Tracking industry responsiveness to COVID-19 – what has happened and what lies ahead
Joelle Mitchell A and Derrick O’Keeffe A BA National Offshore Petroleum Safety and Environmental Management Authority, Perth, Australia.
B Corresponding author. Email: Derrick.O’Keeffe@nopsema.gov.au
The APPEA Journal 61(2) 442-444 https://doi.org/10.1071/AJ20050
Accepted: 25 February 2021 Published: 2 July 2021
Abstract
This study will provide a longitudinal account of how the Australian offshore petroleum industry has responded to the COVID-19 pandemic, and how the response has evolved over time, and will provide a regulatory perspective on the future challenges arising from the changes that have occurred during the industry in response to the pandemic. Since March 2020, the National Offshore Safety and Environmental Management Authority has been actively collecting information about the approach taken by the offshore petroleum industry to respond to the COVID-19 pandemic. The initial response focused on infectious disease control measures, identifying strategies to prevent disease transmission on offshore facilities and to respond should an outbreak occur offshore. The next phase considered the potential consequences of the infection control measures on facility safety and integrity, including the impact of reduced personnel on board on safety critical maintenance activities and emergency response capability, assurance of competence profile requirements being sustained on facilities, the long-term consequences of delayed routine maintenance, supply chain disruptions and access to specialist workforce. It became apparent that a rapid recovery to pre-COVID-19 conditions was unlikely, and the impacts would likely continue for some time; and psychosocial and fatigue risk management strategies were explored. Data collection methods included: surveys of operators, workplace inspections, review of documents and records, interviews with members of the workforce and participation in industry working groups.
Keywords: asset maintenance, COVID-19, infectious disease management, mental health, oil spill response, pandemic.
Joelle Mitchell is the Human Factors Technical Officer for the National Offshore Petroleum Safety and Environmental Management Authority (NOPSEMA). Joelle is responsible for the design and implementation of NOPSEMA’s human factors strategy, providing advice, information and guidance on human factors issues to NOPSEMA and across the Australian offshore oil and gas industry. Joelle is registered with the Australian Health Practitioner Regulation Agency (AHPRA) as an Organisational Psychologist and holds a Master of Applied Psychology (Organisational). |
Derrick O’Keeffe is the Head of Safety and Integrity for NOPSEMA, Australia’s independent offshore regulator. He holds a BSc (Hons.) in Chemical Engineering and an MBA. He has 37 years of engineering, commercial, management and director experience, in oil and gas in Australia, Iran, UAE, Bangladesh, Africa, the United States and the United Kingdom. He is a member of the Society of Petroleum Engineers, graduate of the Australian Institute of Company Directors, life member and past President of the Petroleum Club of Western Australia, where he contributes to short-courses on petroleum. He is a regular witness at Australian government parliamentary senate hearings and inquiries. |
References
NOPSEMA (2020a). Novel Coronavirus (COVID-19) Survey – Better Practice Responses. Available at https://www.nopsema.gov.au/assets/COVID-19/A721187.3.pdf.NOPSEMA (2020b). Safety Alert – COVID-19 Roster Changes. Available at https://www.nopsema.gov.au/assets/Safety-alerts/A724699.2.pdf.
NOPSEMA (2020c). Novel Coronavirus (COVID-19) Survey – Variable Work Schedules – Better Practice Responses. Available at https://www.nopsema.gov.au/assets/COVID-19/A748265.pdf.
