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Our Vision Health and safety risks in the Australian offshore petroleum industry are properly controlled. 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: NOPSA welcomes Karen Suarez as the new Office Administrator for Perth. Karen, who has a wide range of experience in HR, payroll, facilities management and administration / executive support, joins us from Head Office of the National Native Title Tribunal in Perth. Peter Harris has taken up a new role with OMV in New Zealand. We thank Peter for his work with MODU’s, and the development of NOPSA’s competency systems. We wish Peter success in his new role. NOPSA has been restructured to ensure that an organisation wide approach is taken in the development of all of the organisation’s future systems and procedures. To facilitate this, Phil Palmer’s position has been redefined on a permanent basis and retitled General Manager – Corporate. Team Leader & Deputy CEO, Paul Finnigan, moves to a new temporary role of General Manager - Development for a period of 3 to 6 months, to participate as a member of the Corporate Development Team. The Corporate team will develop processes in line with the Australian Business Excellence Framework review which has been conducted recently. Joe Boswell will be Acting Team Leader, Team 1 for the period of Paul’s secondment. INDUSTRY MATTERS: NOPSA continues to monitor operators’ emergency responses to cyclones, and is a member of the FESA led WA State Emergency Co-ordination Group (SECG), and provides information on offshore cyclone response to this group. It is therefore important for operators to keep NOPSA informed of pre- and post-cyclone actions NOPSA is investigating an alleged failure to down-man a MODU in preparation for cyclone ‘Emma’ in accordance with the ERP, potentially exposing personnel to risk from the cyclone. STAKEHOLDER RELATIONS: NOPSA has signed extensions to the Service Level Agreements, (SLA’s), it has with WA DoIR for the provision of technical services and advice to DoIR, as the Designated Authority, (DA), for operational matters in WA internal waters and the islands. The SLA’s will lapse when legislation comes into force from WA Parliament. WA DoIR has provided copies of draft state OHS, MoSOF, and Diving Regulations to NOPSA for comment. Feedback on OHS and Diving Regulations has been provided to DoIR, review and comment on MoSOF Regulations is ongoing but is expected to be complete by mid April. A meeting of the Upstream Petroleum Sub-Committee (UPS) and industry, convened by the Dept of Industry, Tourism, and Resources (DITR), met and discussed issues related to the regulation of technical integrity of pipelines and well operations. The consensus of the meeting was that DITR should revise regulations to allow NOPSA, rather than the DA’s, to regulate the ongoing technical integrity of pipelines, (in addition to NOPSA’s current regulation of OHS matters related to pipelines), and also certain matters currently under the well operations, (WOMP), regulations. The meeting also discussed NOPSA’s role in the assessment of Field Development Plans, which guidelines indicate should address health and safety matters. The meeting was attended by DA’s, Geoscience Australia, DITR, NOPSA and industry. The legislative review will commence shortly. WORKFORCE: NOPSA inspectors continue to attend, where possible, part of each accredited training course for offshore HSRs. The first such course to be held in Victoria recently took place in Sale. CONFERENCES: A NOPSA Team Leader assisted in the organisation of the recent APPEA National Oil and Gas Safety Conference in Perth, as co-chair of the organising committee. Approximately 150 delegates were registered for the event from 15th to 16th March. Day 1 of the conference was chaired by the NOPSA CEO, and Team Leaders made presentations concerning NOPSA’s first year of operations and the current National Programmes. Greg Washington addressed the conference on the UK Step Change in Safety programmes. Feedback from many delegates and speakers at the conference indicates support and interest for pursuing elements of a ‘Step Change’ type process in Australia. On 9 March, Apache Energy sponsored a DrillSafe Forum held in the Woodside Auditorium. Ted Kirkbride gave a presentation on “Lessons learned during NOPSA’s first year” and Peter Harris participated in the Panel discussion on Competency. The Health & Safety Representatives (HSR) Forum held on 27 and 28 February at the Joondalup Resort, WA brought together over 100 delegates from around Australia, with over half of these being HSRs and workforce. The Forum was held over one and a half days, with the majority of time allocated to small group workshop sessions. NOPSA assisted in the organisation of this event, provided facilitation, and participated in the workshop sessions. Workshop participation identified specific actions in relation to integrity of facilities, consultation of staff, succession planning and supervision by management. A Proceedings and Actions document from the HSR Forum will be available online shortly from the DITR website or by requesting it via email to hsr@industry.gov.au Team Leader Simon Schubach is attending the IChemE Hazards XIX conference in the UK on process safety at major hazard facilities. For those who missed the National Oil and Gas Safety Conference, there is a 1-day stream on “Safety in the offshore petroleum industry”, plus other streams of relevance to offshore, at the Safety in Action conference to be held in Melbourne in May. CORPORATE GOVERNANCE The NOPSA Board met on the 1st and 2nd March. Themes for the meeting included the measurement of NOPSA's performance, the changes to management structure and the outcomes of the HSR conference. WEBSITE: The introduction for operators to offshore safety regulation has been updated with minor amendments to the Guideline on Enforcement Decision Appeals. A Policy on Exemptions has been added to the website. INTERNATIONAL: There was a partial de-manning of the UK Shell Tern Alpha platform recently, following an electrical fire. It appears that the windings of a 10 MW electric motor (which drives a gas compressor) overheated and failed to shut down after its air cooling system failed. NATIONAL PROGRAMMES: NOPSA continues to work towards agreement with APPEA on the format for reporting of unplanned gas releases, and collecting the history of past releases. NOPSA inspections will soon include a common checklist examining factors which contribute to releases. The collection of data regarding lifting and cranes is underway, with onshore visits to several operators conducted. Complementary data is being collected during offshore inspections. REGULATORY ACTIVITIES in March 2006: The following activity occurred during March. Quantities identified here may vary as further information becomes available. Safety Case Assessment There were 8 Safety Cases (SC) assessed, including 1 Pipeline Safety Management Plan (PSMP) and 1 Diving Project Plan (DSMP). At the end of March 17 Safety Cases are still being assessed. Inspections There were 7 inspections undertaken in March. Lifting and asset integrity (as per the national programmes) were common themes to inspections undertaken. Incidents & Complaints: During March fifteen incidents and eight complaints were investigated. The incidents consisted of two gas releases and a hydrocarbon release; and four injuries. The remainder of the incidents were principally mechanical/equipment issues. Enforcement There were 3 Improvement Notices issued in March, two of these arising from inspections. One notice required the operator to conduct risk assessments for the hazardous substances held on the facility, another arose from a Safety Case which was deficient in its description of evacuation, escape and rescue analysis, and the third required the operator to complete training in-line with their training matrix. EMERGING ISSUES: NOPSA continues to become aware of cases where operators involved in simultaneous operations between two facilities misunderstand their roles and responsibilities under the law. For simultaneous operations, the facility safety cases may require revision. These revisions may be a single document, or multiple documents, as appropriate to the circumstances, and should be prepared and submitted collaboratively by the two operators. Each operator remains the person with primary responsibility for the health and safety of activities on their facility, but if their activities may affect safety at the other facility they must consult with the other operator. QUARTERLY OVERVIEW OF OPERATIONS – January to March 2006: Incidents and Complaints During the first quarter of 2006 NOPSA was notified of 43 incidents and 17 complaints. The incidents comprised of 12 accidents resulting in injury to workers or requiring medical treatment, and 31 dangerous occurrences. Enforcement One (1) Prosecution Brief and three (3) Improvement Notices (INs) were issued from January to March 2006. No Prohibition Notices (PNs) were issued. Two of the 3 INs were issued following planned inspections, and the third was issued as part of the assessment of the facility’s Safety Case. The Prosecution Brief was concerned with an incident involving overriding safety devices. Inspections There were 16 inspections of offshore facilities during the first quarter of 2006. Safety Case Assessment 20 Safety Cases (SC) and 2 Pipeline Safety Management Plan (PSMP) were assessed during this period, including 2 Diving Safety Management Plans (DSMP). As of the end of March, a further 17 Safety Cases were in progress/being assessed. Past issues of this newsletter are available from the NOPSA website at: http://www.nopsa.gov.au/CEO_emails/ |
