Enterprise Risk Management Solutions

Our Projects

With some of the best safety and risk practitioners in mining, oil and gas exploration and production, rail and power generation, erms undertakes a wide range of project types to support our customers. We are often asked to support our customers projects by developing solutions to operational risk challenges, becoming embedded in their business to manage risk on their behalf, developing and delivering meaningful, engaging and effective training, planning improvements to existing safety and risk management practices, undertaking governance and assurance reviews.

We offer the full range of risk advisory services, including various engineering and risk studies, and our clients regularly report to us that they previously did not realise that erms knew as much about their business and their challenges or had such broad technical competence as we were able to demonstrate on their behalf.

Oil & Gas

Permit to Work & Isolation Procedures

An oil and gas producer was seeking to revise and update their operational work authorisation and process isolation systems to bring them into line with leading industry practice.

They engaged erms, as a leading developer of production permitting systems for the oil and gas sector, to conduct a comprehensive review of current systems and recommend both structural and procedural improvements to these key risk management methodologies. By consulting closely with the production, engineering and HSE departments a rationalised outcome was developed that leveraged the strengths of the current systems with a more robust and concise approach to both the planning and documentation aspects of production safety. The rapid growth of the organisation presented a challenge, both in terms of clarifying key requirements to an expanding workforce, and for future proofing the systems to accommodate anticipated growth and multiple production locations.

Cooper Basin Exploration

erms and an associate were engaged to manage the drilling of an exploration Well in the Cooper Basin. Our engagement started from the pre-planning phase and involved significant work to obtain all necessary Government Approvals for the project and to engage all necessary providers for equipment and services.

After approval to drill was obtained, erms and our associate were retained onsite to support execution of the remainder of the Exploration Program. This work included management of HSE, logistics and reporting obligations with a particularly challenging Drilling Contractor.

The exploration well was drilled without harm to personnel or the environment, and no non-conformances with Approved Government obligations.

Northern Territory Exploration Program

erms and an associate were engaged to manage the execution of two horizontal wells in the eastern Northern Territory.

erms were engaged during the planning phase of the Exploration Program to ensure that all HSE and risk management systems were established so that the client could have a high level of assurance that works conducted by the Drilling Contractor were executed in a safe and efficient manner.

Our associate company was engaged as the program progressed into execution to manage the operations of the Drilling Contractor and support services providers on the ground.

Northern Territory Exploration Project

Enterprise Risk Management Solutions (erms) supported Statoil Australia Theta BV (Statoil) with professional staff and HSE and risk management related advice during the 2014 Southern Georgina Basin works program.

There were nine erms personnel located across the Statoil Australia Adelaide office and the licence areas of EP 103 104, 127 & 128, in the South Georgina Basin of Australia’s Northern Territory.

With erms support, the project was delivered on time and consistent with Statoil’s HSE expectations. Such outstanding HSE achievements, especially in a very harsh and remote area of Australia, result directly from the quality of the knowledge, support and leadership erms and Statoil were able to provide in delivering and completing activities throughout this program.

erms are proud to have been a part of a safe and sustainable project delivered in accordance with Statoil’s values.

At erms, the people we employ are the most important part of helping our clients achieve their goals. The erms and Statoil teams worked together tirelessly to ensure the safety of everyone involved in the 329,000 hours of the Project. That is the same as one person working 12 hours a day for over 75 years without an incident – a truly tremendous team achievement.

International Drilling & Completions, Vietnam Campaign

erms were engaged by an oil and gas operating company to support the International Drilling & Completions team in their Vietnam Campaign. erms personnel provided a suite of safety and project management support services onsite in Vietnam and Indonesia, including a significant body of contractor prequalification and evaluation of tender submissions. erms had a substantial involvement in the initial development of Request for Tender documentation, predominantly focusing on operational, quality and HSE management aspects of the work packages being let.

New Zealand Safety Case

erms assisted a New Zealand oil and gas explorer and producer operating in the Taranaki Region to develop the first Safety Case under the new NZ Regulatory requirements and which was accepted by the authority.

erms worked with the operator and their drilling contractor to compile and analyse a very large amount of existing safety and risk management system documentation. erms used this information to develop a Safety Case argument that met the requirements of the newly introduced NZ Health and Safety in Employment (Petroleum Exploration & Extraction) Regulations. In addition, erms performed a range of detailed, technical risk analyses based on materials provided by the operator and drilling contractor and various workforce consultation sessions. This work ultimately resulted in the production of a detailed Safety Case report that was accepted by the NZ Regulator and is used as a practical safety tool by members of the drilling contractor’s workforce.

Southern Georgina Basin Drilling Program, HSE & Operations Management

erms were engaged to support an oil and gas operating company in executing a major drilling program covering five wells in western Queensland during 2014.

erms was engaged to provide HSE Management Support as an Operating Company Representative accountable for managing the performance of the Drilling Contractor, Lease Access Contractors and Support services onsite. This scope of work included providing regulatory advice in support of drilling operations, reviewing and developing risk and safety management system documentation (including detailed Emergency Response Management) and preparing bridging documents covering the respective roles and responsibilities of the Operating company and its contractors. Bridging documents were prepared to cover general HSE and risk management activities, but were especially pertinent in the area of Emergency Management – partly due to the extremely remote location of the works.

erms was also responsible for developing implementation strategies and action plans to ensure the agreed roles and responsibilities outlined in the bridging documents were put into place on the ground.

Production Permit To Work (PTW) System

Because of our experience in oil and gas operations and systems safety, erms was engaged by a large Australian oil and gas company to facilitate a review of its oil and gas production Permit to Work system. As well as leading the development of system improvements, erms assisted with implementation of these improvements across its Australian and International operations. This work led to several opportunities for our client in streamlining operational work planning and authorising, improvements in the permit tools, elimination of ambiguity and uncertainty and increased robust relationship between its corporate EHS Management System and one of its widespread and key administrative control systems.

Well control events – Bowtie analysis

To comply with corporate directives and in a very time pressured environment, a client was seeking to introduce a structured approach to the management of foreseeable well control issues associated with its onshore drilling operations.

erms’ assistance was sought in facilitating Bowtie analysis workshops with their drilling engineering personnel and drilling contractors.

The client’s personnel and the drilling contractor personnel had not previously been exposed to Bowtie analysis, so a soft approach to introducing this method to the business was developed. This helped to foster positive engagement and participation whilst educating the various workforces.

The client was able to meet its corporate directive and achieve the most technical value from the process, whilst increasing the risk management understanding and capability of their drilling engineering team and drilling contractor. The client is now using the documents as a base well control validation document within these drilling programs to analyse all future programs.

Permit to Work & Isolation Procedures

An oil and gas producer were seeking to revise and update their operational work authorisation and process isolation systems to bring them into line with leading industry practice.

Otway Basin, Offshore HSE Support

erms has successfully provided HSE assurance and support for offshore drilling operations, including undertaking various drilling campaign HSE preparation activities such as performing pre-qualification and pre-award reviews and audits, coordinating HSE kick-off meetings, carrying out reviews of HSE management systems and plans, developing and reviewing bridging documents, developing and evaluating contractor HSE training matrices and facilitating risk workshops. Other activities included field-based HSE supervision such as HSE behavioral observations, incident reporting and investigation, delivering inductions and working with the Drilling contractor to address HSE performance deficiencies.

Permit To Work (PTW) System Review

A national industry association, was looking to review and refine its Permit to Work system by combining the knowledge and experience of its senior practitioners with leading practice approaches to the management of work in high hazard environments.

There were also concerns regarding the understanding of PTW amongst system users and the quality of training being provided across industry. With our extensive involvement in the development and implementation of permitting systems in complex operating environments, erms was engaged to create a more streamlined permitting process and to facilitate the collaboration of stakeholders for the further refinement of the PTW system. Working Groups of industry representatives were engaged to assist with the redefining of many aspects of the system to ensure it would be relevant to site operations and provide a high level of safety management. Training and accreditation requirements for both users and training providers were thoroughly reviewed and upgraded. The result is an international leading practice system for the effective management of all medium to high risk activity that is simple, effective and rigorous.

Power Generation

Planned Turbine Survey and Outage

A power generation company required strategic advice and technical services for a planned Turbine Survey and Outage. erms provided advice to the client to manage the strategic aspects of the complex planning required as well as detailed technical assistance in the field during the Outage. The work program included the development of a Work Health and Safety Management Plan, induction preparation and delivery, contractor pre-qualification reviews, developing Confined Space Emergency Rescue Plans and preparing procedures on project-specific safety work. Of particular importance was the provision of advice, support and feedback to the client’s project team members to provide knowledge transfer and assist with their competency development and enhancement. As a result of the program, the Outage was successfully implemented and the client was able to transfer the documentation and processes to respond to the significant/catastrophic failure of another Turbine.

Power Generation Facilities – Safety Management Systems Integration

erms services were sought by a client for the integration of newly acquired power generation facilities which included activities such as:

reviewing and development risk and safety management documentation
providing recommendations for risk and safety systems integration
devising solutions and implementation strategies including for outage planning
devising supporting site safety initiatives and safety culture integration within and across power generation facilities
applying the principles of plant safety management to effectively control risks associated with machine/person interfaces

erms provided advice and recommendations to provide for an effective and integrated system that is capable of successfully supporting their safety and business goals.

Power Generation Facility – Permit To Work (PTW) System

The owner of a Power Station were conducting a review of their work authorisation system and sought advice from erms as to whether the proposed solution would resolve a number of long-standing issues.

After undertaking a thorough review, erms advised the client that the solution would not meet their needs and that proceeding with implementation as proposed would create additional problems. The client chose to proceed with the proposed implementation until additional problems were being evidenced during the system roll-out. At this point they suspended all implementation and requested that erms undertake a full remediation of all systems. erms conducted a comprehensive analysis, developing an integrated system for the review and authorisation of all work on site, including activities involving the control and isolation of energy sources. Implementation of the remediated systems included interfacing with other business units to ensure a comprehensive approach was adopted for the culture change required to support the new processes. Integrated training packages were also developed and delivered for all system users. The client now has an effective and integrated system that successfully supports their business objectives.

Power Generation Facility – Confined Space Survey & Risk Assessment

A power generation client was experiencing difficulty maintaining compliance and safe work practices on the site of their power generation facility while managing operations involving confined space entry due to a reliance on an inadequate, outdated and difficult to navigate register.

Recognised as the most capable provider of professional safety services, erms was approached to develop a system that would encompass best practice in safety management while efficiently meeting the demands of a site with over 2,000 confined spaces. Using a collaborative approach, erms personnel conducted an extensive site survey and then developed and implemented a system for sustained efficient management of confined space work that was integrated with existing permit to work and document management systems. Operational personnel are now able to quickly retrieve and review individual assessments containing integrated confined space risk assessments, ventilation and rescue plans. This has significantly improved the quality of their safety preparation and practices.

Safety in Design

An electricity transmission company sought assistance from erms to develop and integrate Safety in Design (SiD) into their existing engineering management systems framework.

The client also requested a project delivery model to allow their business to ensure the compliance of legal safety obligations, as well as support the development and implementation of new technology, construction and maintenance practices for improved workplace. Using the client’s existing Project Management Framework and establishing a comprehensive stakeholder engagement framework, an integrated SiD Process was mapped. Development of the SiD process path, procedures and templates were developed prior to being piloted on a live project and site specific requirements were captured. Rollout of the training modules, aligning the workforce to the aims and objective of the SiD process then took place. With over 300 SiD actions, utilizing new or improved technology, construction, operation and maintenance practices, the project provided reassurance to the client that they were able to comply with legal obligations and mitigate hazards and risks. Together with the detailed procedures templates, process flowchart and modules, the client has a successfully trialed, and user friendly SiD system within their organisation.

Transport & Logistics

Rail Auditing Program

A SA Government Department engaged erms to provide safety assurance services for a major rail infrastructure program of work.

Many of the work scopes included in the program were new to the department and erms was engaged to evaluate the risks of the program, including a major focus on safety management and provide comprehensive and detailed analysis to the department. A two stage approach was adopted beginning with a series of technical safety system audits focussing on each contractor’s approved safety management system. Each contractor’s infield practices were then reviewed and assessed to verify that the approved safety management system was being implemented. A series of very detailed audit reports were provided, outlining positive performance as well as non-conformances and cautionary notes about the safety practices and performances of each major contactor with recommendations for improvement. From these, the department was able to formulate and implement improvement plans to significantly enhance the risk and safety management practices among major contractors across the program and for future programs of work.