If you don’t know me, I’m Phil Parkes, our new Chief Operating Officer.

I started in my new job last week after a short sabbatical overseas. I’ve been part of our senior leadership team for over three years, and have a background in regulatory and operational management roles both here and in the UK.

I want to update you about ongoing changes within the High Hazards and Energy Safety group.

We have now appointed Craig Marriott as Acting GM for the High Hazards and Energy Safety group. Craig joins us to provide continuity and leadership to the group while we complete our recruitment process for the permanent role.  He joins us on 19 February and will be with us until June, based in New Plymouth but traveling nationally.   

Craig has more than 25 years’ experience managing safety in high hazard industries, principally in the nuclear and petrochemical sectors. He has experience across process and occupational safety disciplines, in technical and managerial roles and has developed safety cases for some of the world’s most hazardous processes. 

I also want to acknowledge Mark Pizey, who left us last week to take up a role in the private sector.

Mark showed huge commitment to us during his time here and made a significant contribution to the organisation as a technical expert and as a manager. I know Mark will be missed by many in the sector, but we wish him well as he embarks on the next chapter of his career.

Our new website was launched at the end of last year, bringing together six websites into one simple, streamlined site. 

It now works on all mobile and tablet devices and has improved search features. Please note that if you bookmarked a page on one of the old sites, you’ll either be taken directly to the new page, or directed to a set of relevant search results. 

Information relevant to High Hazards and Energy Safety can be found either by searching the home page or by selecting Menu and then A-Z topics and industry. This lists the relevant areas such as:

Energy Safety
Extractives
Geothermal
Major Hazard Facilities
Petroleum.

Energy Safety

1. A gasfitter who issued a gasfitting certificate of compliance (CoC) indicating that the work performed complies with AS/NZS 5601.1 when the work did not in fact comply.

1. Two suppliers (retailers) of electric vehicle supply equipment (EVSE) who failed to supply us with a Supplier Declaration of Compliance (SDoC) or test report for the EVSE that they are supplying.

Extractives 

The Extractives team has been working on the approval process for the required permits transfers from Solid Energy to the Pike River Recovery Agency which now has responsibility for Pike River Mine. According to the Health and Safety at Work (Mining Operations and Quarrying Operations) Regulations 2016, the mine is still regarded as operational meaning WorkSafe is required to review its Principal Hazard Management Plans. This work is ongoing as the Agency develops its concepts for the re-entry. Introductory meetings have also been held with the new Chief Executive of the Agency.

Following concerns over lack of regulation or guidance for small diameter tunnel construction (less than 1.2m internal diameter), we have collaborated with the New Zealand Tunnelling Society to draft guidelines which are based on international small diameter tunnel construction. The guidance document is to be considered by us during the first half of 2018, with the intent it will be published as an industry guide.

The Extractives team has begun a high level risk assessment to assist with inspection planning work following a comprehensive survey of all quarry sites in New Zealand last year.

The survey identified 1,200 quarries nationwide, with several being unknown to us at that point. An additional Specialist Inspector was recruited last year to ensure appropriate levels of regulatory oversight are maintained. The database has been built into a GIS model and is routinely updated as the result of operational observations.  

 Major Hazard Facilities 

Many Major Hazard Facilities (MHF) operators are failing to properly identify root causes of notifiable incidents as they are required to do under the MHF regulations. Investigations carried out by operators often identify immediate causes but generally are not delving deep enough to unearth the true cause of the incident.  

Failure to identify root causes means any attempt to fix the issues may result in a less effective “band aid” solution which may also be more costly in the long run. It also represents a missed opportunity to learn fully from the incident and to test, examine, and improve systems and controls in place to prevent or mitigate potential future major incidents.

We expect operators investigating MHF incidents to have people competent in both incident investigation and incident analysis. While there are a number of incident analysis methods available, not all are appropriate for the facility where they may be used. It is important that methodology selection and associated training is appropriate for the facility and the incident types that could be investigated.  AS/NZS IEC 62740:2016 Root cause analysis (RCA) is a good starting point to understand strengths and weaknesses of technique selection.

All existing upper tier MHFs must submit safety cases to us by 4 April. We will start sending invoices to duty holders from February onwards as they finalise their submissions. 

If you have not received an invoice by mid-March please contact us at hhu.mhf@worksafe.govt.nz. Regardless of whether an invoice has been issued, safety cases must be submitted with fee payment by 4 April 2018.    

Workplace Relations and Safety Minister Iain Lees-Galloway recently attended the opening of OnGas’s Bottle Swap Plant in Papakura, which is the first MHF facility to have had a safety case accepted under the MHF new regulations.

The next MHF Industry forum is likely to be in June or July. Make a diary note for and keep an eye out on the MHF LinkedIn page for forum updates.

The forum grew out of a desire for MHF operators from a diverse range of industries to meet and learn about the new MHF Regulations. We organised the first forum in May last year, and this was followed by subsequent forums in September and November led by industry. 

So far the forums have addressed significant issues, particularly around interpretation of the legislation and providing the opportunity for us to answer industry questions and engage in a collaborative way. The MHF team has learnt and shared from the process, and is keen to contribute to on-going forum development.

The forums have been well received and supported by industry and we will continue to provide ongoing support. 

Petroleum and Geothermal

• completion of the Hazardous Substances Regulations 2015 training
• revision of safety cases
• reviewing Geothermal Shallow Bore Guidance documents 
• conducting planned duty holder inspections.   

• physical
• chemical
• biological 
• ergonomic 
• psychosocial.