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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: Bronwyn Brookman Smith (Team 4 in Melbourne) and Daniel Quick (Team 1 in Perth) have resigned. Their significant contributions to the start-up and operation of NOPSA are greatly appreciated. Newton Marques will transfer from Perth to the Melbourne office this week to replace Bronwyn.
Sue Kruse, Manager, Safety & Security Section in the Safety, Taxation and Projects Branch of DITR, Canberra, is being promoted to a new position in the Federal Dept of Employment & Workplace Relations, (DEWR). Sue’s contribution to NOPSA’s ongoing development, and her work on relationships with the Australian offshore oil & gas industry, has been highly valued. We wish Sue success in her new role. Sue’s replacement at DITR is Ms Kathy Harman. NOPSA looks forward to working with Kathy on NOPSA / industry issues
· Safe Work Australia Week
NOPSA actively participated in the recent Safe Work Australia Week. Activities included an information session to launch the week and to reinforce NOPSA’s own internal OHS Committee to staff.
INDUSTRY MATTERS: On 18 October the CEO attended a Woodside Dinner to mark the achievement of first oil on the Nganhurra. Nganhurra is the newest of Woodside's oil production facilities, operating on the Enfield field off the NW Cape. The facility is noteworthy with its offshore loading hose reel, and absence of pumproom.
NOPSA received, and circulated to industry and AMSA, further news on developments with certain steel hulled Norwegian freefall lifeboats, of Umoe-Schat Harding supply. Issues with structural integrity of the boats led to the Norwegian regulator, PSA, shutting down two large production facilities for a number of days, until remedial processes could validate the ongoing integrity of the steel boats. These latest issues add to the problems found with certain GRP / fibreglass freefall lifeboats, noted in CEO’s email no43,. From responses to our circulated message, we understand that no similar steel boats are present on Australian facilities.
Cyclone season is generally recognised as starting from the 1st of November. NOPSA has contacted operators of offshore facilities requesting their participation in a reporting scheme to keep NOPSA advised of the status of thief facilities during cyclones. This information allows NOPSA to coordinate the flow on information to various other government bodies who are involved in contingency and emergency response planning.
Industry should note that there is now an Approved Code of Practice for Manual Handling in the Maritime Industry. The approved code is available from the Seacare website.
STAKEHOLDER RELATIONS: The CEO met with APPEA CEO, Ms Belinda Robinson, in Canberra recently. Topics discussed included NOPSA/Industry progress with the two National programmes on lifting and facility technical integrity, policy on the rejection of poor quality Safety Case Submissions and measuring performance of Health and Safety.
APPEA has issued a DVD to provide general guidance in support of their “Hand Injury Prevention Campaign”. It can be obtained by contacting APPEA. NOPSA met with the new APPEA Government relationship director, Richard Ellis, to be based in Perth, and Operations Director Mark McCallum, and discussed Safety Case improvements, health and safety strategy, and the industry review of NOPSA performance. Richard was briefed on NOPSA / Industry issues. NOPSA and APPEA intend to host a Safety Case workshop early in 2007 after the redraft of the Safety Case Guidelines.
NOPSA notes the appointment of Colin Beckett as the new Chair of the APPEA Council, and Peter Hood as the Vice Chair. NOPSA looks forward to working with Colin, and Peter, and continuing dialogue with Peter, as the Chair of the APPEA HSO Committee, on safety related issues.
NOPSA met with the WA Operations Manager of CASA to discuss offshore helicopter arrangements, and to inform CASA of the current NOPSA review of offshore helicopter industry issues. This review is being conducted by Hart Aviation on behalf of NOPSA..
On 6 October Team Leaders Ray Wells and Ted Kirkbride conducted a briefing for Victorian-based offshore service companies in Sale. No further briefings are planned specifically for service companies but companies wishing for further dialogue should contact one of the team leaders (Ray or Ted).
NOPSA was involved in a further meeting of the DITR led Upstream Petroleum Sub (UPS) Committee Working Group on technical integrity, and regulatory reform. The Working Group, which includes APPEA, Designated Authorities, and industry members, are examining possible streamlining of the current regulatory regime. This may result in the regulation of ongoing technical integrity of offshore pipelines being transferred to NOPSA, from the Designated Authorities. The working group is also examining potential changes, including the transfer of responsibilities, to the regulation of well operations.
WORKFORCE: NOPSA has recently met with a representative of the Australian Workers Union to discuss various OHS issues relating to Mobile Offshore Drilling units working in Australian waters.
NOPSA inspectors have participated in a number of in-house training courses run by Ensco Australia Pty Ltd. The courses are designed to provide supervisors with various skills to manage safety on their facilities – part of this process is a talk on the role of the regulator and an introduction to the legislation.
CONFERENCES: On 3 October the CEO attended the IADC Drilling HSE Europe 2006 Conference & Exhibition in Amsterdam. The theme was ‘Building on cultures in management systems’; also, the new IADC International HSE Case Guidelines were rolled out. NOPSA encourages the use of the Guidelines by MODU operators but would remind Operators that Safety Cases prepared using the Guidelines will still be scrutinised in our assessment processes. The NOPSA CEO gave a short presentation on lessons learned from 20 months of Safety Case assessment in Australian waters, emphasising that the Safety Case was NOT simply a document but a continuous improvement process of Preparation-Documentation-Implementation.
The CEO then attended the 13th Annual International Regulators Forum (IRF) Meeting. This is an informal group of regulators of countries with significant offshore oil and gas interests. Topics discussed included the need for international H&S performance benchmarking including the role of the IRF; IADC and OGP databases; progress of the international programmes on lifting and asset integrity, (with which NOPSA’s own two national programmes link), and issues relating to contractor H&S management, (supply chain issues).
On 25 October the CEO made a presentation to the Australian Regulatory Reform Evolution Conference in Canberra. This is the only event in Australia to look specifically at the issue of regulatory reform and what is being done to reduce red tape burdens. The overview of the circumstances that led to the creation of NOPSA, and its unique model, (reporting to Federal and State / Territory Ministers), were of interest to other delegates.
CORPORATE GOVERNANCE: Ernst and Young commenced work with NOPSA staff on the development of a Corporate Governance Framework which includes a Risk Management Plan, a Quality Management System that ensures integration of all systems, a Balanced Scorecard and a Business Improvement Plan based on the principles of the SAI Australian Business Excellence Framework.
The NOPSA Annual Report 05–06 was tabled in Federal Parliament. Copies will be circulated to all stakeholders, including the offshore workforce, and a copy is available on the NOPSA website at http://www.nopsa.gov.au/ .
WEBSITE: Recent additions to the website include:
· NOPSA has posted its Annual Report and the Board’s Annual Report to the website (warning, large documents). · A link to the International Regulators’ Forum Conference 2007
INTERNATIONAL: NOPSA received information concerning a proposal for Australian Governments and Industry to support the development of regulatory skills for the Kazakhstan oil & gas industry. NOPSA is examining the proposal, in conjunction with DITR and other Governmental agencies.
REGULATORY ACTIVITIES in October 2006: NOPSA conducted an internal two day training / workshop in its Core Regulatory Processes, (Safety Case assessment, offshore inspections, incident and complaint investigation, and enforcement activities). The workshop was also attended by DOIR and Dept of Defence (Navy) staff. Navy staff gave an overview of the development of a Safety Case regime for RAN vessels and activities.
The following activity occurred during October. Activity and incident quantities identified here may vary as further information becomes available.
Safety Case Assessment During October assessment decisions were issued for six Safety Cases, including two Diving Project Plans.
As at the end of October thirty-five Safety Cases (including one DSMP) and six PSMP’s, are still under assessment.
Inspections Five Inspections were conducted. Issues included the condition of electrical equipment being used in hazardous areas, systems for management of lifting equipment, control of hazardous substances and Job Safety Analysis. NOPSA inspectors were pleased to see some examples where Safety Cases that are held offshore are being maintained current, and are also being referred to as part of operational activities.
Incidents & Complaints: Seven incidents and one complaint were reported. There was one gas and one fluid hydrocarbon release. There were two incidents that resulted in personal injuries. The common theme was “human performance difficulties” that translate to a lack of job planning and situational awareness.
Enforcement Three Improvement Notices were issued in October; two as a result of investigating incidents, the third following an inspection. These relate to a failure to take all reasonably practicable steps to ensure that the facility is safe, particularly with regard to maintaining a physical environment.
Past issues of this newsletter are available from the NOPSA website at: http://www.nopsa.gov.au/CEO_emails/
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