Kia ora koutou 

Welcome to the second WorkSafe High hazards newsletter.  

It was great to see so many of our operators represented at both the MHF Forum and the Geothermal Workshop held in Auckland in November. 

Information on the MHF Forum can be found on the LinkedIn page for the New Zealand MHF Forum group. 

The annual report for high hazards has been published on our website. 

If you have a question or any suggestions for this newsletter please email us.   

Please share this newsletter with your colleagues. Only one key contact per site was signed up to the mailing list.  

Ngā mihi nui

Nick Dawtry, Liam Gannon and Geoff Taylor – Deputy Chief Inspectors 

Are you keeping up to date with engineered controls designed to prevent or mitigate a major incident?  

WorkSafe MHF inspectors met recently to discuss the variability in how operators assess risk and apply controls.

Some operators with the same risk have lower order controls. Those that have invested in higher order controls are raising concerns that others are not meeting the 'so far as is reasonably practicable' criteria. I agree with them.  

Continual improvement in risk management is enshrined in the Health and Safety at Work Act 2015 through the definition of the words 'reasonably practicable'.  

I encourage you to read this definition and ask the question: Are there risk reduction controls that my competitors have installed that I haven’t?  If the answer is yes, you’re probably in breach of the law.  

Dropped object notifications at high hazard sites have shown no signs of improvement over the last few years: 

• Well construction and repair activities contributed more than half of these incidents. 
• Half of the dropped object incidents were classed as high potential, so if circumstances were slightly different someone could have been seriously harmed. 
• At least one dropped object incident per year has been classed as extreme risk. 

See the DROPS recommended practice for dropped object prevention, and do all you can to prevent a dropped object fatality or injury on your site.   

There is also a DROPS calculator that we use to assess the risk of any dropped object incidents. 

Drones may be a potential hazard for some high hazard sites, including: 

• Impact on assets and consequential loss of containment. 
• Source of ignition within hazardous zones. 
• Impact on people. 
• Distraction to workers. 

Operators should consider if drone operations around their sites are a hazard. If they are a hazard, then controls should be considered, such as: 

• Requesting Airways NZ add their site as a no fly zone, or a hazard area, on the drone operator application AirShare. Sites need not be identified on AirShare (e.g. for security reasons) unless a flight plan impacts the site. 
• Post drone no fly signs on or around the site perimeter. 
• Reporting unsafe drone activity to the Civil Aviation Authority. 

Our operators have shared links to training course providers they have used, in case it helps other operators find useful training:

• IChemE fundamentals of process safety
• Safety Solutions process safety training
• +IMPAC health and safety courses

IChemE is running a course in New Plymouth on 5 March 2024 on process safety leadership and culture, for senior leaders and officers.  
 
Please share this newsletter with your CEO or fellow directors of MHF facilities, so they can see the range of courses available.

A new safe work instrument (SWI) for pipelines took effect on 22 June 2023, following amendments to the Health and Safety in Employment (Pipelines) Regulations 1999.  

The HSE (Pipelines - Design, Construction, Operation, Maintenance, Suspension, and Abandonment Requirements) SWI 2023 specifies requirements for pipeline operations.  

Inspectors from recognised inspection bodies will apply the new standards specified in the SWI in annual surveys of pipelines.

From the date of their next annual survey, pipeline operators will generally have 12 months to meet the new standards.  

The WorkSafe New Zealand high hazards team is part of a community of practice with the MHF regulators in Australia. 

WorkSafe Victoria in Australia also publishes a regular newsletter ‘Major hazards matters’ that is worth subscribing to.  

SafeWork NSW publishes incident animation videos, including a hazardous gas incident and a loading unloading incident.  

The U.S. Chemical Safety and Hazard Investigation Board (CSB) is an independent agency which investigates industrial chemical accidents and general chemical hazards.

The CSB has the power to issue safety recommendations. 

They also issue animated videos of the accidents they’ve investigated, with the aim to share learnings and information – see below for recent videos:

• The danger of popcorn polymer: incident at the TPC Group chemical plant

• Caught in the storm: extreme weather hazards

• Wake up call: refinery disaster in Philadelphia

This is an online register of verified workplace health and safety professionals in New Zealand.  

You can use it to find specialist support, such as occupational hygienists who can design effective monitoring programs, fit testers for respiratory protective equipment, and occupational physicians who can provide specialist advice. 

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