Psychosocial safety management in the workplace is something our industry needs to improve upon. The development of the On-Site Accommodation Psychological Health & Safety Guideline is an important step on the improvement journey for our industry. This month, we held consultation workshops in Brisbane and Perth to give our members an opportunity to have their say.
The purpose of this Guideline is to establish a common level of risk controls for accommodation facilities within the oil & gas industry to ensure the psychological health and safety of all people residing at these facilities. It aims to create a culture of care and respect, enabling an environment conducive to the wellbeing of residents.
It considers psychosocial hazards relevant to these accommodation facilities, identifies key risks and aims to provide users with a checklist of controls to reduce the likelihood of psychological harm.
Facilitated by Nadia Wentzel (Jonah Group) and Melissa Day (Arrow Energy) in Brisbane and Kath Polglase (Jonah Group) and Lauren Baggoley (Santos) in Perth, the workshops aimed to highlight any potentially contentious issues, and to ensure the Guideline content aligns with industry, regulator and workforce expectations and requirements.
It was great to see member companies supporting the development of the Guideline, with an impressive turn-out of 39 delegates (from 28 member companies) in Brisbane, and 24 delegates (from 12 member companies + 3 external stakeholder bodies) in Perth.
Each workshop started with an overview of the history and objectives of the Guideline, followed by break-out sessions where the participants were able to 'dive' into the details of the specific psychological risks encountered in on-site accommodation.
The outcome of the workshops has been very positive - the attendees validated the risks that had been identified to be included in the scope of the Guideline, and through the workshop’s break-out sessions, the project team have captured practical 'real life' scenarios with associated controls to:
- Avoid the hazard and/or,
- Mitigation measures to reduce the identified risk.
The input received during the workshops this month will help ensure that no major risks have been omitted, and that the control and mitigation measures in the Guideline are practical to implement on site. The workshops were truly 'working sessions' and we would like to thank all participants for their invaluable contribution.
What are the next steps for the project team? They are collating feedback from both Workshops, then in Q1 2021, a Draft On-Site Accommodation Psychological Health & Safety Guideline will be issued to the Health Working Group for a detailed review.
Following this review period, the final Guideline will be developed, with launch anticipated Q2 2024.
If you would like to sign up to be a part of the detailed review of the Draft Guideline (estimated Q1 2024), or have any other related enquiries, email: [email protected].