Integrating safety team and community across one of the world’s largest gas processing projects
JMJ helped create a world-class safety culture across multiple onshore facilities.</
75M
worker-hours without a LTI
Challenge
The Ichthys LNG Project includes some of the world’s biggest and most advanced offshore facilities, massive onshore processing facilities near Darwin in Australia’s Northern Territory, and an 889-kilometre pipeline to unite them. Each of these three components is a mega-project in its own right. The multibillion-dollar project is ranked amongst one of the world’s largest gas processing developments. Operator, INPEX, awarded the $15Bn contract for engineering, procurement and construction (EPC) activities to joint venture partnership, JKC.
The global nature of this project meant there were some complex challenges to overcome:
- Significant onshore infrastructure
- Geographical challenges – four fabrication yards across Asia and China with associated cultural and language barriers
- More than 30,000 people worldwide working on the Ichthys LNG project 8,500 in Darwin
- Multinational leadership team of 45 people
- Absence of a unified commitment to safety
JMJ was brought in by JKC to help deliver high performance safety, with a focus on Incident and Injury-Free™ (IIF™), across the onshore project comprising the LNG plant in Darwin and fabrication yards in Thailand, Philippines and China.
Solution
Initially, there was resistance from INPEX to JMJ and IIF. They didn’t believe it could work within an Australian culture. The initial phase of IIF work in Darwin was strained, tense and tightly managed by the client. To overcome this cynicism, the JMJ consultant team:
- Held High-Performance Project™ alignment workshops to build a project commitment
- Facilitated IIF commitment workshops for senior leaders.
- Introduced INPEX leadership to the IIF mission.
- Secured buy-in from the general manager. This brought new levels of engagement and IIF leadership, overcoming much of the operator’s cynicism
- Brought together key groups across the organization, from senior management to crafts
- Established 18 IIF action teams. Eight area leadership teams and an IIF senior leadership team
- Created a positive cohesive inspired collective of 50 key leaders across the project
- Recruited ‘IIF champions’ at all levels of the project, with a commitment to creating a world-class safety culture
- Developed the internal capabilities to deliver IIF training in the field to workers across the project
- Recognized the ‘independent spirit’ of Australians and created a spirit of partnership and collaboration rather than one where people were told what to do
Client Goals
- Develop a productive, proactive high-performance team which is proud to be part of the Ichthys Onshore Project
- Implement safety jointly with contractors and subcontractors so there is a shared understanding and the highest commitment to safety for everyone involved in the project – working as ‘one team’
- Achieve lost time injury frequency (LTIF) target: 0.29 total recordable incident rate (TRIR) target 1.40 (INPEX corporate target)
- Create high-performing project teams that communicate well, take coordinated actions, treat each other with dignity and respect and hold each other to account to safely deliver on expectations and commitments
- Establish organizational structures with clear roles and responsibilities
- Protect and minimize environmental impact
IIF is the best working thing on this project… and we can do better…. and I can do better.
JMJ’s approach fit well with our existing systems and processes. There was not a clash with what we were already doing on the project.
Results
Leadership’s commitment to IIF transformed the Ichthys Onshore. Once initial skepticism was overcome, the depth of alignment and IIF commitment across all levels of the project helped the project achieve world-class safety performance. The joint venture considered this to be its highest-performing project and the benchmark for safety culture. As the project progressed, IIF continued to thrive, creating an affirmative workplace culture with great energy and commitment. The consequent strong safety performance had a positive impact on areas such as quality, schedule and budget.
100M
Worker hours without LTI
Incident and injury free
No recordable injuries at the fabrication yard in China
Strong relationships with communities
No significant disputes with host communities