CASE STUDY
Shutdown safety support
Client: Gold Producer
Location: Papua New Guinea
Duration: Eight Weeks
Context
Planning a major shutdown event is a complex task, especially when it involves mobilising more than 1,200 personnel in a remote location during COVID-19. Our client, a large gold producer, wanted to keep its people safe and manage the business risks associated with such a complex undertaking. The organisation recognised its existing health, safety, and environment (HSE) team, which was resourced for business-as-usual work, would benefit from extra support during the mammoth shutdown event. Minset proved to be the perfect partner due to our deep shutdown experience, ability to transfer knowledge, and skill in helping clients design and implement sustainable solutions.
Approach
Minset was embedded within the HSE team and put its decades of shutdown experience to work by providing the crew with 24-hour safety support during the event’s mobilisation and execution. Minset:
- Attended meetings to seek, collect, and communicate essential information to all groups. The team ensured everyone was well informed and clearly understood the expectations and requirements.
- Developed and maintained a safety dashboard in conjunction with the HSE team, collating all key safety statistics and information in one place. The streamlined system sped up data analysis, the identification of trends, communication, field inspections, and actions.
- Implemented a rigorous process to ensure all proposed shutdown actions were safely tracked and performed as intended.
- Performed field-critical control checks across high-risk tasks.
- Was on standby and ready to lead high-level incidents requiring ICAM (Incident Cause Analysis Method) investigations.
- Prepared the HSE team to perform Level 1 and 2 investigations.
- Used coaching and mentoring to build in-house shutdown-specific safety capability for the future.
Results
People
- Developed shutdown-specific safety protocols and team member capability
- Coached the team to deliver standardised HSE activities
Process
- Created a safety dashboard as the ‘central source of truth’
- Established HSE in field rhythms and routines for use throughout the project
Physical
- Communicated more than 100 safety topics throughout the project
- Managed more than 140 workgroup safety interactions during the shutdown period
- Performed 60 critical control checks
- Investigated 40 incidents, quickly implementing containment actions
