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          Shipping Stevedoring Port Services Hydrocarbons Diving  Sep-Oct 2008 
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The Campaign for a Safer Workplace23 July 2008By Bernie Farrelly - MUA National Lead Organiser
The MUA-AWU Alliance has been actively lobbying the Federal Government and National Offshore Petroleum Safety Authority (NOPSA) for improvements in safety in the offshore oil and gas industry.
NOPSA ReviewAn independent review of NOPSA was completed in early 2008. Both the MUA and AWU lodged submissions to the review in late 2007 outlining the concerns of the unions on behalf of the membership in the industry. The final report together with a number of recommendations was released by the Federal Government on 12 June 2008. All key concerns submitted by the unions were addressed in the recommendations.The unions argued there should be greater interaction with stakeholders such as unions as employee representatives. NOPSA have agreed to work with stakeholders to address issues around the preparation of safety cases, develop guidelines and maintain consistency across the assessment process. The full report is available from the MUA and AWU. There should also be better workforce consultation processes and practice.
Crane Operations Competency StandardsThe Alliance has also been lobbying NOPSA to adopt formal competency standards for crane (and rigger/dogman) operations. The objective of this is to ensure competency standards in the industry are maintained at a high level into the future and the requirements for high standards are not eroded as the skill shortage grows.At present there is no standard applying for the performance of high risk work in the offshore oil and gas industry. Under the Safety Case regime, each operator may apply a different standard - it is currently up to each operator to determine a competency standard for the performance of such work. This deregulated approach is unacceptable to the offshore oil and gas sector unions and to the offshore workforce. Adoption of the ASCC National Standard obligates NOPSA to ensure that each operator provides a consistent and nationally recognised standard for performance of high risk work. On the basis of MUA-AWU representations, NOPSA have moved partly in the right direction by agreeing to support the adoption of new competency standards for crane operators etc which would become the minimum acceptable training/skill (competency) requirements under the safety case. However this position falls far short of the union's objectives, as NOPSA remains opposed to establishing these new requirements in regulations and for licensing of such occupations.>p> NOPSA will shortly be forwarding a copy of the proposed Unit of Competence for the unions to examine.
HSR ForumThe 2008 HSR Forum and National Oil and Gas Safety Conference is being held at Burswood Casino on the 5-7 August 2008. The first day is dedicated to the HSR Forum where HSR's from across the industry have the opportunity to discuss and workshop with other HSR's OH&S issues that are occurring at their workplace and put forward suggestions to address safety concerns.Attendance at the 2007 Forum was largely made up of industry management, with a large number of rigs and FPSO's not represented. The MUA and AWU encourage members on each rig and FPSO to speak to your HSR's to ensure your workplace is represented at this year's forum. Indeed NOPSA is encouraging the industry to ensure that workplaces from across the industry are well represented. It's the view of the Offshore Alliance that employers should provide time off for HSR's to attend.
Offshore AccommodationThe MUA-AWU Alliance has lodged a submission to NOPSA on accommodation standards in the offshore. NOPSA has consequently released a discussion paper and is convening a discussion group to discuss the discussion paper and comments from respondents.Representatives from industry and relevant unions will sit on the discussion group. NOPSA has called for 3 representatives from the unions. The Alliance has nominated Bernie Farrelly to represent the MUA and AWU in these discussions. The project is planned to take around 18 months and hopefully result in a formal Offshore Accommodations Guidelines document. Members will be encouraged to have input through their respective union representatives and kept up to date with progress.
NOPSA BoardContinued lobbying of Nthe Government by all unions under the auspices of the ACTU has resulted in a representative of the MUA-AWU Alliance being appointed to the NOPSA Board. The Minister has appointed David Healy to the Board for the next 2 years. David is an Alliance organiser who comes from the industry and is based in Sale in Victoria.David can be contacted on 0409 258 705 or at david.healy@awu.net.au.
Other Matters
Workers in the industry are encouraged to contact an Alliance organiser with any questions or comments or if you need any more information on the above. A Union workplace is a SAFER workplace!! For further information
Public News: You can view MUA's publicly available news in a variety of ways. Please select one of our public news indexes. |
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