector Patrick Senycia has left NOPSA for the WA Department of the Environment, where he will focus on his specialty of hazardous materials management.  The operators that Patrick was responsible for will now be dealt with by Ted Kirkbride.

 

INDUSTRY MATTERS:

· NOPSA recently hosted a meeting with representatives of the Minerals Council of Australia, at which there was keen interest in the safety case regime adopted by the offshore petroleum industry.

 

· CEO John Clegg gave a presentation to the Perth Maritime Industry Workshop hosted by the Australian Maritime Safety Authority (AMSA) on the role of NOPSA and its relationship with AMSA.  The presentation may be obtained from our website.  [1.9 MB PDF]

 

· Ted Kirkbride made a presentation to drilling industry representatives regarding relationship between WOMP regs and safety cases.  The seminar was organised by the IADC, and included a presentation from Steve Walsh of DoIR. The guidelines on well management produced by the Commonwealth Department of Industry, Tourism and Resources may be obtained from the DITR website.

 

· NOPSA management recently made presentations to APPEA representatives on:

- NOPSA’s Enforcement Policy and the Enforcement Management Model (EMM), now being implemented. The EMM captures in a structured way the thought processes an experienced regulator goes through when making a formal enforcement decision. Its use should ensure a transparent, consistent and defensible process of enforcement. A copy of the presentation is on the NOPSA website.

- An increased emphasis on safety case-based inspection methods, which focus on the operator’s implementation of their proposed safety management systems and their attention to the hazards, control measures and performance standards identified in that safety case.

- A project to benchmark the industry’s OHS performance

These initiatives received strong support from those present at the meeting.

 

· Applications have been received from 11 organisations to become accredited to deliver Health and Safety Representative (HSR) training in accordance with the legislation.  8 of the organisations have progressed to the second level of the assessment by NOPSA.  A third round interview has been held, with 3 more to occur over the next three weeks.  It is planned to have the contact details of accredited organisations available on the NOPSA website by the end of August.

 

· Crane operator certification is not performed by NOPSA under the new legislation.  An explanatory note is available on our website.

 

· CEO John Clegg was invited to join the panel of judges for Woodside’s HSE Awards 2004 – the awards were presented on 14^th July.  Congratulations to the winners, The Apprentices Western Australia Team for their initiative on the role of Peer Leadership in improving health and safety within the apprentices training environment.  For further information contact Joanne Bryce at Woodside.

 

STAKEHOLDER RELATIONS:

· A Meeting was attended with representatives of the WA Department of Industry and Resources (DoIR), and the Department of Consumer and Employment Protection (DoCEP)  to clarify roles and responsibilities arising from the recent reorganisation where responsibility for safety has transferred from DoIR to DOCEP.

 

· Meeting with Unions: The management teams from NOPSA and Unions WA met to discuss workforce health and safety issues, HSR training and ways of working.

 

· CEO met with Tim Daly, Branch Secretary, Australian Workers’ Union (AWU) to discuss similar issues.

 

· The NT Department of Primary Industries, Fisheries and Mines (DPIFM) replaces the former Department of Business, Industry and Resource Development (DBIRD).

 

LEGISLATION:

· The South Australian Petroleum (Submerged Lands) Regulations came into effect from 30^th June.  This leaves Western Australia and Tasmania to put in place their mirror legislation.

 

· A further PSLA re-drafting bulletin has been received from DITR.  The main item of amendment is the proposed introduction of the Administrative Decisions – Judicial Review process to allow review of NOPSA’s regulatory decisions.  The bills, and an accompanying Explanatory Memorandum are available on the Parliamentary website.

 

WEBSITE:

· An updated draft of guidance on construction safety cases has been posted on the NOPSA website.

 

· A new draft guide to the pipeline regulations has been published, which gives particular attention to the assessment of Pipeline Safety Management Plans.

 

 

VISIT:

· Andrew Lewin gave a presentation to NOPSA on the mining industry’s expectations of a new safety regulator. The expectations mirror the regime that NOPSA is implementing.  Andrew is Group Manager Safety and Health at Zinifex and has experience of safety regulation and Safety Leadership training in the offshore oil and gas industry.

 

INCIDENTS and COMPLAINTS:

· A significant gas release has caused the shutdown of a platform.  A NOPSA inspector who was on a nearby facility, attended on site to commence an investigation.  Esso Australia have launched an investigation and have advised they will issue a safety alert regarding the incident.

 

ENFORCEMENT:

· During July a prohibition notice was issued against specific crane maintenance activities.

 

INTERNATIONAL

· We note with regret the loss of life following a fire on the Bombay High rig off the Mumbai coast.  The potential for collisions to trigger these events is also present in Australian waters, as our quarterly summary identifies.

 

· The Norwegian Petroleum Safety Authority (PSA) have reported an issue on a Statoil facility in the North Sea where faults were discovered on the lowering system on two conventional lifeboats preventing their deployment.  Further investigation indicates the cause to be severe corrosion of bolts that fix critical hardware to the keels of the boats.  The problem was discovered by “climbers” since these parts of the lifeboats are not accessible during “normal” inspection activities.  NOPSA will be issuing a safety alert and will be including the testing of lifeboat launching systems on their inspection programmes.

 

 

OVERVIEW OF OPERATIONS FOR THE SECOND QUARTER 2005:

Incidents and Complaints

· During the second quarter there were 39 notified incidents and 9 complaints.  The complaints included manning levels, unsafe work practices and navigation lights not operating.  Of the 39 incidents, 22 were dangerous occurrences, and 7 resulted in injury to workers – a slight improvement in the number of injuries from the first quarter of 2005. Eight of the incidents related to lifting operations and dropped objects. 2 collisions and 1 near collision with marine vessels were reported, and 3 fires. 

· Two of the fires were laundry dryer fires, and a safety alert has been prepared on these.

· Safety alerts are also issued on a separate email distribution list.  Contact us to register for this list.

 

Enforcement

· No Improvement Notices, Prohibition Notices or prosecution briefs were issued during the quarter.  NOPSA inspectors continue to provide information and support regarding a pending prosecution initiated by DoIR in 2004.

 

Inspections

· There were 22 inspections of offshore facilities during the quarter.

· A recent inspection of a mobile facility found a positive demonstration of team work and safety culture, with consistent safety messages being put out by senior personnel from clients, the facility operator and third party contractors.

· A series of recent inspections using safety case-based methods has identified a lack of understanding of the links between hazards, control measures and performance standards on a number of facilities.

 

Progress towards Inspection Target

· Of the 42 attended facilities 32 have been inspected to date this year, and 7 unattended facilities have also been inspected.

 

Common Themes

· The themes identified in the first quarter arising from incidents, complaints and inspections, have continued in this quarter.  These are:

poor use of Permit-To-Work (PTW) systems;

poor workplace risk assessments;

significant maintenance backlogs;  and

issues to do with mechanical handling and lifting operations.

 

· Themes emerging in this second quarter relate to:

action items not closed out from previous inspections or internal audits; and

poor management of change, particularly relating to simultaneous operations.

 

These themes are being discussed with APPEA as the basis for developing national (key)programmes.

 

Safety Case Assessment

· 13 Safety Cases (SC) and 1 Pipeline Safety Management Plan (PSMP) were assessed during this quarter, including 4 Diving Safety Management Plans (DSMP). 

· As of the end of June, there were 11 Safety Cases and 2 Pipeline Safety Management Plans being assessed. 

· There are continuing difficulties with poor or incomplete documentation and poor demonstrations for safety as identified in the first quarter: i.e.  poor links between hazards, control measures and performance standards.

· Some cases are being delayed while operators confirm the scope of validation work.

· The quality problems with safety cases and delayed operator responses are contributing to a higher than usual workload for inspectors.

 

For general enquiries, please email us.  Past issues of this newsletter are available from the NOPSA website at:

http://www.nopsa.gov.au/CEO_emails/