TGCCC Adopted Minutes 18 May 2009

Terminals TGCCC

(Terminals Geelong Community Consultative Committee)

Draft Minutes of the Meeting

Held in the Meeting Room, Corio Library, Norlane

Monday 18 May, 2009

Present:
Robin Saunders Chair
Ben Campbell Minute Taker

Community Representative	Ralph Taylor Bill Aitken Greg Postuma Jon Apted Joe Cicero Peter Linaker
CFA	Ian Beswicke
Terminals Pty Ltd	George Horman Gary O'Sullivan
City of Greater Geelong	Lyndon Ray Kylie Fisher

Apologies:

Carlo Fasolino, Bob Smith, Neil McKenzie, Sue McLean

Meeting Begins	6.30 pm.
ITEM 1	Welcome by Chair
Robin	Welcomed everyone, noting with pleasure the attendance of Kylie Fisher, Councillor for City of Greater Geelong, and our new Minute Taker Ben Campbell.
ITEM 2	Apologies, confirmation of Draft Agenda
	Apologies were as listed above.
Robin	Asked for confirmation of the Draft Agenda.
ITEM 3	Confirmation on the Draft Minutes of the meeting 2nd February 2009.
Ian	Outlined problems of the names contained on the previous minutes.
Robin	Determined that Geoff Cooke needs to be deleted from meeting attendees, and Bill Edwards corrected to Bill Aitken. The double entry for CFA is to be removed, and Ian Beswicke added to the apology list. With these changes, the minutes were adopted.
ITEM 4	Business Arising from Minutes - Review of Action List
31/5	Advise date on which Port Plan Planning Scheme Amendment will go on exhibition
Robin	Advised that he has spoken to Tim Hellsten at CoGG regarding Council's Port Plan, and harmonisation with the Government's views is still in progress. Exhibition of the planning scheme does not appear to be imminent.
Bill	Asked if they have split the plan into two parts, and expressed his concerns about the progress of the plan.
Robin	Stated that COGG need to produce final document. Item remains open.
36/2	Terminals to update Emergency Plan in line with agreed recommendations, for presentation at May 2009 meeting.
	Done by Carlo on 15/5/09, and discussed at tonight's meeting, as reported below.
George	All of the shortcomings with the previous emergency plan have been rectified. Terminals have gone beyond the Worksafe regulations with the new plan. The new plan stresses the importance of the community, and can be supported in the future by using fridge magnets and leaflets to support the plan.
	General discussion about whether Terminals would make phone calls to neighbouring facilities for "a burning tyre" on site. George explained that that would not be an emergency incident, but calls could be made on the basis of being "a good neighbour" if the incident was likely to give rise to any alarm. George sought advice from Gary as to whether, in the recent MEK incident, phone calls has been made to neighbours. Gary advised that staff were so busy managing the incident that calls to neighbouring facilities were not made for 20 minutes.
Bill	Questioned the effectiveness of fridge magnets as a device to notify the community. How does a fridge magnet help the community when there has been a spill?
George	Advises Bill to read the communication document, and that it contains copious amounts of important information. Adds that Terminals are all about being 'good neighbours' to the local community.
Jon	Geelong Grammar School appreciates being in Terminal's phone book, and would like to be contacted as soon as possible if an incident occurred.
George	Advised Jon that the school will be contacted if necessary, but Terminals will not be giving regular updates for small issues that are considered 'under control'.
Jon	Lots of parents come past the school. Even if it is just a 'level A emergency', we would still like to know about it. Would we be notified by an alarm at the Terminals facility?
George	Responds to Jon by stating that the alarm is for internal use only, and is not intended to be a device that alerts the community. There is a list of phone numbers near the phones so that we can alert the community. In most circumstances, CFA will handle the issue of alerting the local community.
Gary	Asks Jon if the office at Geelong Grammar School is attended late at night.
Jon	There will be someone available 24/7 to answer the phones and respond accordingly.
Robin	Summarised discussion that Terminals night staff need to be aware that GGS need to be contacted by phone where necessary.
ACTION	George to further review procedures for the provision of phone advice to neighbouring facilities during emergencies, taking into consideration whether these neighbouring facilities will be open, and whether 24/7 phone contact is possible and desirable.
Robin	I think the committee needs further clarification of when the Opt-In List will be contacted.
George	During emergency it is not practical to contact everybody in the Opt-In List, as it is a waste of resources when they are not under threat.
Robin	There needs to be further clarification about how the opt-in list will be used, and how often.
Peter	Stated that the Opt-In List wants to be contacted, and this needs to be considered.
Joe	It needs to be stated in the report which facilities are open late at night and which are not. For example, contacting a Primary School late at night would be a pointless exercise.
ACTION	George to check with the GHD Report regarding any recommendation for contacting the Opt-In Contact List.
Ralph	Suggestion that Terminals should go away and discuss these issues and clarify just how they intend to contact the Opt-In List.
ACTION	Committee members to review the revised Chapter 10.6 of Terminals Emergency Management Plan and provide comment at July 09 Meeting.
Bill	Asked the Terminals representatives how they contact boats that are out in the Jetty in the instance of an emergency.
Gary	Phone and radio.
38/4	Terminals to revise the Incident report to include the date of incidents, and the spilt volume where it can be estimated
Gary	The March/April Operations Report now lists the estimated volume of spills as requested, and the date of the incident. Item closed.
38/5	Terminals to investigate the siren on 14 March, and advice given that it was a Terminals incident
Gary	Gary advised that there was no incident at Terminals on 14 March, and Shell have advised that they had no incident on that date either. Item closed.
38/6	Terminals to advise how much butadiene they have discharged year to date, compared to the licence.
Gary	Information provided in Operations Report (8.5 kg year to date, compared with 135 kg Total Licence Condition). Item closed.
38/7	Robin to put item on Agenda for May meeting, "web site report shortcoming".
	Item put on Agenda and discussed later in meeting. Item closed.
ITEM 5	Report by City of Greater Geelong.
Robin	Is there any noteworthy information for COGG to report?
Lyndon	Nothing of importance.
Bill	Is the COGG Environmental Unit aware of this committee? Do they receive the minutes?
Lyndon	Yes they are aware of the committee, could not verify whether they regularly read the minutes.
Robin	Suggested that Lyndon might forward the draft minutes on to the Environmental Unit members by email.
George	Advised that Incitec Pivot has decided to close its fertiliser facility, with a loss of 27 jobs. George stated that it would make a big dent in the port revenue.
	Report by CFA
Ian	Still busy with Black Saturday, and the Royal Commission, but there is definitely a long way to go. Concerning the removal of privacy restrictions for emergency phone calls, at the moment this is only valid for bushfires, and does not allow corporations to void the privacy barrier to contact individuals. Ian remarked that the new Terminals alarm system seems to be working well.
Peter	Any ash or small burning situation should be notified as any cause for public alarm should be notified to inform the CFA.
George	Terminals is well prepared in these situations.
	Report by Terminals
	Review of Terminals Incident Reports
Gary	Advised the committee that regarding incident on 3/3/09 where there was a power loss at site, this only affected customers and was not a safety concern. There was still power to run phones, lights, alarms, etc.
Gary	Advised the committee that regarding the second incident on 30/3, the operator who should have been loading the truck was disciplined.
George	Queried how the last incident on 30/3/09, involvingthe failure of a driver to disconnect the air hose and earth lead before driving off, could have happened, given that the gate break is designed to prevent the truck starting up in such a situation?
Gary	Gary explained that there was a 1 cm clearance on the gate break that allowed the incident, and that subsequently the gate break has been extended to avoid any repetition. He advised the committee that regarding this incident on 30/3, the driver was counselled and that new flow charts have been developed to assist in re-educating drivers that have become complacent and fallen into bad habits.
George	Every year Geoff and I do an analysis of incidents, and Geelong has come up recently re human factors. Advised the committee that a psychologist has been used by Terminals to assess human behaviour. A HAZOP on the ship unloading process was observed, and 40 recommendations were made, including an increase in visual stimulation and colour prompts, designed to make the tasks more interesting, and to involve staff in thinking about the procedures and actively being involved. In response to a question by the Chair, George advised that fatigue had not come out as a problem.
Peter	But what if the operators are in fact colour-blind?
George	This is tested every twelve months.
Gary	We are re-doing procedures in a flow chart format, to make them more effective. The longevity of staff has worked to our disadvantage, with a habit culture creeping into the site. New features are being introduced to ensure that operators must be present during truck-loading.
Joe	Longevity need not be a bad thing, provided management is aware of the potential problem.
Greg	Question regarding loss of power of alarms.
Gary	Fire systems and alarms are tested weekly, and are stand alone from the central power supply.
Bill	Question to Gary - Did you find out what caused the loss of power on 3/3?
Gary	No. Could have been a variety of factors.
ACTION	George to discuss human factors at the next meeting.
Ralph	Is there an operator for VCM?
Gary	No, it's different. But there are plenty of operators walking around.
Ian	Should there be regular checks to ensure the gate break is properly closed?
Gary	Yes, checks are done regularly, but this is something we could probably do more.
ACTION	Gary to ensure the operation of the gate breaks are tested monthly to check that they are operating as designed.
George	In response to a query on the last incident (on 28/4/09 involving bitumen), George explained that nitrogen was bubbled through from the base of the tank to effect the mixing of two grades of bitumen.
Joe	Is Terminus conducting a risk management review of butadiene monitoring?
Gary	Everyday practice. We conduct regular monitoring, but only vapour practice and not the liquid.
Robin	In relation to the BASF isotainer, nothing is going to happen until EPA issues the authority.
Gary	Yes. That's correct.
George	With excess flow valve, liquid can't be taken from the container. Butadiene sample will eventually be tested once EPA approves.
Peter	A competent chemist should be able to make tests on the gases (spectroscopy).
George	Advised the committee that it won't be a danger, regardless.
Bill	Question to Gary and George - Why is butadiene brought here anyway?
Gary	Because we have the facilities which aren't available elsewhere.
Joe	I understand that there was recently a US tank explosion caused by lighting. Do Terminus have regular testing of tank earthing?
George	Yes. We did pay attention to this. We conduct checks on the earth stacks, and rain caps are used to keep water and corrosion away. Even if one earth stack was to fail, there are multiple around the plant so there would be little problem.
Robin	Do Terminus regularly analyse overseas literature?
George	Yes. This is an important part of our practice. Recently there was reported an overseas case of a sphere collapsing to the ground during a hydrostatic test. The legs had been weakened by rust, and an operator was crushed when the tank collapsed. Now we check for this condition regularly.
ITEM 6	Website report shortcoming (Peter Linaker)
Peter	Advised the committee that technical reports on the website are not adequately listed. The file named "VCAT Butadiene Review" is in fact the VCAT finding on the Methyl Ethyl Glycol. TGCCC needs to have adequate and balanced information available to the public, including VCAT findings on Butadiene, Methyl Ethyl Glycol and Bitumen.
Robin	Robin clarified that it was him, not Terminals, who was responsible for the content of the web site. Robin also stated that it was for the Committee as a whole to determine what they wanted on the web site.
Peter	If the butadiene proposal is in the Technical Reports the VCAT finding from the hearing should be there also.
Robin	I will look over the website and ensure that this is fixed.
ACTION	Robin to verify the contents of the website and ensure that the VCAT decisions on the Butadiene, MEG and Bitumen proposed facilities are available.
Meeting Closed	8.40 pm.