“Engaged & Connected” was the theme of the most recent Safer Together Industry Safety Forum, held at Parliament House in Brisbane on 04 November 2021. After more than 18 months of physical separation due to COVID, senior line managers from across the oil & gas industry relished the opportunity to finally meet again face-to-face as a community of safety leaders. Watch this video clip for a summary of the event and to hear what some of the participants got out of it.
Seamlessly facilitated by Ewan Meldrum – Chief Executive Officer Qteq and newly-appointed Contractor Co-Chair of the QLD Safety Leaders Group, the event theme was “Engaged and Connected” and how our leaders see it as an important factor in managing safety throughout their respective companies at a time when travel, remote working and the feeling of being disconnected is so prevalent. In addition to more than 100 individuals in the room, the event was also livestreamed to an online audience.
“Getting to connect again, getting to share insights and understand how people are doing has been really wonderful” commented Godson Njoku – Senior Vice President East, Shell Australia and Operator Co-Champion of the Land Transport Working Group.
“In the context of Safer Together, I really see that being Engage & Connected is about having a curious mindset and getting active” said Tim Dabrowski – Executive Director, Pro-Test Well Services and Contractor Co-Champion of the Competence & Behaviour Working Group.
“It’s important to say connected. Lately with COVID there’s been a lot of disconnection and a lot of reliance on virtual activity. I think that getting everyone together here and staying connected, understanding the challenges everyone is having and learning from each other is important, and that’s why we’re all here today” observed Andy Gainsforth – General Manager LNG, MPC Kinetic and Chair of the Rig Site Safety Working Group.
In addition to presentations from Gillian Cagney – President Australia & New Zealand, Worley and Steve Williams – Forum Coordinator, the following people kindly provided their input and contribution to the Forum via video interviews:
- Tony Nunan – Executive Vice President Integrated Gas and Australia Country Chair, Shell
- Bill Date, Director CSG Engagement, Queensland Government
- Rod Duke, Chief Executive Officer, Energy Queensland
- Andrew McConville, Chief Executive Officer, APPEA
- David Banks – Chief Technical & Marketing Officer, Santos
- Peter Bennett – Chief Executive Officer and Managing Director, Clough
The keynote speaker, Anthony Gibbs – Chief Executive Officer, Sentis shared with the audience his thoughts on the topic of “Staying Engaged”, bringing to life the way our brains and minds work and why it is important for safety to stay “Engaged and Connected” with your workforce.
Stuart McCulloch - Vice President Asia Pacific, ChampionX brought the first session to a close, announcing the winners of our annual Best and Fairest Awards, recognising individuals in the Safer Together Working Groups who have gone the extra mile this year:
- Ciarán Hallinan – Base Industries (Safety Leadership Working Group)
- Damian O’Connor – Monadelphous (Competence & Behaviour Working Group)
- Dave Pearce – Santos (Land Transport Working Group)
- Kim Pullon – Santos (Process Safety Working Group)
- Andy Gainsforth - MPC Kinetic (Rig Site Safety Working Group)
- Hannah McConnell – Pro-Test Well Services (Health Working Group) and;
- A special award to Laurence Ledrut – Origin Energy for stepping up to present at the Institution of Chemical Engineers (IChemE) Global Awards on behalf of the Process Safety Working Group.
Congratulations to all our Best and Fairest Award winners. Well played and thank you.
After the first session, we said goodbye to our online participants and showcased some of the great work done this year by the Working Groups in a series of Booth Sessions. Delegates were briefed and were able to contribute their thoughts on a range of projects:
- Safety Leadership – Engage & Embed Program
- Competence and Behaviour – Effective Safety Conversations; 5 Whys; SMART Actions
- Land Transport – Common Industry In-Vehicle Monitoring System (IVMS) Roadmap
- Process Safety – Process Safety Awareness Videos
- Rig Site Safety – Assist & Assure Frontline Leadership Skills Program
- Health – Fitness to Work Medical Assessment Guideline
A full recording of the first session of the Industry Safety Forum, together with video interviews with a range of senior leaders from our industry, are available to member companies here.
Next Forum (Q3 2022)
Our next Forum event in Queensland will be held in September 2022 (date and venue to be advised). Keep an eye out of more details.
To find out how your company can become a member of Safer Together click here or address your query to [email protected].