Addressing a seminar at the Australian Petroleum Production and Exploration Association 2006 Conference on the Gold Coast yesterday, Starling said ANTCER, APPEA and major companies had developed a program that would improve safety and enhance workforce mobility.
Starling outlined the staffing problems facing the Australian upstream petroleum industry: difficulties recruiting staff for new developments, competition from overseas projects for construction contractors, and the imminent retirement of an ageing workforce.
“This growing employment demand and limited labour supply has created a strong competitive recruitment market characterised by skills shortages,”
Starling said.
“The industry is having to recruit workers from non-traditional labour pools and engage contractors whose workforces have limited oil and gas experience. Many of these workers are not familiar with industry processes, safety procedures or environmental hazards.”
Leading industry contractor TransfieldWorley identified a lack of standardised, consistent and effective induction training across the petroleum, minerals and heavy industry sectors.
TransfieldWorley partnered with APPEA, ANTCER and other big companies to drive the development of the Induction Centres Australia system.
The induction program will be run through five ICA facilities to be located in Brisbane, Sydney, Geelong, Karratha and at the Australian Marine Centre in Henderson in Perth’s southern suburbs. The first of these centres, the Henderson facility, will begin operating next month.
“The national network of purpose-built centres will provide practical, hands-on training in a simulated workplace environment,” Starling said.
The system’s 24 training modules are designed to provide real-life experiences through interactive scenarios, Starling said.
They included activities such as: climbing a scaffold; viewing and identifying confined spaces; working with vessels and operational gauges, valves and instrumentation that will incorporate stored energy; and performing electrical and mechanical isolations and tagging to illustrate the correct procedures in dealing with process equipment.
Live feedback from participants through handheld devices as they undertake the induction is designed to ensure competency in the material being delivered. Multimedia and videos will be used to highlight risks and consequences.
Workers will be trained to know how to act in real-life situation and how to recognise when they are out of their depth so that they can walk away from unsafe situations or ask for assistance, Starling said.
Trainees who could demonstrate basic awareness, knowledge and skills would be awarded an “induction passport” that could be used to gain entry to oil and gas production facilities and construction worksites.
Holders of a passport would also be issued with a personal induction card valid for two years containing long-on details for accessing their passport through a web-based register.
This would help site managers ensure that all staff had the competencies needed to work safely, Starling said.
“A large worksite could have 2500 workers on site,” he said.
“It could have 150 contracting companies, 60 service companies and 30 equipment vendors. The site manager is responsible for all of these workers, but doesn’t have the time and resources for meaningful induction and competency assessment. Being able to verify competencies online through the induction card could make a big difference.”
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