TGCCC Adopted Minutes 6 July 2009
Terminals TGCCC
(Terminals Geelong Community Consultative Committee)
Adopted Minutes of the Meeting
Held in the Meeting Room, Corio Library, Norlane
Monday 6 July, 2009
Present:
Robin Saunders Chair
Judy Foster Minute Taker
| Community Representative |
Ralph Taylor Greg Postuma Pam Edwards Peter Linaker Catherine Jones Franceska Dezelak John Wilson Bill Aitken Suz Kelly-Turner |
| CFA |
Bob Smith Ian Beswicke |
| Terminals Pty Ltd |
Gary O'Sullivan Carlo Fasolino |
Apologies:
| George Horman, Jon Apted, Mark Collins, Sue McLean |
| ITEM 1 | Welcome by Chair |
| Robin | Welcomed everyone and again welcomed Minute Taker Judy Foster |
| ITEM 2 | Apologies, confirmation of Draft Agenda |
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Apologies were as listed above. |
| Robin | Asked for confirmation of the Draft Agenda |
| ITEM 3 | Confirmation on the Draft Minutes of the meeting 18th May 2009. |
| Peter | Provided written changes to last meeting minutes - these were detailed and accepted by the meeting. |
| Robin | The Adopted minutes will incorporate all these changes sought by Peter. |
| Item 4 | Business Arising from minutes - Review of action list |
| 31/5 | No further advice from CoGG re the Port Plan planning scheme amendment. |
| 36/3 | No further progress on the 30A application for emptying the damaged BASF butadiene isotainer. |
| 38/1 | In the absence of an EPA representative, Carlo provided advice. Quentin Cooke had told the CICCC on 18 June 2009 that the new Client Relationship Manager for Terminals is Mark Cassanet who is responsible for both the Melbourne and Geelong sites, and will be located in the Melbourne office. |
| 38/3 | No further advice has been provided by EPA on the progress of Terminals' Accredited Licence. |
| 38/4 | Done |
| 38/5 | Done |
| 39/1 | Done |
| 39/3 | Comments on Chapter 10 of the Emergency Plan were provided by John, Ralph and Peter. Carlo to check changes with Worksafe |
| 39/4 | Gary to present on Human Factors later in the meeting. Item closed. |
| 39/5 | Check started monthly checks of the gate breaks on 6th July 2009. Item closed. |
| 39/6 | Web site technical report corrections made 28/5/09. |
| Item 5 | Emergency communications |
| John | I still have concerns about Emergency Communications - need for intervention at the Government level. plan has concerns re: the intervention on Government level. Marysville is a good example, where a relay stations was wiped out by fire and communications failed. What is Govt going to do to make this safer? EPA needs to be involved from the beginning if toxic chemicals are involved. |
| Suz | Is IPL (Incitec Pivot) no longer working? Gary advised that the manufacturing site has been closed. |
| Bill | Concern who oversees management emergency procedures, and reported difficulties with getting a response from the Shell Emergency Number. |
| Bob | Advised that if someone wishes to report an emergency, they should ring 000. |
| Carlo | The Emergency Plan is focussed on what Terminals is responsible for on site. |
| Bill | If Terminals has emergency plan what happens to people in that area of an emergency |
| Ian | If anything happens, Terminals have set criteria to notify via police appropriate companies & neighbours |
| Bill | When an incident occurs, how does the neighbourhood get the message? |
| Carlo | Looking at Terminals phone message system. |
| Bill | If Terminals responsible will notify correct people (which they do) |
| Gary | Would it be worthwhile police coming to meeting to listen to concerns, CFA, EPA come why not Police to explain |
| Peter | Bushfire question not finished too sensitive issue, will get answer from police |
| Ian | CFA are usually the incident controller for Terminals. What would police add to meeting, as CFA can respond to queries on behalf of the police. |
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General discussion clarified that as soon as the incident controller (usually CFA for Terminals incidents) is appointed, the incident controller is responsible for all communications to the community. Where personal notification or evacuation is required, the decision will be implemented by the police. If Terminals does provide a special phone facility to notify nearby neighbours, it will probably be using pre-recorded messages for the short time before the incident controller takes control. At that stage, the incident controller may well find the Terminals phone facility a useful one as part of the communication delivery. |
| Carlo | Carlo tabled revisions of Sections 10.6, 10.12 and 10.13 of Terminals' Emergency Plan, and spoke to those items. |
| Robin | If a significant incident occurs at Terminals how long does it take for all concerned to be notified? |
| Gary | The first priority is to account for individuals on site. |
| Catherine | Can Terminals handle 1500 phone calls at once? |
| Carlo | This is not likely to happen. |
| John | Concern with general telephone information number, to be sure it is available through all providers (Optus etc) |
| Carlo | When a phone number is provided to a client, it works for all providers. |
| Bill | If major incident, media should advertise to community |
| Franceska | Terminals site is nearly 40 years old. Is plant safe? |
| Gary |
Tanks inspected regularly, any maintenance required is done immediately. There are annual inspections, there have been no corrosion reports, safety devices are removed and inspected, there has been an overhaul of safety valves, and reports on functionality. There have been no incidents indicating any failure of the integrity of tanks in the last ten years. |
| Robin | Robin has heard all reports presented by Terminals at these TGCCC meetings, and the queries and comments from time to time made by CFA, EPA, and Workcover. Gary reports any faults so we know Terminals are following the relevant guidelines. While the Terminals site is 37 years old, it is its present condition that is important. If there were problems in this respect, some agency would bring it up at our meetings. |
| John | Terminals maintain plant and equipment to a high degree |
| Franceska | Worksafe Mr Cooke - Gary spoke of 7 incidents Nov & Dec, Mr Cook was angry of 7 incidents not myself. (Seven incidents occurred Nov Dec Franceska has sympathy for Gary) |
| Gary | Incidents are not directly related to site integrity, rather they represent operational concerns and show that management is seeking continuous improvement. |
| John | Integrity of plant - separate plant and equipment from Terminals operations, need to understand separation. Clarify 40 year old plant could be dangerous, but in Terminals case would say it is not dangerous as it is well maintained. Noted that Franceska's concerns were understandable, given the long history of concerns associated with other plants in the vicinity. |
| Peter | We can have confidence with Terminals management of site, we are told of small incidents therefore we would be told about any big incidents |
| Ralph | Let Carlo complete his report. |
| Peter |
Good Information, Good Advice, Good Procedures. It was noted at the R. Commission into the recent Victorian bushfires, that if the events had occurred on a school-day, the carnage would have been terrible, since schools had not constructed refuges for fire-safety. It is in the public interest around Geelong Port that good advice be given, and a check made that it is understood, and carried out. No schools lie in the "targeted area", for emergency communications, but for those just outside that boundary, they need be will aware of what measure of risk applies, and action planning. Particularly concerned where bureaucracies may prevent steps being taken to protect the public. "That everything will be alright" is a bureaucratic solution to safety procedures. Emergency procedures, felt parts of procedures were not discussed. Geelong Grammar School active in this comment. North Shore Primary School (direct line of info). Terminals leading way in giving advice. Responsibility to protect people and give correct information and advice. Concerns - North Shore Primary School - wind direction |
| Carlo | Have doubled area specified from risk assessment (750 metres) to 1500m for the Targeted Area, to give a further factor of safety. |
| Pam | North Shore Primary School is 1500 metres from Terminals. Need to clarify that it is in the Targeted Area |
| Action Item | Gary to bring plan showing the area 1500 metres from the boundary of Terminals site, the Targeted Area, and clarifying whether North Shore Primary School is included. |
| John | Siren sounded from Shell every Tuesday, next day a siren sounded, unsure where this came from |
| Gary |
John would not hear Terminals siren. Gary did not hear Shell siren on Wednesday and it was not Terminals siren on Wednesday. Siren not same as Shells, Terminals siren not known to most people except for people on site |
| Item 6 | Human Factors (background: MEK spill in 2008) |
| Gary | Gary spoke of have 3 workers did not pick up on incorrect colour coding |
| Pam | Are employees medical tested? |
| Gary | Yes every 12 months |
| Franceska | If there is colour coding at present, I cannot understand why incident happened |
| Gary | Looking at present colour coding to make it more prominent, including enhanced colour coding. of whole lines, extra valve labelling in pits. |
| Carlo | Now we pressure test the whole line, providing a more consistent safeguard. |
| John | How long till the colour coding is enhanced? |
| Gary | Not yet done, stickers need replacing every 18 months. Some Melbourne operators go to Geelong from time to time, but not the reverse. |
| Bill | Colour coding used when building cars, who is consulting with you for awareness and fatigue behaviour, Workcover helped with documentation of this aspect in Gippsland gas disaster. |
| Gary | Fatigue was closely examined, and it is not a significant factor. Shifts are carefully regulated. |
| Item 7 | Terminals report |
| Ralph | Ship movement report does not explain different types, some understanding of shipment and trucks desirable. Can't tell split of dangerous and non-dangerous goods. |
| Carlo | Clients have requested that we do not provide too much detail as they consider the information to be commercially confidential. |
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Incidents |
| Gary | Addressed the six Severity 1 (least severe) incidents listed in the Operations Report. Several of these involved bitumen transfer, and Gary explained that the problems arose from a 36 day shut down of the bitumen facility due to the client's difficulty in sourcing product. |
| Gary | Confirmed that the licence condition for butadiene discharge does not include butadiene escaping from dry brek leaks, but only vapour discharges from tanks which now go through the combustor. |
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Worksafe |
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Nothing to report |
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CoGG |
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Not present |
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EPA |
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Not present |
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Workcover |
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Not requested to attend the meeting. |
| Item 8 | Other Business |
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No other business |
| Item 9 | Next meeting will be held 31st August 2009 |
| Ralph | Asked if meetings could be 1st Monday of Month which is good for him (Subsequently revised this request to the 2nd Monday. |
| Action Item | Robin to provide a revised proposal for 2010 meetings, to be reviewed at the August meeting, when the starting time will also be reviewed. |
| Meeting Closed | 8.55 p.m. |