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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: · Wendy Wiley has been seconded from the Department of Veterans Affairs to perform the role of Procurement and Contracts Officer. Wendy has considerable experience in procurement/contract work and will be with NOPSA until approximately August 2007. · Tim McGrath has resigned to accept a position with APPEA as Safety Advisor. This is a new and critical role, an important aspect of which will be liaison with NOPSA. We look forward to working with Tim in his new role and we wish him well. · NOPSA has advertised the positions of OHS Inspector, and OHS Inspector (Well Operations) with applications for both closing on 19th January. Position descriptions and application packages are available from the NOPSA website.
INDUSTRY MATTERS: · NOPSA has held discussions with some operators about the reporting of lost time injuries. NOPSA understand that some operators’ in-house reporting criteria are different to the legislated reporting requirements. This may lead to confusion, and NOPSA would like to remind operators that reports made to NOPSA should be based on the criteria detailed in the guidelines: o Notifiying and Reporting of Accidents and Dangerous Occurrences, and; o Accidents & Dangerous Occurrences- Monthly Reporting available from the NOPSA website · Recent offshore inspections have identified unsuitable work environments, generally relating to manned spaces which have poor control of noise, heat, and in some cases fumes or dust. Four improvement notices relating to noise have been issued in the second half of 2006. · NOPSA has noted a number of positive steps in operators (and others) instituting more formal controls for the management of fatigue. · The minutes of the 2006 ICRARD conference on offshore safety research have been published on the research organisation’s website.
STAKEHOLDER RELATIONS: · We welcome Fran Logan MP as the newly appointed WA Minister for Energy, Resources, Industry and Enterprise, and Peter Batchelor MP as the Victorian Minister for Energy and Resources. · On 30 November CEO met with Union officials in Melbourne. Discussions were constructive and examined ways to build upon the effective role of the regulator. · The NOPSA management team attended the recent APPEA HSO Subcommittee meeting in Perth. Discussion topics included NOPSA’s National Programmes, Levies, the consistency of regulatory operations, workshops on regulatory issues, the content of safety cases and NOPSA’s approach to decision making on safety cases. · NOPSA attended the recent Drillsafe forum in Adelaide. Statistical data on injuries and incidents provided by NOPSA were incorporated in presentations to the forum. Copies of presentations will be available from the Drillsafe website. The Bureau of Meteorology made an interesting presentation on cyclones. NOPSA hopes to address a future DrillSafe meeting on the same topic · A presentation to stakeholders on the cost effectiveness of NOPSA’s regulatory operations was held on Tuesday 19 December. Issues raised included: o Plans for managing the budget surplus and in particular the need for those plans to reflect the proportion of levies paid by the various types of operators, especially the drilling industry, o Need to reduce the complexity of the charging regime particularly regarding its impact on MODU owners, o Future cost effectiveness reports should include detail of quantum of work undertaken within each of the core processes, (currently included in the annual report), o Information on the proportions of time spent on promotion and compliance activities would be useful, o Whilst recognising the current need for significant resources to be spent on process build and administration, the long term plan is to increase effort on the core regulatory processes
CORPORATE GOVERNANCE: · An internal planning forum attended by NOPSA management was held on 5 December. The forum reviewed progress on the current annual business plan and developed a draft annual plan for 2007-08 informed by a recent internal risk assessment and by lessons from other jurisdictions, including: o the explosion and fire at the BP refinery Texas City o issues raised by Bill Campbell regarding management of safety at installations in the North Sea o the Palmer Report into the detention of Cornelia Rau by the DIMA. · The NOPSA Board met on 13 and 14 November. Issues examined included the Board plan of work for 2006-07, communication with the industry, communication with HSRs, and industry preparedness for cyclones.
WEBSITE: Material posted to the NOPSA website this month included: · an updated NOPSA organisation chart · A draft policy on safety case assessment: seeking additional information, and resubmission following rejection.
INTERNATIONAL: · NOPSA notes with regret the helicopter crash in Morecambe Bay UK in which it is reported there are six dead and one missing. · Waterjet Accident - WorksafeBC, (British Columbia) has issued an instructive presentation on safety issues relating to the use of Waterjets for cleaning industrial pipes, following the tragic death of a worker while using such equipment.
NATIONAL PROGRAMMES: NOPSA is currently running a National Program looking at a number of issues associated with offshore lifting operations. To date this program has been focusing on gathering information on current practices. NOPSA are now looking to form a working group with industry to examine the findings and look for local initiatives to improve the safety of lifting operations. Invitations to participate in this process have been sent to a number of industry contacts, however people or organisations who have not yet been contacted, but would like to contribute should contact Ted Kirkbride (08-6461-7007) at NOPSA
REGULATORY ACTIVITIES in December 2006: The following activity occurred during December. Activity and incident quantities identified here may vary as further information becomes available.
Safety Case Assessment Five revised Safety Cases were accepted during December; no Diving Project Plans or Pipeline Safety Management Plans were assessed. As at December 29, nine Safety Cases (including two PSMPs), are still under assessment.
Inspections Four Inspections were conducted, generating 106 recommendations to operators.
Issues of concern included fit-out and operational procedures for a saturation diving facility, maintenance backlogs, preparedness to move off-station during an emergency, insufficiently specific documentation of occupational health risks and management strategies in construction activities, noise levels in accommodation, lack of functioning man riding winches, and physical support and inspection programmes for small bore piping.
One operator was observed to have significantly increased efforts to improve the condition of facilities, particularly through painting programmes.
Incidents & Complaints: 12 dangerous occurrences and two complaints were reported. Of the reported incidents, three were strain injuries during manual handling, two were collisions with attendant marine vessels and two involved damage to safety critical equipment.
Enforcement Two Improvement Notices were issued in December; one relating to failure to manage excessive noise, and another concerning failure to provide adequate safety training.
Past issues of this newsletter are available from the NOPSA website at: http://www.nopsa.gov.au/CEO_emails/
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