Woodside’s process safety management competency program

As an operator in the oil and gas industry developing new energy and low-carbon solutions, we recognise the importance of effective Process Safety Management (PSM) to avoid major accident and environmental events due to loss of control of hazardous substances. In support of this, Woodside embarked on an initiative in 2014 to create an integrated approach to PSM. In 2015, an internal team was assembled to review industry best practice and implement the solution with support from Joint Venture Partners’ Subject Matter Experts and DuPont Sustainable Solutions (now dss+). The Energy Institute’s Process Safety Management Framework was selected as it was a comprehensive, multi-sector and open-source framework. This program of work ran for 3 years with a focus on: (1) leadership buy-in and support; (2) incorporating process safety requirements into the integrated Woodside Management System; (3) defining Process Safety Critical Roles and associated competency requirements; (4) developing a training and coaching model; (5) consistently applying process safety risk assessment methodologies; (6) aligning Equipment and Management System Performance Standards; (7) establishing a suite of performance metrics and a governance framework; (8) learning from audits, investigations and others to improve. Now, 10 years on from the start of this initiative and following the merger with BHP’s petroleum business in 2022, we will discuss the PSM competency program element of this work.