Demand ran high for this pre-Industry Safety Forum morning event in Darwin, with the room at capacity for this Process Safety Forum, themed ‘A New Age for Industry – Emerging Challenges in Process Safety’ – a credit to the dedication and imagination of the Project Team for designing such a full and interesting agenda.

Valarie Ee (Vice-President HSEQ Risk and Assurance, INPEX) began proceedings, welcoming delegates and delivering an acknowledgement of country, before handing over to Brayden Crain (West Coast General Manager, Contract Resources & PSWG Co-Champion) – with his presentation on the history of Safer Together in the west, Safer Together’s new 2024-2026 Strategic Plan, and a run-through of the raison d'être of our WA/NT Process Safety Working Group (PSWG), its current members and programs.

For the Forum’s Safety Moment, Stuart Miles (Implementation Superintendent, INPEX) shared a very personal story of a process safety incident.

Handing over to Brandon Burgess (Client Manager, Contract Resources) next, with is presentation ‘Contractor’s Role Working in a Diverse Oil and Gas Industry’, his very comprehensive presentation on the challenges faced by Contractors with so many variables in play, for example ‘differences in facility types and age of facilities’, and ‘navigating through facility lifecycles’.  Brandon closed by highlighting the benefits of Safer Together membership for his organisation.

Andrew Woodhams (Process Safety Lead, Jadestone Energy) then presented his deeply interesting ‘A New Company Managing Old Things’, an incredibly thought-provoking presentation summarised by saying that:

  • Optimising Process Safety Requires Balance
  • Balance is aided by simplicity
  • Chaos can strike at any time, so ensure your RHS controls get early focus
  • Creativity aids communication of technical issues – visualise!
  • It’s all about the people, so empathetic skills and attention to detail are essential

After a short break, Eloise Browne-Cooper (Principal Process Safety Advisor – Australian Operations, Woodside Energy) returned to the lectern for ‘Lessons from a Global Process Safety Competency Program’.

Following Eloise, a Panel Discussion - facilitated by Andrew Woodhams, with panellists James Lynch (Operations and Capability Manager, JPS Management and Execution), Eloise Browne-Cooper (Principal Process Safety Advisor, Australian Operations, Woodside Energy), Brandon Burgess (Client Manager, Contract Resources) and Alexandra Doumis (Production Technician - Operations, INPEX) – discussing the event theme ‘A New Age for Industry – Emerging Challenges in Process Safety’, generating some great discussion and Q&A with the audience.

Andrew Rigg (Lead Safety Case Co-ordinator, INPEX) led delegates through a group activity ‘Addressing Challenges in Process Safety – Safer Together Work Plan 2024’ designed to gather feedback that will guide PSWG plan and focus into 2025.

We would like to thank all participants for their feedback received during the round table activity.

Brayden returned to thank everyone for their attendance – and all presenters and the Project Team for delivering such an interesting event, relevant to current issues in the Process Safety space.

Our thanks to INPEX and Santos for their generous sponsorship of this event.

A personal thank you also to Andrew Rigg and Andrew Woodhams for their time, energy and commitment in delivering this Forum.

We are Stronger and Safer Together.