Commodore Grant Ferguson makes his point about safety standards at the WA Region Safety Working Group
Lieutenant Commander Gary Caldow explains how the Contractor Safety Assurance Program’s collegiate approach will raise safety standards across the maritime contracting industry
|
Readers of On Target would recall our story on the Maritime Systems Division (MSD) Ship Repair Contractor Safety Initiative in June 2007. At the time Director General Maritime Support, Commodore Grant Ferguson, said that “a principle underpinning this initiative is that ship repair is a complex and potentially dangerous environment which needs to be carefully risk managed. This in turn requires the best efforts of all the parties concerned including contractors, sub contractors, and Commonwealth employees.”
After twelve months overseeing the development of a number of safety working groups each involving one prime contractor and representatives from MSD and Navy, the head of the renamed Contractor Safety Assurance Program, Lieutenant Commander Gary Caldow RANR, initiated the WA Regional Contractor Safety Working Group on 15 July 2008.
Convened by Maritime Support’s man on the ground in WA, Commander Bob Mummery RANR, the Working Group was attended by over 50 safety professionals from across the ship repair industry, MSD System Program Offices (SPOs), Comcare, Australian Industry Defence Network, Safety Insititute of Australia and Navy. Commodore Ferguson opened the forum by reading a welcome from Head Maritime Systems (HMS), Rear Admiral Boyd Robinson AM which provided a strong message about how seriously he views the application of safety standards in MSD contracts. Commodore Ferguson added his weight to this message and highlighted the theme of ‘safety is good business.’
Held at HMAS Stirling, the WA Safety Working Group included presentations by System Program Offices (SPO), contractors, safety bodies including Comcare and Navy representatives. The common theme running through the presentations was the desire to hear from each other the lessons learned from individual safety incidents and accidents. As Commodore Ferguson noted, “It is through dialogue and engagement, through sharing experiences and knowledge, that we can understand what is and what is not acceptable in our industry”.
In the afternoon, a workshop on the prevention of high energy incidents led to agreement on the necessity to introduce a culture of positive lock-out where practicable in current ship systems. It was agreed that a High Energy Working Group would be formed with Rod Clark from BAE Systems as the lead supported by Mick Dove of Thales, Joe Smith of United Group and Commander Alex Forgie of ANZAC SPO, with input from other SPOs and ASP Ship Management. A willingness to act cooperatively across the industry on critical safety matters is a key outcome of these working groups.
Gary Caldow was delighted with the success of the WA Safety Working Group and said that his team would be starting work on organising the inaugural eastern region Safety Working Group to be held in Sydney in late October.
For more information please contact LCDR Gary Caldow on (02) 9377 2397 or email gary.caldow1@defence.gov.au |
