Kia ora koutou

Welcome to the first WorkSafe high hazards newsletter.

This quarterly newsletter will contain a range of information from across our industry. We hope you find it useful and insightful. If you have a question or suggestion, please get in touch.

You’re receiving this because you’re a key contact of a high hazard operator. You’re welcome to forward this newsletter to other interested people. They can also subscribe to receive the newsletter directly here.

We look forward to seeing many of you at the MHF Forum on Tuesday 7 November in Auckland. WorkSafe will be in attendance from lunchtime onwards. For more details and to register see the link below, or search for the New Zealand MHF Forum group on LinkedIn.

Ngā mihi nui,

Kate Studd, Liam Gannon and Nick Dawtry – Deputy Chief Inspectors

I am in a six-month secondment as Chief Inspector High Hazards. My previous roles at WorkSafe include large scale tunnelling projects, mining, and investigation work. Overall, I have 28 years’ experience working as a regulator.

I look forward to getting out and about to see your facilities and installations, and learning more about how you are keeping your kaimahi/workers and community healthy and safe.

Ngā mihi nui,

Dave Bellett

Check out the new quick guide for advice and information for operators of upper tier major hazard facilities or petroleum installations who are revising their safety case.

This quick guide summarises when and how to revise a safety case, and what we are looking for in revised safety cases.

Operators are required to periodically review their safety assessment to:

• Identify new control measures and the current industry standard for controls.
• Update the assessment of whether controls are reasonably practicable. The last step of reasonably practicable assessments considers whether costs are grossly disproportionate.

As part of considering whether costs are grossly disproportionate, operators should be aware of the value of a statistical life. The value used by Waka Kotahi has increased significantly in the last 5 years and this year the value of a statistical life is $12.5 million.

See page 57 of Waka Kotahi’s Monetised benefits and costs manual v1.6 April 2023 for further details.  

The high hazards team regularly considers officer duties, including how officers set a culture of continuous improvement and their knowledge of process safety.

A highly recommended book is Sacrificing Safety: Lessons for Chief Executives by Andrew Hopkins, published May 2022.

See our WorkSafe position on officers’ due diligence and the Health and Safety Guide: Good Governance for Directors.

From recent incidents and inspections, the High Hazards team has noted that some operators don't have the appropriate oversight when working with contractors.

Even if contractors prepare method statements and a job safety analysis, as the operator you need to understand the work and provide oversight. You should ensure work is done competently for the safety and integrity of your facility/installation, and safely to protect workers.

If you are an operator of a bulk LPG or petrol storage tank, then there is potential for a large vapour cloud explosion (VCE) and this should be reflected in the safety assessment and consequence modelling. VCE events have occurred with little congestion (unconfined) and can have devastating consequences. 

It is important to consider the potential of unconfined VCEs for control measures and emergency planning, including off-site effects.

There is useful information on VCEs on the UK Health and Safety Executive (HSE) website.

The HSE RR908 report includes a gasoline VCE assessment method, which may be useful for some operators.

Note that:

• It’s not applicable for lighter hydrocarbons, such as LPG.
• You’ll need to understand the limits of the method.
• There are other methods for modelling VCEs which could be more suitable for your facility.

Do your health and safety representatives (HSRs) know that there is a regular newsletter for HSRs? Kanohi kitea is designed for HSRs but anyone can subscribe. Each edition contains resources, information, and events to help HSRs in their role.

For more information see the major hazard facilities, petroleum or geothermal areas of our website or contact us on HighHazardsNewsletter@worksafe.govt.nz