Pressure comes in many forms, mental pressure, perceived pressures, physical pressure and process pressure in process safety-related incidents.   In November, our Rig Site Safety Working Group and Process Safety Working Group collaborated on a combined DCIIRP/Process Safety Forum event in Toowoomba, themed UNDER PRESSURE, where we considered different forms of pressure as a factor in incidents across our industry.

Dale Whiting (Process Safety Engineering Lead, ConocoPhillips) welcomed delegates and opened the event with a reminder that our Incident Review Panels are an open forum with a no blame culture focused on sharing and learning, before handing over to Mike O’Connell (CSG and D&C Operations Manager, Santos) & Elijah Kennedy (Drilling Company Representative, Santos) for a Safety Moment that had the potential for more serious consequences - “Signs of Serious Illness and Medical Responses”.

Incident presentations followed from:

  • Richard Darby (HSE Superintendent Qld, Ensign) & Mike O’Connell - Loader Contacts Lease Infrastructure.
  • Sheila Wujanto-Hawe (Process Safety Engineer, Jemena) - Hot Tap Incident.

Peter Broschofsky (Chief Operating Officer, CareFlight) followed with an interesting presentation “Saving Lives Under Pressure” – an overview of the Careflight activities, their work in the Energy and Resources sector, and a deep dive into their process for carriage of patients with mental health disorder and management systems.

Presenting the highlight of the event, “Under Pressure:  A Well-Control Event Interactive Workshop”, Laurence Ledrut’s (Managing Director Integrated Gas, Origin Energy) presentation was designed to improve awareness of process safety during drilling completions workover operations and recognise that we all have a part to play to prevent process safety incidents, generating much discussion and questions from the audience.  The audience were then engaged in an exercise to discuss the blow-out scenario using bowtie methodology.

Updates from the Qld. Rig Site Safety Working Group followed:

  • Jamie Wilson (Managing Director Enterprise Risk Management Solutions), on the Wellsite Electronic Permit to Work System, and
  • Ewan Mitchell (Chief Executive Officer, GeoGlide) Line of Fire Portal Project.
  • Alan Ruff (General Manager Wells, Arrow Energy) Hand and Finger Forum Update.

Dale Whiting (Process and Process Safety Engineering Lead, ConocoPhillips) closed the event, thanking delegates for their attendance at this regional event.

Thank you to our event sponsors ConocoPhillips, Geoglide, Origin Energy and Santos.

Members can view a slide pack of the event.