Situational awareness and a hands-on feel of process safety hazards are essential for anyone in the CSG-LNG industry that is involved in the design, operation or maintenance of plant and facilities. With operating assets spread throughout southern and central Queensland, and up to 200 employees and contractors working on site at any one time, Arrow Energy recognised the benefits of being able to provide high-quality and practical process safety awareness training.

In September 2016 Arrow Energy engaged the Queensland Fire & Emergency Services (QFES) to deliver ContainIt! - a transportable, interactive training programme, developed by Safer Together, aimed at educating the workforce about process safety hazards and the part people play in preventing a major accident. Delivered on site at the employee’s workplace, the training is comprised of a selection of outdoor demonstrations. Each demonstration is structured to clearly portray a particular process safety concept, enable an interactive discussion about the relevant controls, and highlight relevant industry incidents where a major accident event has resulted.

11 training sessions were carried out over a period of 2-3 months, 5 in Moranbah and 6 in Dalby. Delivered to groups of up to 15-20 people, the training sessions were jointly delivered by instructors from QFES and subject matter experts from Arrow Energy who were able to provide local context. A total of 171 people attended the training, including not only Arrow Energy staff but also contractor representatives from Valmec, EIM, Bureau Veritas, Veolia ANZ, 4CRisk and G&S.

Feedback from the workforce has been encouraging:

“The visual effects we had throughout the training were very informative. It actually highlighted the dangers associated with the jobs that we do” (Field Technician)

“The 3 inch gas line (demonstration) was most important to me – I deal with that every day” (Wellfield Operator)

“I definitely recommend anyone that works in our industry to attend the course. It gave us a good insight into the (equipment operating) pressures that we’re currently exposed to in the field” (Construction Manager)

Arrow Energy has some useful tips and suggestions to share with other companies via Safer Together to help maximise the value of ContainIt! training across our industry:

  1. Give your staff plenty of notice that the training is coming to their site – allow for adequate time to ensure the relevant people in the field are notified and can make appropriate arrangements to attend.
  2. Think about which positions in your company would benefit most from the training (i.e. who needs these competencies?), and discuss this with their managers beforehand to gain management support and commitment.
  3. Consider providing this training not just for site-based staff, but also for office-based staff. ContainIt! is particularly relevant for people who work in engineering design and maintenance planning roles.
  4. Don’t limit your site-based target audience just to people in an Operations role. For example, anyone who works on a drilling rig would also benefit from this training.
  5. Get the local senior person from your company actively involved in the training delivery. The value of the training for your people will be much greater if a company subject matter expert can provide a local context for the audience.

For more information about Safer Together click here

For more information about Arrow Energy click here

For more information about ContainIt! training click here 

For bookings: [email protected]