APPEA’s Tim McGrath told PetroleumNews.net that the event, in its third year, would see chief executives, operations managers, supervisors and the workforce of Australian operators, contractors and regulators come together to share ideas at the Health and Safety Representatives (HSR) Forum.

“Previously, the end of the forum has been the end of the forum, where people have walked away and nothing’s happened,” he said.

“But this year we’re focusing on getting the tools so they can do the work themselves.

"We’ve got 28 CEOs and contracting companies coming together to sit down for four-and-a-half hours where they will be setting a vision for the future safety of their industry.”

On the second and third days, academics will present new developments and practitioners will discuss real case studies.

One such case study will see the University of Pennsylvania’s Isadore Rosenthal talk about lessons learned from BP’s Texas city refinery explosion.

APPEA says presentations and workshop sessions will focus on real issues and solutions, and an action plan for how these can be adapted to the individual requirements of company, site and workforce.

McGrath also said the event was designed with the Australian workforce in mind.

“There are a lot of places in the world where you can go to a safety conference, but what we’ve tried to do with this one is make it Australian-specific,” he said.

“Foreign companies are coming here and employing Australian workforces, but they are getting different safety results to those in the Gulf of Mexico and the North Sea.

“We want to address that.”

The event will run from August 7 to August 9 at the Burswood Convention Centre in Perth.

For more information and registration, visit www.2007safetyconference.com.au, or phone APPEA conference director Julie Hood on 07 3802 2208.