Ensuring Effective use of Permit to Work Guidelines in the Oil and Gas Industry of Australia: An Explanatory Study



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Table of Contents

Introduction4

Research Statement5

Problem Statement6

Significance of the Study6

The Federal Government of Australia7

Policy makers7

Oil and gas industry employers and employees7

Research Hypotheses8

Research Questions8

Research Paper Organization9

Methodology9

The Nature of the Research10

Research Design11

The Participants12

Data Collection12

Reliability13

Ethical Considerations15

Access to participants15

Informed consent15

Voluntary participation16

Confidentiality16

Privacy16

Summary16

Literature Review17

HSWA, 197418

PTW System19

Various types of work permits20

Hot work20

Work on electrical systems21

Machinery maintenance21

Confined spaces22

Permit to work fatalities22

Historical incidents24

Buncefield explosion24

Texas City refinery explosion26

Esso gas explosion29

Deepwater Horizon incident31

Piper Alpha incident33

San Juanico explosion35

Vila Socó pipeline spill fire36

Ocean Ranger oil rig sinking36

References38

Ensuring Effective use of Permit to Work Guidelines in the Oil and Gas Industry of Australia: An Explanatory Study

Introduction

The oil and gas industry (the industry) handles very large quantities of toxic and flammable materials, and the potential for accidents remains a significant concern to industry players. Increasing cases of accidents and related deaths of employees because of accidents are widely evident in industry reports. In fact, an examination of accidents within this industry indicates that potential for accidents is a global concern (Offshore Technology, 2012). The offshore platform Piper Alpha was located in the British part of the North Sea which saw an incident on July 6, 1988 resulting in the deaths of 167 people on board (Paté-Cornell, 1993). Very recently, in 2010, the Deepwater Horizon oil rig located in the Gulf of Mexico saw a massive explosion and blowout that resulted in a major environmental catastrophe and saw the deaths of 11 people in the ensuing destruction (Barstow, Rohde, & Saul, 2010). This case and many others are not isolated accidents in the industry and accident statistics and related deaths within the industry demonstrate the need to put in place safe systems of work.

The International Labor Organization (ILO) (2002) reported that more than 2 million people die from occupational accidents or work related diseases every year. Conservative global estimates suggest that 270 million occupational accidents and 160 million cases of occupational diseases occur on an annual basis. Half of these deaths may be caused by exposure to hazardous chemicals. The United States alone reported 3.7 million cases of occupational injury and illnesses in 2008. Of these, 71 percent occurred in service providing industries; the remainder in goods producing industries (BLS, 2009).

Australia has also experienced an increase in accidents and related deaths in the industry. In the first six months of 2010, approximately 23 incidents were reported and these included oil spill, gas spill, and blow out threats (Gold & Casselman, 2010). Therefore, this explanatory research addresses an important social issue within a very critical industry. Defined as a formal and legal written system used to control certain types of work, which are identified as potentially hazardous, a permit to work (PTW) system provides a basis on which duty of care criteria or laws may be adhered to. It also provides guidelines on means of communication between site and installation management, plant supervisors and operators and other personnel. The duty of care is a common law that states ...