Improving industry safety via real collaboration: a case study from the Qld CSG sector

Abstract

The Queensland (Qld) coal seam gas (CSG) sector grew quickly between 2009 and 2010. The industry was young, with many new and inexperienced workers, risk controls and systems were relatively immature and there was an overall nascent safety culture and poor safety performance. It was recognised that if there was to be real change made, two fundamental shifts were needed: (1) the contractor companies must be part of the change, because most of safety risk exposure hours for field operations were with the contractor workforce; and (2) the senior leadership of both the operating and contractor companies needed to form, own and steer a new safety mandate. In 2014, a workshop was run where the senior leaders of both the operator and contractor companies attended; as a direct result, the industry group of Safer Together was born. Since the formation of Safer Together, the broader benefits of collaboration are as follows: industry is connected via its safety performance and viewed as an entity; there have been real and demonstrable safety performance improvements; there has been a tangible positive shift in culture where good safety performance is a fundamental expectation; it is important for personnel, and new workers who may want to join the industry, to have a high level of confidence in the high standards of safety in the industry; positive communication and relationships with the regulators has enabled practical regulatory reform and approach to safety compliance; and a positive reputation on the industry’s ability to be safe provides an overall very positive contribution to the industry’s ‘licence to operate’. Effective collaboration across the industry on safety has not yet been fully met, and challenges remain. Despite these challenges, the Qld CSG industry has demonstrable safety improvements that can be tied directly to the benefits of positive industry collaboration on safety. The Qld CSG industry story of collaboration is built from the passion and contribution of many individuals. The real point is that so much more has been achieved with a common direction and purpose than any individual or single company could achieve.