Supporting the industry through challenging times
On 7 April 2020, the National Offshore Petroleum Safety and Environment Management Authority (NOPSEMA), issued a Safety Alert to all operators of offshore facilities who may be considering modified roster arrangements to reduce the spread of COVID-19 among members of the offshore workforce.
NOPSEMA advised that operators considering roster changes in response to COVID-19 should ensure that risk assessments for fatigue and psychological hazards are undertaken and engage in extensive workforce consultation. Any changes to rosters should be managed and documented through established management of change processes. NOPSEMA has been conducting inspections in response to proposed COVID-19 roster modifications and will continue to do so.
Operators of offshore facilities seeking to modify their roster arrangements due to COVID-19 should ensure that all required risk assessments and workforce consultations are undertaken prior to implementing such modifications.
NOPSEMA continues to actively pursue the threat posed by COVID-19 and has published an extensive range of documents in support of industry managing these risks which can be viewed at this link. NOPSEMA has also published a new compliance strategy for effectively regulating the offshore industry during the COVID-19 pandemic which can be viewed at this link and a list of better practice responses to inspection questions which can be viewed at this link.