VIC: Esso failed to learn from previous disasters academic

AAP General News (Australia)
04-07-1999
VIC: Esso failed to learn from previous disasters academic

By Alan Gale, Industrial Correspondent

MELBOURNE, April 7 AAP - Esso's corporate structure failed to prevent the explosion and
fire at its Longford natural gas plant last year by not applying safety lessons learnt in its
other divisions, the royal commission into the event was told today.

Esso did not apply to its petrochemical division safety lessons learnt in its coal mining
division after the 1994 Moura mine disaster, Australian National University safety academic Dr
Andrew Hopkins told the commission.

Similarly, lessons learnt from the 1988 Piper Alpha oil rig fire in Britain were not
applied to Esso's Australian operations and could have prevented a similar accident on the
Tuna platform in Bass Strait 10 months later, he said.

Dr Hopkins was also critical of the Victorian government's safety regulations, and said the
current "regulatory environment contributed in a significant way to the incident".

An explosion in Esso's Longford venture partner BHP's Moura coal mine on the north coast of
Queensland killed 11 miners and led to an overhaul of safety regulations.

"Esso owns coal mines in NSW, as does BHP ... There has been no evidence to date that any
of the lessons from the Moura disaster have been applied in the petrochemical industry," Dr
Hopkins said.

"If Esso corporate assumed greater responsibility for safety, the lesson learned about the
control of major hazards in one part of the corporate empire might be more readily applied in
other parts.

"Esso appears to have ... difficulty learning the lessons of previous incidents."

According to Dr Hopkins, Esso's management structure stopped bad news from reaching upper
management levels.

"The (Esso) general manager's summary of a major (safety) audit which had been done at Esso
Longford ... was basically everything's OK at Longford," he said outside the commission.

"People don't like passing on bad news and in the process of summarising whatever is coming
from the bottom all the bad news gets truncated."

Meanwhile, Victorian Trades Hall Council secretary Leigh Hubbard told reporters outside the
commission that Esso had failed its employees.

"We do not resile from that ... BHP own coal mines, they're a joint venturer with Esso in
Bass Strait ... they didn't pass on the lessons of Moura."

Esso spokesman Ron Webb said Dr Hopkins put forward statements based on reading transcripts
of other witnesses, and his level of experience and understanding of the operation of the
plant was very low.

"He described the fact that Piper Alpha recommendations were not taken up when we had an
incident on Tuna platform some 10 months later, but the recommendations following the Piper
Alpha tragedy came some 2 years after the disaster and so I suggest what he is saying is not
correct.

"We have a very well-developed learning process which works through getting advice from
other divisions and determining what we can do to avoid accidents."

Meanwhile, Esso today announced that the first phase of the three-step operation to restore
Gas Plant One at Longford, the site of September's explosion and fire, had been completed.

AAP ag/imc/jnb

KEYWORD: GAS (CARRIED EARLIER)

1999 AAP Information Services Pty Limited (AAP) or its Licensors.