BASS STRAIT OFFSHORE FACILITY SAFETY CASES: A CASE STUDY ON EFFECTIVE WORKFORCE INVOLVEMENT IN THE MODERN SAFETY CASE REGIME

2002 ◽  
Vol 42 (2) ◽  
pp. 95
Author(s):  
M.C. Greenwood ◽  
D.C. Tyler ◽  
M.A. Newton ◽  
N.V. Clarke ◽  
J.J. Hayes ◽  
...  

In 2001, Esso submitted 18 different Bass Strait Facility Safety Cases as part of their five year revision cycle, and obtained regulatory acceptance for each of them. These revised safety cases incorporated the accumulated learning from our many previous offshore safety case submissions, the 1998 Longford accident and our work with the WorkSafe Victoria Major Hazards Division. A number of significant challenges were met and overcome. This paper discusses our experiences and describes the processes we used to successfully develop useful, easy to use living safety cases for our offshore workforce.Although our priority was to demonstrate that we knew our facilities, had identified hazards, assessed the risks associated with those hazards and had control measures in place to reduce those risks to as low as reasonably practicable, we also wanted to bring about behavioural change. This paper will explain how our safety case revision processes were used to successfully change workforce behaviours with consequent changes to collective attitudes and values across the organisation.Extensive and highly effective employee involvement was integral to all stages of the safety case planning and development process. The paper examines how a skilled team comprising a workforce-elected Health and Safety Representative, an Offshore Installation Manager and specialist safety professionals collaborated to deliver a true program of workforce involvement and buy-in that in turn delivered the behavioural changes necessary for a true safety case culture to flourish.Esso’s approach of developing a safety case as a shopfloor friendly tool highlighting the linkages between routinely used safety management system controls and the major accident event risks present at the workplace has delivered significant benefit in developing a risk averse health and safety culture. A comprehensive ongoing learning program designed to give the workforce the knowledge, skills and confidence needed to use the safety case to maximum advantage, has been developed as a key component of our safety case program. This paper explores the successful planning, development and implementation of this innovative learning program that has been widely recognised by regulators and industry.

Author(s):  
Ning Huan ◽  
Enjian Yao ◽  
Binbin Li

Recently, surges of passengers caused by large gatherings, temporary traffic control measures, or other abnormal events have frequently occurred in metro systems. From the standpoint of the operation managers, the available information about these outside events is incomplete or delayed. Unlike regular peaks of commuting, those unforeseen surges pose great challenges to emergency organization and safety management. This study aims to assist managers in monitoring passenger flow in an intelligent manner so as to react promptly. Compared with the high cost of deploying multisensors, the widely adopted automated fare collection (AFC) system provides an economical solution for inflow monitoring from the application point of view. In this paper, a comprehensive framework for the early warning mechanism is established, including four major phases: data acquisition, preprocessing, off-line modeling, and on-line detection. For each station, passengers’ tapping-on records are gathered in real time, to be further transformed into a dynamic time series of inflow volumes. Then, a sequence decomposition model is formulated to highlight the anomaly by removing its inherent disturbances. Furthermore, a novel hybrid anomaly detection method is developed to monitor the variation of passenger flow, in which the features of inflow patterns are fully considered. The proposed method is tested by a numerical experiment, along with a real-world case study of Guangzhou metro. The results show that, for most cases, the response time for detection is within 5 min, which makes the surge phenomenon observable at an early stage and reminds managers to make interventions appropriately.


1994 ◽  
Vol 34 (1) ◽  
pp. 144
Author(s):  
R.S. Gill.

Following major incidents and a worldwide trend to a more structured approach to managing offshore safety, the Australian Government has regulated for the preparation of Safety Cases for all new offshore projects which commence design work after 1 July 1992. The Safety Case is required to demonstrate that safety management systems are adequate to ensure design, construction and operation of the installation are safe, that potential major hazards have been identified and appropriate controls are provided to ensure that risks are as low as reasonably practicable, and that adequate provision has been made for safe evacuation, escape and rescue. The safety case should be prepared using a balanced approach that results in a practical and value-added case.This paper summarises the approach adopted by Esso Australia in the preparation of safety cases for two new Bass Strait developments. It specifically covers the development of detailed internal guidelines for use in preparing safety cases, the safety case structure, content and emphasis, and includes examples to illustrate the key aspects of the Esso Australia Safety Case approach. The methodology described provides an effective means of achieving the objectives of a safety case.


2003 ◽  
Vol 43 (1) ◽  
pp. 805
Author(s):  
A.J. Mathers ◽  
S. Savva

Esso Australia Pty Ltd, in Victoria, Australia has recently been involved in the preparation of over 20 safety cases to meet both offshore (Victoria and Western Australia) [Petroleum {Submerged Lands} Act] and onshore [Victorian Occupational Health and Safety Act] regulatory requirements.This paper focusses on the development of the onshore safety cases for both Longford and Long Island Point plants to meet the Victorian Occupational Health and Safety (Major Hazard Facilities) Regulations 2000. Both plants have been granted a five-year unconditional licence to operate.The objectives of the safety case development were to ensure that Esso:addressed major hazard facilities regulatory requirements; maximised benefit from the process, and to maximise benefit from existing work; was consistent with site approach to risk assessment/ safety culture; involved appropriate workforce from all areas— operations, maintenance and technical support; enhanced the effective knowledge and understanding of the workforce; and developed a communication tool to enable ease of understanding by site personnel.Esso’s approach of using qualitative risk assessment techniques (familiar to many site personnel) enabled the process to use tools that provided ease of involvement for the non-technical or safety specialists. This paper will explain this approach in greater detail, demonstrating how this successfully met the stringent requirements of the regulations whilst providing Hazard Register documentation readily understood by the key customer— our site workforce.The hazard register clearly identifies the relevant hazards and their controls, as well as highlighting the linkages to the safety management system and documented performance standards. A comprehensive training program provides all personnel working at site with an overview of the safety case, and the necessary skills and knowledge to be able to use the safety case and hazard register to its maximum advantage. The safety case resource booklet (similar to our offshore approach) is an integral part of the training program, and provides an ongoing reference source for trainees. It continues to receive recognition by both regulators and industry.


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