Inside Safety - December 2012

troubled watersPilotage safety concerns identified

DECEMBER 2012

• Industrial Safety: SITA’s safety journey • Construction Safety: Stab-Pad ups outrigger stability • Mining Safety: Beaconsfield survivor’s new role• Oil & Gas Safety: Eight key lessons from conference

InsIde

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08 Cycloneseasonuponus

10 Biodieselbenefits

14 Harmonisationofsafetylaws

20 Downanddusty

22 Beaconsfieldsurvivor

25 Safetynet

31 Riskypractices

contents

Managing Editor: Michael Cairnduff ([email protected])Production Manager: Mata HenrySenior Layout Designer: Diane Thornley Layout Designer: Catherine HoganChief Sub-Editor: Gerald Bradley Sub-Editors: Melanie Jenkins, Maxine BrownContributing Editors: Noel Dyson, Richard Collins, Thomas Smith, Jon CuthbertNational Sales Manager: Angela SmithAdvertising Sales Team Leader: Richa Fuller ([email protected])Advertising Sales: Vanessa Monastra ([email protected]), Nigel D’Silva ([email protected])Advertising Production: Isaac Burrows ([email protected])Executive: Colm O’Brien – Chief Executive Officer, Trish Seeny – General Manager, John Detwiler – Chief Financial OfficerHead Office: Aspermont Limited, 613-619 Wellington Street, Perth, Western Australia 6000PO Box 78, Leederville, Western Australia 6902 Ph: (08) 6263 9100 Fx: (08) 6263 9148Email: [email protected] [email protected] [email protected]: www.industry-news.net

COPyrigHT WArNiNg: All editorial copy and some advertisements in this publications are subject to copyright and may not be reproduced in any form without the written authorisation of the managing editor. Offenders will be prosecuted.

12

04Noorganisation,includingpilotageproviders,hasclearresponsibilityformanagingthesafetyrisksassociatedwithpilotageoperations,accordingtoanATSBreview.

16cover


NOTEBOOKEDITOR’S

2

Safety key to success

There are many indicators of success for which heavy industries businesses are held to account each day in Australia – pro� t results, management

performance, environmental compliance and industrial relations – but it is a company’s attitude to behavioural safety that can drive it towards being an employer of choice.

Safety in the workplace has become an industry in itself, with occupational health and safety practitioners, or teams of them in most cases, now a critical aspect of businesses’ social licence to operate across sectors including exploration and mining, construction, oil and gas, and heavy industrial manufacturers and service providers.

However, having teams of quali� ed and experienced personnel sitting in head o� ces ticking legislative and contractual boxes

in order to win work does not necessarily translate into an acceptable, or better yet outstanding, operational safety performance.

� e common theme encountered across sectors when putting together this edition of Inside Safety, is the crucial importance of cultural change and behavioural safety leadership being put into practice onsite, which is ultimately re� ected in the general attitude to safety across the workforce.

� is publication has been broken down into four key sections, representing the key sectors Aspermont publishes information for being mining, construction, oil and gas, and the industrial sectors of environment, water and waste management.

As a result of this, Inside Safety has been circulated to more 23,000 readers in print and 15,000 online through our leading

publications including Australia’s Mining Monthly, Contractor magazine, WME magazine and EnergyNewsBulletin.net.

� is supplement, which will become a regular feature in our annual publishing cycle, o� ers news, commentary and case studies on safety issues which a� ect all companies operating in heavy industry as well as showcasing the latest safety-related innovations in products and services across the sectors dealt with in the following pages.

� e individual editors of our relevant business publications are always open to hearing about developments in the � eld of safety and welcome correspondence from companies that are working on developments to improve safety across Australian workplaces. – Michael Cairndu�

[email protected]

A company’s attitude to safety is critical to it being an employer of choice, which can offer a unique selling point when recruiting in a tight labour market.

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4

These key shipping routes are going to be of increasing importance as the LNG export terminals on Curtis Island start to come into operation

and coal export terminal expansions come onstream.

� e review by the Australian Transport Safety Bureau’s found that under the coastal pilotage regulations, no organisation, including the pilotage provider companies, has clear responsibility for managing the safety risks associated with pilotage operations.

It also identi ed systemic safety issues surrounding pilot training, fatigue management, incident reporting, competency assessment and use of coastal vessel tra c services.

� e Australian Maritime Safety Authority, which is the coastal pilotage safety regulator, says it already has taken action or proposed measures to address the issues raised by the ATSB review.

AMSA is working with pilots, pilotage providers and the industry to make further improvements to shipping safety in the region.

It already has published standard passage plans for pilotage and required pilotage providers to develop standard operating procedures for pilotage tasks undertaken by their contractor pilots.

AMSA began a review of its coastal pilotage regulations on July 1.

While the ATSB has welcomed the AMSA regulation review, it argues that further action is necessary to address the issues.

In particular, it wants AMSA to ensure coastal pilotage regulations speci cally assign responsibility for the safe management of pilotage operations to somebody be it the pilotage provider or some other body.

� e ATSB also has issued recommendations to the three coastal pilotage providers to take safety action in relation to fatigue management and incident reporting to facilitate AMSA action.

� e bureau began an investigation into Queensland coastal pilotage operations in 2010 following the release of its report into the grounding of the piloted tanker Atlantic Blue in the Torres Strait. � e bureau also had received a request for such a review from AMSA.

AMSA says it has taken steps over the past two years to address the concerns raised by the ATSB and expects to outline how it will do that by 2013.

One of the key areas it is working on is who will take overall responsibility of risk management for pilots and pilotage providers.

� ere are about 4700 ships piloted through Queensland’s four pilotage areas annually.

� at is set to increase as LNG and expanded coal export terminals come on stream.

� ere have been about 40,000 vessel movements within the Great Barrier Reef

Marine Park in the past ve years with only one major incident – the 2010 grounding of the Shen Neng 1.

� e Shen Neng, a fully laden coal carrier, was not under pilotage at the time of her April 3, 2010 grounding.

� at incident led AMSA to extend the Great Barrier Reef and Torres Strait Vessel Tra c Service area of coverage to the southern boundary of the marine park. AMSA says REEFVTS has reduced groundings by 90% since it was introduced in 2004.

By November the authority expects to have nalised a contract to research the impacts of fatigue on two-person pilotage operations on the inner route of the Great Barrier Reef.

Ships in pilotage areas currently only have one pilot on board.

� is move could pose problems though, given the seeming dearth of marine pilots in Australia.

A� er the sale of the government-owned Australian National Line to a French company in the late 1990s, one of the main sources of new marine pilots dried up.

Inside Safety knows of at least one marine pilot, albeit it Western Australia, who was still climbing pilot ladders at the age of 79.

� e Australian Navy is no real solution because while the commanders of Australia’s warships o� en have the ship handling and navigation skills they usually do not receive training in the ship loading techniques.

Troubled watersA review of pilotage operations in the Great Barrier Reef and Torres Strait has turned up some worrying fi ndings, at a time when shipping in the area looks likely to increase.By Noel Dyson

Cover Story

INSIDE SAFETYDECEMBER 2012

THOSE piloting ships through Queensland’s Great Barrier Reef and the Torres Strait are held in extremely high regard globally for their skills.

However, as the report into the grounding of the Atlantic Blue shows, mistakes can occur.

On February 6 2009 a pilot boarded the almost fully laden tanker to guide its eastbound transit through the Torres Strait.

� e passage progressed normally and in the early hours of the following morning the ships course changed to 66 degrees true.

However, no allowance was made for the

25 knot northwesterly wind aba� the port beam nor the east going tidal stream.

� is meant the ship was actually following a course of 70 degrees true and within an hour was one nautical mile south of its planned track.

While the pilot subsequently made heading adjustments, these did not bring the ship back into track and it progressed towards Kirckaldie Reef.

By 0307 that morning the ship was about one mile o¡ a shoal and the pilot began steering the ship further to port but that course change was too little too late.

Five minutes later the Atlantic Blue’s

bow grounded on the sandy shoal. Her hull remained intact and there was no pollution. By 0700 the ship was re¢ oated on the ¢ ooding tide and manoeuvred clear of the reef.

� e subsequent investigation found the ship grounded because its progress and position were not e¡ ectively monitored by the bridge team and inadequate action was taken to bring it back on track.

� e investigation report identi es safety issues in relation to the ship’s passage planning procedures; the coastal pilotage check pilot regime and the coastal vessel tra c service’s monitoring system.

� e grounding of the Atlantic Blue


5

Pilot problems could be looming in the Great Barrier Reef Marine Park and Torres Strait areas.

InsIde safety DECEMBER 2012 © Aspermont Limited - Courtesy of Inside Safety Magazine

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8

Cyclone season is just around the corner in WA’s north, with the state’s safety regulator reminding companies to brush up their contingency plans.

WorkSafe WA commissioner Lex McCulloch said it was crucial that everybody on sea and land knew what to do when a cyclone was in the area.

“The cyclone season officially begins on November 1, and under workplace safety and health laws employers must have adequate plans in place and provide adequate training to protect workers in the event of a cyclone,” McCulloch said.

The Bureau of Meteorology is predicting two coastal impacts from cyclones this season, with a significant risk of one being severe.

McCulloch said that on projects with employees from several companies all working on the same site it was important that emergency evacuation plans were coordinated so all workers knew exactly what to do.

“Employers should not leave anything to chance when a cyclone is threatening,” McCulloch said.

Time to prepare Contingency plans are crucial for companies likely to be affected by Western Australia’s cyclone season.

News

InsIde safetyDECEMBER 2012

Cyclones off the WA coast can cause major disruptions to mining and energy projects in the state’s north.


Workers in the resources sector are struggling to identify hazards in the workplace, according to Edith Cowan

University researcher Dr Susanne Bahn.Her research found that new employees at

one WA-based company could only identify 43% of hazards.

And of the 54 new staff at the underground mining operation surveyed, five could not identify a single hazard.

The report highlighted the issue of new employees being underprepared to work in high-risk environments, while experienced workers become complacent about the risks.

“They either believe it’s not going to happen to them or it’s okay if I do it quickly,” one WA occupational health and safety manager said.

Bahn has called for reform in safety training, focusing more on practical training

in identification of hazards and ongoing training for experienced staff.

“We need to go back to basic and simple ways to point out hazards in the workplace, getting out of the classroom and into the field,” she said.

As part of the report, 21 occupational health and safety managers working in the resource sector were interviewed, with one saying the training Bahn suggested had already been implemented.

“What I am doing is I take the guys out there and coach them through it,” the manager said.

“I say to them: Right, let’s have a look at this hazard that you’ve found, this hole in the ground or a sharp edge or something like that.

“You see this as a hazard and I agree with you, there is a hazard there, but what are the risks involved here?

“What do I have to do to actually get my

hand to this sharp edge? What is the chance of that ever happening?”

WorkSafe WA statistics for 2008-09 show there were six work-related deaths, 386 injuries resulting in more than 60 days off work, and 877 injuries requiring five days off work in the mining sector.

Workers blind to hazardsFresh research points to new employees in the resources industry being underprepared to work in high-risk environments.

9InsIde safety DECEMBER 2012

CME rejects media safety claimsPressure to maintain umblemished safety statistics is a potential hazard in itself on minesites. By Brooke Showers

An industry group has hit back at media reports that Western Australia’s mining industry has a culture of covering up injuries.

The WA Chamber of Minerals and Energy (CME) claimed the state’s safety performance was better than 10 years ago, both in terms of the number of fatalities and the frequency of lost-time injuries.

The call came after The Sunday Times reported that workers were treating their own injuries onsite with personal medical kits because they feared being sacked or were desperate to keep an untarnished safety record.

The article also claimed that companies were being tipped off ahead of government safety inspections, entire mining teams had been laid off because of the iron ore price drop, mine inspectors were “controlled” during visits, and recruits were supplied with answers at some safety inductions.

The CME rejected the claims made against the autonomy of the mine safety regulator, stating it was not aware of any company that did not want its workers to report injuries or hazards.

“Any allegations the mine safety regulator

is controlled or not independent are simply false and misleading,” CME chief executive Reg Howard-Smith said.

“Resource sector employees have both a right and a responsibility to report safety hazards.

“If they don’t, they are not only putting themselves at risk, but those they work with.

“If issues are not resolved in the workplace, they have the right to report them to the regulator.

“The CME encourages individuals to do this as we cannot accept poor safety practices in the industry.”

Howard-Smith said it was only through companies being made aware of issues that they could rectify them before someone got hurt. Referring to data collated by SafeWork Australia from 2007-08 to 2010-11, The Sunday Times reported that 16 mine workers died in WA, six in Queensland, five in New South Wales and two in Victoria.

Howard-Smith said that while no death was acceptable, it had been more than 12 months since a fatality had occurred in the WA mining sector.

Despite the improvements in safety,

however, the CME did concur with reports that the industry still needed to make continual improvements.

“This can only be achieved by everyone working together to keep the focus on safety to ensure this can stretch to two, three, 10, even more years without another occurring,” Howard-Smith said.

“Creating a safe workplace cannot be done by companies in isolation, it requires everyone in the workplace to be working together to proactively identify and address safety concerns.”

CME chief executive Reg Howard-Smith.

Practical training in identifying hazards could improve preparedness.


10

The recent classification of diesel emissions as a carcinogenic by the World Health Organisation (WHO) signals the need for Australian

underground mining operations to review their mine ventilation risks.

“The WHO announcement signals an urgent need for the Australian mining industry to review ventilation risks and where appropriate implement workplace improvements that reduce the cancer risk for underground miners,” Pitt and Sherry national mining manager Dan O’Toole said.

At a meeting in June this year, WHO declared that diesel emissions cause lung cancer – this statement marks a significant shift away from a previous position that had classified diesel fumes as a “probable carcinogenic”.

Specifically, WHO considered compelling scientific research showing human exposure to substantial concentrations of diesel particulate matter – or soot – produced by burning diesel causes lung cancer and is

also linked to bladder cancer. Underground miners are typically exposed to concentrations of diesel exhaust more than 10-times higher than other workplaces that utilise diesel powered equipment such as the transport industry.

There are a number of strategies available for reducing mine worker exposure, including improved ventilation and purchasing new efficient machinery, but one of the simplest and most effective solutions involves using biodiesel as a substitute.

The substitution of conventional diesel with biodiesel can be done by blending at levels varying from as little as 5% (B5) to complete replacement (100% biodiesel). Given its higher flashpoint, biodiesel is also less likely to ignite than conventional diesel providing an additional level of safety for underground mining application.

“The most exciting aspect of biofuels in the contect of underground air quality is biodiesel can be readily substituted for conventional diesel in existing equipment, while also

delivering up to a 90% reduction in diesel particulate emissions. In fact, a recent US Department of Energy study conducted by the University of California concluded using biodiesel instead of petro-diesel reduced cancer risks from emissions by 93.6%.”

Biodiesel benefits

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InsIde safetyDECEMBER 2012© Aspermont Limited - Courtesy of Inside Safety Magazine


12

On June 11, 2009, Shane Bushell went to work at a waste transfer station at Camellia in western Sydney. Several hours later the

contract welder was fighting for his life after the hydraulic arm of an industrial waste compactor clamped shut across him.

Bushell, who had fallen into the baler during pre-commissioning work, suffered horrific injuries. He lost both legs, a hand and his testicles, as well as suffering extensive “de-gloving” injuries where the skin is peeled back.

In October, the Industrial Relations Commission of New South Wales handed down its decision on the case. Site owner SITA Australia was fined $130,000 and Bushell’s direct employer, Edmen Recruitment, was fined $117,500.

The figures were well short of the maximum $550,000 that Justice Wayne Haylen could have imposed. In SITA’s case the decision reflected its early guilty plea, cooperation with WorkCover and previous good record.

The traumatic accident also set one of Australia’s biggest waste operators on a major overhaul of its safety culture, a journey SITA frankly detailed in its affidavit to the court in August.

One of the first steps was to shift top level responsibility for safety from its director for business optimisation to human resources general manager Jon Dystar. He spoke openly to Inside Safety about SITA’s failings and efforts to improve.

“We had changed [safety responsibilities] over in 2008 to business optimisation. Before

that it had been under our legal counsel, so a much more compliance-focused role,” he said.

“We moved it to a role where we continued the compliance focus but also looked at how it integrated into our business systems and how we did things. The next step was to take a holistic and integrated approach to not only our business systems but also how we managed our people around safety.”

This last aspect was SITA’s weakest link. The thinking had been that good systems, such as policies and paperwork, would automatically lead to good practice. Dystar, who used to manage safety in his previous manufacturing roles, brought a slightly different mindset: “You cannot divorce safety from people.”

A central lesson from the accident was that static measures alone were not enough when

A traumatic injury that cost a man his legs set waste company SITA Australia on a safety journey. Richard Collins reports

Learning from disaster

Industrial Safety

The SITA transfer station at Kemps Creek in Sydney handles large volumes if material daily.


13

it came to safety; systems must be “not only practical but well used”.

For a company that directly or indirectly employed 2100 people in a complex industrial environment, the issue was simply not visible enough at either management or employee levels. Justice Haylen said while SITA had “appropriate” isolation procedures in place, they were not being enforced.

“Disturbingly, SITA was on notice (as the result of an external audit) some nine months before the accident that this site had high safety-related risks and hazards,” he noted in his ruling.

The culture frontThe accident on that fateful day changed the safety conversation at SITA, although Dystar said shock alone was rarely enough to sustain change.

“You have to change people’s behaviour and the shock value gives you that opportunity. You do it through improving systems, making sure your hardware is safe and getting your people engaged in it,” he said.

A key decision was to be upfront with staff about the accident and the company’s intention to lift its game. The formula was clear to Dystar, who set about recalibrating systems, recharging the safety culture and increasing resources.

SITA has developed a national safety strategy, audited its systems and rolled out or upgraded a wide range of procedures. The more complex piece is the culture change.

Safety became a core issue in regular “toolbox talks” and in the internal newsletter, while the company also introduced an annual Safety Week and safety awards.

“We focused on our management and leadership of safety. That was really trying to affect the culture and start to get people to have a deeper understanding and a more thorough integration of safety into the way we did business rather than something that sat off to the side,” Dystar said.

The key message was every individual had the right and responsibility to identify hazards at their own sites. This was backed up by an online system where any employee could enter a “corrective action report” that identified a hazard. Each CAR was then evaluated and, where required, a response developed to avoid or minimise that risk.

“That has been the biggest change, because that is the one that starts to change people’s understanding. If you send expectations that your job is to identify hazards rather than just ‘be safe’, it gives people something much more tangible to do,” Dystar said.

It also allowed managers to record any safety incidents and actively manage corrective actions.

The state general manager and state safety manager keep an eye on open CARs across their sites and work with the relevant manager to ensure all required actions are taken within

an appropriate time, depending on the risk evaluation.

Targets and impactsSITA also identified a weakness in its management ranks, prompting a new governance policy backed up with better tools and support. This included overhauling the executive bonus structure because managers were being incentivised for safety results that were not entirely theirs to influence.

In every state the general manager and safety manager set targets for each site but Dystar is not a fan of pure high-level key performance indicators.

“People in KPIs are always looking for pure numbers. If you say you want a loss time frequency injury rate of 10, either you get above or below that, so people like it as a really simple KPI,” he said.

“We have said that safety is important to us, so a minimum of 10 per cent of your bonus should be set around safety but along with loss time frequency injury rate and the like, half of the bonus should be actions you commit to in order to improve safety.”

Resourcing is critical to staying on the front foot and Dystar conceded before the accident SITA had been “a little skinny”, with a national safety team of just two. Justice Haylen noted considerable variation in safety regimes among SITA’s 100 sites.

Since then the national safety team has grown to five people, including an environment, quality and safety GM reporting to the managing director. The NSW safety team was also expanded, as was the number of supervisors at the transfer station.

SITA now spends more than $1 million a year on direct safety measures, excluding training time and other non-direct costs.

But the toll of workplace accidents can be high on all concerned. SITA’s Camellia site manager at the time, who was also found guilty of breaching the Occupational Health and Safety Act and entered into an 18-month good behaviour bond, continues to suffer depression and anxiety due to the accident.

Shane Bushell to this day experiences intense phantom pains, takes painkillers and receives regular physiotherapy, blood tests and testosterone injections.

He gets around on a wheelchair (and skateboard and scooter) and uses a set of stiff prosthetic legs for traversing stairs.

“You have to change people’s behaviour and the shock value gives you that opportunity.”– Jon Dystar

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14

Occupational safety protections will no longer apply only to direct employees or contractors, and a workplace is no longer simple to

de ne as a speci c location of commercial activity.

For that matter, being an employer is no longer as intuitive as it used to be either.

� ese are among the reforms in the model Work Health and Safety (WHS) legislation being phased in by states across the country – with the exception of Victoria, which has opted out of the harmonisation framework agreed by the Federal and state governments.

In a series of online posts, lawyers Clayton Utz have tracked the roll out of the legislation through state parliaments this year and detailed the major implications.

For starters, it extends an employer’s duty of care beyond the traditional employee/contractor relationship to capture a variety of working arrangements, including labour hire workers, apprentices, trainees and work experience students.

Similarly, employers must consult with “workers”, not just “employees”, about OH&S matters, especially when identifying hazards and assessing risks.

More people are becoming employers too, possibly without even knowing. � e laws broadens the de nition of an “o� cer” of a business to include, among other things, anyone who participates in decisions that a� ect the whole, or a substantial part, of the business.

It also informs several basic principles, one of them being the “reverse onus” of proof for occupational safety. In NSW, for example, the former Occupational Health & Safety Act imposed a blanket duty on employers to ensure health and safety in the workplace,

then allowed them a limited defence of reasonable practicability. In e� ect, the law had reversed the standard presumption of innocence; employers had to prove they had taken all reasonable steps.

Under the model WHS legislation, however, prosecutors must now show an employer has not “so far as reasonably practicable” ensured the health and safety of its employees.

While that seemingly lowers the bar employers need to clear in court, another key principle from some jurisdictions has been enshrined: o� cers and directors must exercise due diligence to ensure their businesses comply with safety obligations.

� ey have a positive duty for ensuring compliance, to the extent that an o� cer could be liable for breaches without an incident or accident even occurring. � ey can demonstrate due diligence through steps such as being up-to-date on OH&S issues, understanding the nature of the business and its associated risks, and ensuring there are appropriate resources and processes in place to eliminate or minimise hazards.

Breaches expose o� cers to nes of up to $600,000 and/or ve years in jail for the worst o� ences. � ere are three categories of o� ences, with penalties scaled accordingly.

Top tier Category 1 o� ences involve recklessness and exposing an individual to the risk of death or serious illness or injury, and carry a maximum penalty for a business is $3 million.

Category 2 o� ences are for exposing workers to similar risks, but without recklessness.

Category 3 o� ences are those without a high risk of serious harm and without recklessness. � ey carry a maximum penalty of $500,000.

� e WHS legislation also gives courts a wider variety of sentencing options, in addition to any ne. � ese include enforceable undertakings, remedial orders, adverse publicity orders, training orders, injunctions, compensation orders and community service orders.

� e information should not be relied upon as legal advice.

� e new scope of safetyThe progressive harmonisation of the states’ OH&S laws promises some fundamental reforms. By Richard Collins

Industrial Safety

� e codes of practiceA SUITE of 21 model codes of practice have been developed under the Work Health and Safety banner to guide employers in developing risk management plans. While not mandatory, they set a benchmark for adequate action and therefore have some evidentiary value in court.

� e codes span a wide range of speci c issues and risks, from ‘Managing Noise and Preventing Hearing Loss at Work’ through

to ‘Con ned Spaces’ and ‘How to Safely Remove Asbestos’.

General compliance aspects are laid out in ‘How to Manage Work Health and Safety Risks’. It provides an overview of duties and the test of what is “reasonably practicable”, information on consultation requirements, practical help with identifying hazards and reviewing risks, and details about record-keeping.

More at www.safeworkaustralia.gov.au


Where safety-in-design was unique among other elements of workplace health and safety, according to Consult

Australia senior legal policy advisor Robin Schuck, was that there was not a simple checklist to complete.

“With safety-in-design there is a potentially limitless pool of issues to be aware of, because addressing design risk is a case in many instances of being creative in brainstorming what could go wrong.”

The Workplace Health and Safety reforms rolling out to most states set new requirements for designers of all aspects of the built environment, whether a house, a road or even an elevator in an office block.

Engineering and architecture firms have

been concerned about the reforms, which cover not just the construction phase but the use, maintenance and demolition of the infrastructure item.

Consult Australia, an industry association for built environment consultants, has released a toolkit that CEO Megan Motto said was the “first collection of best practice material that draws directly from the intellectual property of the industry’s largest consulting firms”.

The guide aims to demystify the reforms. It links to two new mandatory codes of practice relevant to design professionals: safe design of structures; and managing the risks of plant in the workplace, which covers the design, manufacture and importing of capital equipment.

De-risking designWorkplace health and safety reforms currently being rolled out across Australia hold special issues for engineers and architects. By Richard Collins

15

An escalator must be safe from construction through to demolition.

Minarc Evo 140 VRDPerfect for welding on mine sites

Designed to meet the needs of the mining sector, the Kemppi MinarcEVO 140 VRD is perfect for repair and maintenance applications arounda mine site. Portable and powerful, it meets the Australian standardAS60974-1 and Mine Safety Standard MDG 25. Highly compliant withsafety regulations, the Minarc Evo 140's integrated VRD has been testedto achieve lower than 35 open circuit volts within 300ms from peakload. The unit also features a VRD operational status light and ‘fail tosafe’ function in the event of VRD failure. Suitable for MMA and TIGprocesses, the unit is energy efficient, boasts large voltage reservesand automatic arc force control as well as a large, clear meter display.It delivers outstanding welding quality plus safety. For details call1300 Go Kemppi or email [email protected]

www.kemppi.com


16

Looking more like a Lego pancake, its hard to believe a lightweight, 10cm thick non-slip outrigger pad signals the future of the heavyweight

crane industry.Unassuming it may be, but Bearing � ermal

Resources’ product, made from high-density polyethylene joined under pressure with a thermoplastic elastomer, may have changed the game.

Developed to provide a � rm footing for any li ing appliance, BTR business development manager Craig MacGibbon said the Stab-Pad was the brainchild of BTRs national sales manager Stephen Mooney.

And with outriggger stability a critical issue, MacGibbon said a solution was desperately needed.

“Unfortunately, this essential factor is not always given the attention it merits, and in all too many cases its absence results in the collapse of the equipment under load,” MacGibbon said.

“And in the majority of cases that is due to insu� cient support for the outrigger feet,”

“Apart from the fact all operators of mobile cranes should be aware of their responsibilities, the insigni� cant cost of providing stable support for outriggers when compared to the high capital equipment costs involved also makes good sense.

Successful stabWhen you’re working at the big end of the big lifting business, it takes big ideas to revolutionise the industry. By Andrew Mole

Construction Safety

Stab-Pads are 75% lighter than steel.

The Stab-Pad is made from high-density polyethylene

joined under pressure with a thermoplastic elastomer.


17

“An average of 10 fatalities per year, together with a much higher number of capsized cranes, has led to a need, and demand, by crane operators for an outrigger pad manufactured from material tough enough, light enough and economical enough to fulfil this vital task.”

Mooney and the BTR team worked with the wider industry for more than two years to develop the Stab-Pad.

BTR was launched in 1999 after the breakup of the old BTR Nylex group and MacGibbon said Mooney spent a lot of time in front of the drawing board, first with his concept and then with support from other BTR team members, coming up with a viable alternative to the traditional timber dunnage.

He said timber has been the traditional material for supporting outriggers but it brings too many inherent problems with it – from weight to water absorption to inability to evenly spread the downward pressure.

Steel plates fall into the same problem area, most obviously for weight.

“Stab-Pads are 75 per cent lighter than steel,” MacGibbon said.“We have been in talks with one guy from Queensland who asked us

about Stab-Pads 1m x 1m x 100mm and we told him we could provide those at sub-100kg,” he said.

“When using steel he had needed a 10-tonne truck just for the dunnage, which also meant in addition to the crane driver and dogger he had to employ a third person to drive the truck.

“With Stab-Pads the dogger can carry the pads in the back of the ute – he was rapt.”

MacGibbon said a feature of Stab-Pads was its nipple locking, just like Lego, which allows easy stacking and assures non-slip during transport – unlike plain plastic surfaces.

However, the real key to the studded surfaces, which he said created an endless series of “hills and valleys”, was that they evenly distributed the downward pressure of the outrigger pads to every square centimetre of the Stab-Pad.

He said a flat pad concentrates the load in one area, but the Stab-Pad spreads the load, making it a far more effective option.

“By pressing the two products together we have created an incredibly strong product, much better than simply pouring into a mould, that gives you canoes not pads capable of carrying a seriously big load,” MacGibbon said.

“We currently produce them from 40mm to 100mm with pads between 40mm and 60mm good for seven to 50 tonne loads, while 60mm to 100mm are calculated on an individual basis for the really big machines,” he said.

“You only need one for each outrigger pad and you are covered. We are also in the process of developing chocks to be used on sloping or undulating sites.”

The production run produces sheets 2m x 2m so size can also be negotiated. Or two or more pads can be interlocked to achieve the same effect.

MacGibbon said they were open to negotiation with customers for size and colour.

He said they already had approaches from companies wanting Stab-Pads in company colours and he said that was also available provided the order equalled, or exceeded, the 1000kg used for a master batch in the production system.

“Stab-Pads are also being engraved with serial numbers on the flat between the studs, making it hard for people to erase,” MacGibbon said.

BTR is also working with global chemical giant DuPont to develop and analyse new products for pads and chocks and is looking forward to receiving test results, which will be matched to Australian standards.

“You only need one for each outrigger pad and you are covered.” – BTR business development manager Craig MacGibbon

The BTR team worked with the wider industry for more than two years to develop the Stab-Pad.

After a soft launch in recent months, MacGibbon said BTR was “smashed” with a rush of initial orders which emptied their inventory almost overnight and they now have a waiting list for future production runs.

And it doesn’t stop here.MacGibbon will be in South America early next year exploring

export opportunities to the booming mining and construction industries.

“It might seem a simple idea, even a small one, but it is taking off big time and now we will be going flat out to make sure BTR stands by the crane industry, and the crane industry stands on Stab-Pads.”


18

Construction Safety

THE design of the new 3M Speedglas 9100 MP air welding and safety helmet provides welders with options for integrated head, eye, face, hearing and respiratory protection when operating in highly demanding work environments.

� e AS/NZS-compliant industrial safety helmet o� ers high-impact head protection, and comes with a � ip-up mechanism that reveals an impact-protective visor that is good for grinding and low-light conditions.

� e 100mmx170mm visor allows welders

to bene� t from clear vertical and lateral vision. Continuous respiratory protection can be provided by two compatible gadgets – the award-winning, Ad� o-powered air purifying respirator or the new V-500E supplied air regulator.

As for hearing protection, this is provided by attaching 3M’s Peltor earmu� s to the helmet.

� e 9100XX lens o� ers a larger viewing area when combined with the Speedglas peripheral side windows.

High-vis helmet

The 100mmx170mm visor allows welders to benefi t from clear vertical and lateral vision.

Gotta love the gloveANSELL has released a lightweight, multipurpose, 18-gauge-style glove a� er noticing some workers were not wearing any hand protection.

Bulkiness is o� en blamed as the reason why workers won’t wear gloves. Ansell reckons this issue has been overcome, however, with the release of the HyFlex 11-518 glove.

Rated for EN Index 3 cut protection, the glove reportedly provides wearers with a bare hand-like sensation to improve comfort and safety without compromising strength and safety. � e glove is designed for precision handling and assembly of sharp, dry ultra-� ne parts.

It is knitted with the Dyneema Diamond

Technology cut-resistant yarn and a tough PU coating to deliver a light and breathable � t and feel. Ansell industrial healthcare head of marketing Mitchell Mackey said the glove would be welcomed by people using bulky, leather gloves, as well as those who had avoided wearing gloves because a lightweight alternative was unavailable.

WESTCHOCK WHEEL CHOCKSDesigned around the rugged requirements of the Australian mining industry, all Westchock products are built tough and are easy to handle and use.

Lightweight (1.5kgs – 12.5kgs), strong UV stabilised polythene with internal crush resistant supports.

All Westchocks have easy to grab handles moulded into the main body of the chock and skid resistant rubber feet or strips to minimise the possibility of slippage, even on very smooth surfaces.

Contact OEM Group for a full brochure:OEM Group (2006) Pty Ltd510 Great Eastern Highway, Redcliffe, 6104 WAP. +61 8 9277 7998 F. +61 8 9277 7996www.oemgroup.com.au


A Member of The Linde Group

Safety is more than justa layer of clothing.

At BOC, we believe we are more than just a supplier of safety products. As a leading supplier of gases and industrial products in the South Pacific, BOC understands and is genuinely committed to ensuring safety assurance — so just as we protect our own people, you can count on our reputation and commitment to help protect yours.

Whether you’re talking about risk hazard assessment, personal protective equipment for the head, face, hand and foot as well industrial workwear, gas safety equipment, or safety

awareness training — we’re there. BOC can tailor a complete safety solution for your business.

To find out more, call 1300 723 378 or visit www.boc.com.au

It’s a way of thinking ...

BOC LimitedRiverside Corporate Park, 10 Julius Avenue, North Ryde, NSW 2113 [email protected] is a trading name of BOC Limited, a Member of The Linde Group.© BOC Limited 2012. M

P12-

0780

|MA|

AMRS

M|1

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20

IT’S A well-reported fact that dust is bad for your health, but you wouldn’t know it by casting your eye over some Australian worksites.

Around the nation companies continue to push the “she’ll be right, mate” attitude in relation to dust inhalation.

And with no Australian standards on dust control management in place, it’s all too easy to tell workers to drink some concrete and harden up.

Hilti NSW state manager Mark van der Wees said that Australia had come to accept dust inhalation as part and parcel of the job.

“Australian worksites are behind the times when it comes to dust management, with most workers simply accepting dusty boots, itchy eyes and a dry cough as part of the job,” he said.

He further pointed out that once in the air dust created an unhealthy work environment and could reduce worksite productivity and safety.

It’s an observation backed by science which showed that concrete cutting could produce up to 15kg of dust in one hour – an alarming health hazard for workers.

Dust is generated by basic construction processes such as cutting, drilling, grinding and breaking.

Workers who inhale or come into contact with dust can experience a range of minor symptoms from acne to asthma.

In extreme cases, where toxic particles are present in airborne dust on sites, those exposed can contract severe respiratory conditions and lung disease.

Van der Wees said the usual protection measures were simply not enough.

“While safety is a key consideration on most Australian worksites, traditional dust protection measures such as safety glasses

and filtration masks offer limited protection against airborne dust,” he said.

“To protect workers’ health, employers in construction must move away from trying to manage dust and instead focus on eliminating it altogether by using the right tools and practices.”

In response, Hilti has designed its tools to comply with international dust exposure guidelines. The Hilti dust removal system features four models used in cutting and chiseling and hammer applications.

Using a vacuum dust removal system to siphon off waste particles at the source, Hilti’s dust-reducing power tool range reportedly eliminates up to 99% of all dust. The firm reports that minimising the volume of dust released into the atmosphere ensures two key benefits for employers; worker health and safety, and a clean site to ensure project efficiency.

For retail fit-out and refurbishment company Isis, dust reduction is essential for the protection of its employers and the peace of mind of its clients and their neighbours.

“On average, Isis has 100 to 200 projects occurring across Australia at any one time,” Isis site manager Gerard McDonald said.

“Depending on the project, there could be 10 to 100 workers on-site.

“It’s our responsibility as an employer to ensure that our workers finish the day in the same state of health and wellbeing as they started.”

Dust from cement, particle board and potentially carcinogenic substances are daily

worksite hazards in the retail fit-out sector.“Isis commenced working with Hilti’s dust

reduction tools 15 years ago,” McDonald said. “Since then, we have been confident that

our worksites have been safer and more productive due to improved site air quality, visibility and reduced clean-up requirements.”

According to McDonald, managing a clean site is an imperative in the retail fit-out sector, particularly at locations where other businesses may by impacted by dust and construction materials.

“Using tools that remove dust at the source allows our workers to complete fit-outs in the most efficient and safe way possible,” he said.

Down and dusty

Construction Safety

Hilti’s dust-reducing power tool range reportedly eliminates up to 99% of all dust.

“While safety is a key consideration on most Australian worksites, traditional dust protection measures such as safety glasses and filtration masks offer limited protection against airborne dust.”– Hilti NSW state manager Mark van der Wees Some tips when working

with dust:1. See if the task can be carried out in a

way that doesn’t generate dust2. Use tools that are matched to the

material you are working on3. Replace or resharpen the cutting tool

if performance drops4. Ensure adequate ventilation of the

workplace5. Wear personal protection equipment

including safety glasses, gloves, ear muffs and respiratory masks

6. Clean the workplace at regular intervals

7. Avoid kicking up dust


Mining Safety

PROUDLY sPOnsOReD bY


22

Surviving the collapse of the Beaconsfield Gold Mine prompted Brant Webb to consider a change of career.

After being trapped almost a kilometre underground for two weeks following the collapse of the infamous Beaconsfield Gold Mine, Webb has found a new career – in mine safety.

Webb was trapped in a roofless cage alongside colleague Todd Russell for 14 days amid the rockfall that claimed the life of miner Larry Knight.

With hundreds of tonnes of rock overhead, the pair survived by drinking the groundwater they collected in their helmets as it seeped through, and shared a muesli bar which Webb had in his pocket.

Several years after the disaster, Webb has set aside his life as a miner and is now the business development manager for Tasmania-based firm BLH Safety solutions.

“The drive and focus for a career in safety came from having a death in the work place,” Webb said.

“I go around Australia and I’m consulted by

different companies who say their loss time and injury rates are going up.

“I advise them what happens when there is a death in the workplace, so they can start focussing on their families and getting the job done.”

He said people often failed to consider the after effects of an injury or fatality in the workplace.

“People don’t think far enough forward,” said Webb. “How do you spend quality time with your family if you’re injured? How do you spend quality time if you’re dead?

Survivor with a messageSurviving the Beaconsfield mining disaster has encouraged Brant Webb to carve out a new career in mine safety. By Alison Middleton

Mining Safety

Beaconsfield survivor Brant Webb is promoting stop drop barricading to

mining companies.


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24

Mining Safety

“And the knock on effects of one death is that everyone wants to leave. I was lucky that I had a team of really great people behind me.”

Webb travels the country as the face of BLH Safety Solutions, which manufactures stop drop barricading, to combat the risk of mining workers being struck by falling objects on site.

The molded modular plastic polymer components can be installed onto platforms on mine sites, such as scaffolding, walkways and stairways.

BLH said its guarding solutions had been designed to minimise the risk of injury from conveyors, moving machinery and plant equipment.

And he often draws on his experience at Beaconsfield, as BLH works towards make every miner “a survivor”.

“I’m obviously a survivor, and what we’re trying to do is save lives,” said Webb.

“That’s what the safety barricading does. This is a specifically designed and engineered product for that purpose.

“The response has been fantastic. We’ve just installed it for BHP Billiton at Olympic Dam. We’ve got guys in Chile at the moment.”

Describing the accident, which happened on Anzac Day in 2006, Webb said he often jokes that he still has rocks in his head.

“A seismic event took place and a hundred tonnes of rock buried Todd and myself, and 150 tonnes buried Larry,” webb explained.

“That’s a lot of rock. Fourteen days later, with a lot of trials and tribulations in between, they extracted Todd and myself from the hole.

“We had a lot of injuries. I was compressed, I had five blown out disks, I had no cartilage at all, it was smashed in my knees, hips and ankles.

“Our biggest fear was that one of the rescuers would die as they were coming to rescue us. We got through it by lying to each other. That’s how you do it.

“They said we’d never walk and never live normal life again – we proved that wrong. We’re tougher than that.”

With his new career in safety, Webb says he has a different focus.

He added: “We can’t wait for that first call from a company saying, ‘your product saved my life’. That’s what it’s all about at the end of the day.”

The Beaconsfield gold mine in Tasmania.

“The response has been fantastic. We’ve just installed it for BHP Billiton at Olympic Dam.” – Brant Webb

The old winder house at Beaconsfield gold mine’s Hart Shaft.


A new generation of mobile network technology is aiming to improve safety on minesites.

Telecommunications company Motorola say their latest equipment will run across the Long Term Evolution network

Mining companies are being urged to prioritise mine safety through the installation of secure, private mobile networks.

Motorola Solutions has launched long-term evolution mobile broadband networks which have been designed for Australia’s mining industry.

With the safety of workers and assets the key priority for miners, Motorola said LTE would enable resources companies to access to large data � les, video, and remote resources during emergency incidents.

� e company unveiled its LTE technology

in Perth, Western Australia recently, showcasing the use of LTE through mobile phones, laptops and in-truck computers.

Addressing delegates, Motorola said the

technology would enable the sector to “collect information and securely distribute it across easy-to-manage networks and mission-critical devices”.

Stakeholders from the minerals and energy sector were shown simulated industry incidents and LTE applications which enable the sharing of data, including real time streaming and remotely controlled resources.

Motorola said LTE provided greater capacity for distributing urgent high volume data, particularly in safety and surveillance and automated machinery control in mines.

When it comes to emergency incidents on mine sites, Motorola told delegates LTE provision o� ered greater control, with the ability to prioritise network users and control bandwidth in emergency situations.

Safety netDesigned specifi cally for the Australian mining industry, new technology is targeting mine safety.

25

• Large data fi les, video and remote resources can be accessed during emergency incidents

• LTE can be combined with Motorola Solutions’ existing outdoor wireless networks

• A dedicated mobile broadband LTE network can be built to meet specifi c needs

• LTE networks enable miners to remotely monitor and track assets

KEY FACTS

INSIDE SAFETY DECEMBER 2012 © Aspermont Limited - Courtesy of Inside Safety Magazine


Mining Safety

27

Motorola Solutions general manager strategic accounts Neale Joseph said: “In emergency situations, mine sites need access to large data � les and video to tap into remote resources and check on the safety of their workers and operations.”

Site management can control access to the network, pre-empting individuals and user groups, drawing down network performance reports in real-time rather than waiting for a third-party operator.

And in addition to greater capacity, Motorola said a dedicated mobile broadband LTE network could be built according to the speci� c needs of minerals and energy organisations.

� is will ensure they have access to the network when and where they need it most.

� e company said secure, private networks were essential to meet the current and future needs of the minerals and energy sector.

“A dedicated, private network gives sites the capacity to run large data applications, such as video streaming, working in unison with their digital radio and mesh networks,” added Joseph. “Here in Australia, we’re taking the important � rst step in the LTE journey for the minerals and energy sector.

“At Motorola Solutions, we also see great potential for the wider application of mobile broadband LTE, with public safety agencies and other sectors bene� ting from operational e� ciencies, enhanced collaboration, and many other bene� ts.”

[email protected]

“We also see great potential for the wider application of mobile broadband LTE.” – Neale Joseph

Next generation: Motorola technology will improve site safety.

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INSIDE SAFETY DECEMBER 2012 © Aspermont Limited - Courtesy of Inside Safety Magazine

28

One of Australia’s most senior safety officials has scooped a national award for health and safety.

Simon Ridge is Western Australia’s Department of Mines and Petroleum resources safety executive director.

He was named national 2012 occupational health and safety leader of the year at the recent Next Generation Mining Australia Summit in Adelaide.

Ridge, who is only months into his DMP role, was recognised for his work in the state government’s ongoing resources safety reforms.

In his previous role as the department’s mines safety director, Ridge led the recruitment of additional safety inspectors and an industry-funded system under the Reform and Development at Resources Safety strategy.

RADARS was established in 2010 as part of the state government’s response to a spate of

mining fatalities and to the needs identified in independent reviews and inquiries, including the 2009 Kenner Review of the Mines Safety and Inspection Act 1994.

“The department now has 63 safety inspectors who assess operations on a site by site and sector by sector basis, which is a great outcome,” Ridge said.

“But we’re obviously doing so much more in the area of safety, so it is really humbling for myself and the whole team behind me to be recognised in this way.”

Ridge is also the chairman for the mining industry advisory committee, which advises the state government on issues surrounding occupational health and safety in the mining industry.

A further nine additional safety inspectors were also expected to have joined the department by the end of October.

The DMP said RADARS had also led to the restructure of its resources safety division operations, with the aim of providing more effective and efficient service delivery.

Mines and Petroleum Minister Norman Moore said Ridge deserved the prestigious award.

“The award recognises Simon’s outstanding contribution to safety and reform in the Western Australian resources industry,” he said.

Ridge was nominated by the Next Generation Mining Australia Summit’s standing committee, an independent advisory board consisting of 20 mining leaders.

Safety reformer honouredA senior Australian safety official lands a prestigious award recognising OHS in the resources industry. By Alison Middleton

Mining Safety

Award winner: Simon Ridge receiving the Jim Torlach health and safety award from the Australasian Institute of Mining and Metallurgy in June.

“It is really humbling for myself and the whole team behind me to be recognised in this way.”– WA Mines and Petroleum resources safety executive director Simon Ridge


The conference was put together by engineering group Kentz, which brought together its customers – including oil and gas giant Chevron

– together with other contractors. From this conference came eight

safety lessons: reporting and feedback, communication, breaking down system barriers, care and concern, family promotion, leadership, teaching, and recognition and reward.

Many of these will be familiar to those involved with safety management. What Kentz has done is brought them together into a package.

Kentz country manager for Australia Brian Kelly said the company had run two similar conferences – one in 2007 that produced the nine habits of safety leadership and then another a couple of years later in Dubai that generated a book called SSH&E Leadership into New Areas.

Those two, Kelly said, had been global events and he felt it was time to have a country specific one, which is why he championed the Australian conference, which was held in May.

Among the speakers were Kentz chief executive officer Christian Brown, Chevron deputy general manager Gorgon Downstream Project Paul McGrath, Woodside vice president – Browse Projects Jacobus Nieuwenhuijze and Rio Tinto chief operating officer – Pilbara Projects Michael Gollschewski.

There also was a panel discussion involving industry experts such as B-Safe Management Solutions chief executive oficer Dominic Cooper, Social Impact and Monitoring Programmes consultant Krista Nash, Australian Petroleum Production and Exploration Association environment, safety and productivity director Miranda Taylor, Clough Gorgon LNG project director infrastructure and marine Rick Robinson and Australian Workers Union AWU-MUA offshore alliance organiser Matt Dixon.

The conference drew about 140 attendees.The delay between the conference and the

release of the findings was largely due to the approvals processes involved with having several major organisations involved.

This, however, seemed a small price to pay for the freedom with which the participants were able to speak.

Kelly said once the main speaking and panel discussion had been held, the attendees were split into groups to discuss different aspects of safety.

The groups then presented their findings to the other attendees and those were discussed as a group with points added or subtracted as a result.

Kelly said two of the findings that stood out to him were about breaking down system barriers and recognition and reward.

“A small thing such as a pat on the back can make a big difference,” he said. “It lets workers know that following best practise gets recognised.”

Kelly also said communication was a big thing in the Australian context – a point he said that was picked up by union representative Dixon.

Australian workers do not like to just be told to do something a certain way. They want to know why they have to do it that way.

Family promotion is something that has been growing in use as a safety tool for probably the past couple of years.

Many a work site has posters showing family scenes urging workers to behave safely to ensure they can make it home to their loved ones.

Some of the points on this particular note from the conference included providing

families with information to teach them safe practises in and around the home and engaging the family to make the worker more responsible.

“Accidents not only affect you, they affect your family, friends and all the people you live and work with” was one of the messages that emerged.

Kelly said teaching workers to take responsibility for their own safety was another thing that companies needed to work on.

The conference format certainly proved to be a hit with Kelly saying some of the contractor attendees saying they would be looking to do something similar.

Kentz has several roles on the massive Gorgon LNG project. It is in a joint venture with Thiess and Decmil fulfilling the engineering, procurement and construction contract for the 4000-person construction village.

It also is providing a telecommunications package to the site as well.

The company is in a joint venture with major engineering firm Chicago Bridge & Iron on another electrical and instrumentation contract, which Kelly said was one of the largest contracts let in Western Australia last year.

Kentz will have up to 900 people working on that contract.

Eight key lessonsThe key findings have been released from a safety conference that brought together contractors and their customers, with industry experts and even unions. By Noel Dyson

Oil & Gas Safety

29

Dominic Cooper (left), Krista Nash, Miranda Taylor, Matt Dixon, Rick Robinson talking part in the panel discussion.


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Rig deaths investigated

Oil & Gas Safety

31

THE TWO workers killed on the Stena Clyde rig in the Bass Strait in August died soon after they were struck by a manual break out tong.

At the time of the accident, the tong was being used to free a stuck drill pipe string, according to initial findings from an official investigation into the tragedy.

Peter Meddens from Darwin and Barry Denholm from Lossiemouth in Scotland were killed in the August 27 accident.

Rig operator Stena Drilling was working for Origin Energy in VIC/P43 in the Otway Basin, 90km south of Warrnambool in Victoria.

The National Offshore Petroleum Safety and Environmental Management Authority said the drill pipe string became “stuck in the hole” on August 24.

It said on August 27 “instructions were given to rig up for a wire line operation to sever the stuck pipe in the well”.

“The drill crew was preparing for the downhole cutting and removal of the stuck pipe when the accident occurred,” NOPSEMA said.

“While attempting to unscrew the top drive from the drill pipe string, to facilitate the wire line operation, two workers were struck by a manual tong that rotated at speed.

“Shortly afterwards, the two workers died.”NOPSEMA said the manual tong was being used because the rig’s

top drive and integral pipe torque connector were unable to provide enough torque to disconnect the pipe.

“The investigation will focus on understanding these circumstances, integrity of the equipment and any other course of action that might have been taken,” it said.

NOPSEMA said the ongoing investigation would examine a number of contributing factors including decision-making, organisational authority “and communication of plans to the workforce”.

“The rigging arrangement of the break out tong at the time of the accident was a change from the usual arrangement.”

The change apparently arised from the circumstances of the stuck pipe, inclement weather and the consequential heaving motion of the rig,” it said.

“The investigation will address whether the changes to proposed operations were properly considered and communicated to the workers involved.”

The risk assessment procedures used would also be looked at, NOPSEMA said.

“As noted above in relation to the equipment rigging arrangement, change associated with the chosen arrangement including snatch blocks and the tugger winch under the prevailing met-ocean conditions may have warranted additional risk assessment.

“The investigation will address the implementation of risk assessment processes as part of its investigation.”

While the investigation is ongoing, NOPSEMA’s announcement highlighted some “preliminary considerations” it said the offshore oil and gas industry should note.

The first was that an appropriate risk assessment system should be implemented for all stages of work.

It also believed that the individual workers involved should have an opportunity to contribute to this assessment.

This contribution could include consideration of factors including: stored energy; equipment design limits; and the impact of external conditions,” NOPSEMA said.


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32

IT IS one of those ideas that when viewed falls into the “why was that never thought of before” categories. A mesh that � ts to the safety guards on high walkways and stairways to prevent objects falling onto people walking below.

Of course, as with all such “simple” inventions, the BLH Stop Drop Barricading system took a fair bit of time to develop.

It took BLH managing director Shane Gill three years to � nalise the product that minimises the risk of dropped objects from elevated work areas.

He started down the barricade path when a shutdown project BLH was working on – the company provides maintenance services – had a near miss with a falling object.

� ink about how deadly something as innocuous as a worker’s tape measure could be if it fell from a walkway a couple of storeys up. Or what about a bolt?

� e barricade is a plastic mesh that easily clips to the existing guard rails and supports on elevated work areas.

Being plastic, one of the biggest problems endemic to many resources processing plants – corrosion – is removed.

� e clips on the mesh are designed to withstand winds of up to 180km/h.

� e mesh panels comply with the impact testing part of AS1170.2 and are able to take 3kg at 5m per second and 4kg at 4.5m/s, an impact energy of 50 joules and an impact force of 675 newtons.

Virtually safeDO NOT worry if a worker onsite is looking distracted while browsing a smartphone – they are actually working.

So� ware provider Sentient Computing has created a platform called MVX which creates a virtual model of a worksite, which can be integrated with operational data to provide real-time safety information and to locate workers in case of an emergency.

Integrating data from smartphones using so� ware platforms such as Android or Apple, a user can connect to the MVX network, with the GPS device in the smartphone uploading their exact location.

� e upshot is anybody watching the network, such as a safety o� cer, can view a 3D environment from the relative safety of the o� ce and see exactly where a worker is at any given time.

Users can use their smartphone’s camera to stream live video to the MVX system.

� ose on the network will be able to see exactly what a worker sees. Add in the good old-fashioned phone call and a safety o� cer will be

able to see and hear what a worker hears.� e system also has applications in trainee inductions and is

currently being used by Woodside to familiarise inductees with the Browse site.

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Inside Safety - December 2012