Big Oil Big Bight
The offshore oil and gas industry in Australia is regulated by the National Offshore Petroleum Safety and Environmental Management Authority (NOPSEMA). It was set up in response to several major oil disasters in Australia and overseas and merged the functions of the former occupational health and safety organization, NOPSA, with the project approval and monitoring functions of the Department of Environment. It was under the Abbott Government that the final approval of project proposals was removed from the oversight of the Federal Government and vested solely in NOPSEMA.
Bob Bea came to Adelaide in December 1989 to address a conference of engineers on the topic of reliability based design. It was a concept that borrowed engineering approaches from high-risk industries such as aviation and nuclear power, with aim of ensuring the elimination of every risk possible, within reason.
Professor Robert Bea, Co-Director, Marine Technology Centre for Risk Mitigation at the University of California, Berkeley.
Having worked at 72 different locations in 26 countries around the globe, Professor Bea was able to assure us that safety standards vary a great deal from country to country and that NOPSEMA was high on his list of reliable regulators because of their understanding of the principals of risk management.
But not everyone in Australia has the same level of confidence in the Australian regulator, NOPSEMA, as Bob does, and Professor Bea himself expressed doubts about the transparency of the decision making process saying that this could lead to bad decisions being made.