Background
On Monday 20th August 2012 two workers died as a result of an accident on the Stena Clyde, a mobile offshore drilling platform located off the Victorian coast approximately 90 km from Warrnambool. Pending a full investigation of the accident there are few details publicly available (as of 3 September 2012) of this workplace accident other than the reported cause appears to have been machinery failure killing one worker instantly and fatally wounding the other worker who died soon afterwards en route on the emergency flight to an onshore hospital. The deaths of these two workers are the first work-related deaths at an offshore facility for the Australian petroleum industry since the fatal accident on the Karratha Spirit, off the Western Australia coast, in September 2008.
The Stena Clyde is more correctly known in the petroleum industry as a semi-submersible mobile offshore drilling unit (MODU). It was built in 1976, can drill to depths of 5,000 ft below the water surface, has dimensions of overall length 109.2m and width 67.4m, and weighs over 3,000 tonnes. The Stena Clyde is currently located more than 3 nautical miles offshore from the Victorian coastline and since it is less than 200 nautical miles offshore it is in Commonwealth of Australia waters and so falls under federal jurisdiction. The Stena Clyde is owned and operated by Stena Drilling Limited (Scotland) which is a wholly-owned subsidiary of Stena AB (Sweden). The Stena Clyde is currently contracted to Origin Energy (Australia) to drill natural gas exploration wells in the Otway Basin. The Otway Basin is a significant source of natural gas supply for South Australia.
The National Offshore Petroleum Safety and Environmental Management Authority was established on 1 January 2012, superseding the National Offshore Petroleum Safety Authority, as the regulatory authority that administers the federal Offshore Petroleum Greenhouse Gas and Storage Act 2006. Accordingly it is currently the primary regulatory authority investigating the fatal accident on the Stena Clyde.
The deaths of these two workers has once again highlighted occupational health and safety (OHS) in the offshore petroleum industry in Australia. Immediately following news of this recent fatal accident on the Stena Clyde, the Australian Council of Trade Unions renewed its call for harmonised OHS laws and regulations across Australia inclusive of all locations (onshore and offshore) and all industries (including the offshore petroleum industry).
What You Need to Do
Prepare a well-researched report that identifies and analyses the existing OHS environment for the offshore petroleum industry in Australia.
How safe has the offshore petroleum industry in Australia been in recent years? How does it compare to "onshore" industries with regard to work-related incidences of serious injury and death?
Discuss the existing OHS legislative and regulatory environment for this industry as it applies to an offshore facility that may be located anywhere up to 200 nautical miles off the coastline of Australia's states and territories (excludes the ACT of course but includes external territories that are part of the Commonwealth of Australia).
Should Australia's OHS laws and regulations be harmonised so as to be completely uniform covering any location and any industry within the jurisdictions of the Commonwealth of Australia (including Commonwealth waters offshore) and its states and territories? Explain and fully justify your position.