Controlling Exposures

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Controlling Exposures

• Brett Young

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Hierarchy of Controls

• Managing HSE Risks
• Elimination
• Substitution
• Engineering
• Isolation
• Administration
• PPE

• Managing Exposures to NORM
• PPE
• Disposable overalls, gloves, boots
• P3 respirator
• Administration
• Systems of work, training, duration
• Isolation
• Distance, shielding, designated disposal
• Engineering
• Decontamination facilities, Use of high grade
  steel
• Elimination Substitution
• Scale inhibitors, water chemistry

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Relying on Systems and PPE
LTIF Performance 1986 YTD 2005
4

2004 Health Performance (PDO only)
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Potential problems with future approach

• Costs of production increasing
• Reduce costs e.g. use of lower grade steel,
  reduced scale inhibition
• Fields getting older - well pressures decreasing
• Increased production water (gt 95 H20 in some
  wells)
• EOR - Water re-injection
• Taking water from shallow aquifers (SO4 gt 2000
  ppm) potentially creating barite (more scale)
• Mixing water chemistry ? Increased scale over
  time
• NORM now found in all of our Assets and
  increasing future costs

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We need to be innovative?

• We need to sell Health to Engineers, Senior
  Management and the Contracting Community
• Inclusion of the costs associated with
• loss of plant, cleaning, interim storage,
  disposal, ongoing training, purchasing/maintenance
  of meters, writing/reviewing systems, PPE etc
• We need to be systematic to the point of
  including the cost of NORM into production costs
• We need to elaborate on hidden costs

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Interim Measures Combination controls based on
risk

• External risks - Dose
• Estimating/recording doses in NRS attached to PTW
• Establishing annual dose limits for workers
• Setting Action Limits for further investigation
• Proposed strategic surveys of Assets
• Introduction of what/how to do documents
• TLD Badge management for high risk job types
• Internal risks Inhalation of particles
• Blanket policy to conduct measurements on all
  potentially contaminated plant
• Systems Training
• Use of RPE/PPE

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Respiratory Protection

• PDO recommends P3 3M8835 (PF 20)
• No data/experience when to increase RPE level of
  protection
• 1 Bq/g - effective internal dose 97 uSv/2000
  hrs
• Problem with bearded workers, climate and
  training
• Recommend PAPR for bearded workers and for hot
  work
• Air fed hoods for tank cleaners (based on VOC,
  particles)
• Proposal to conduct PBZ measurements of workers
• e.g. hoists during workovers, sludge farms, tank
  cleaning, hot work and workshops.
• Monitoring respirable particles in PBZ (lt 5 um)

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Where should PDO be targeting its resources?

• Better understanding of wells
• What should we look for in the water chemistry?
• Reduction of scale in plant (barite or others)?
• Specific inhibitors PDO could be investigating?
• Precipitate of radium out in scales? Is chlorine
  a key?
• What are other organisations doing?
• How to reduce the amount of contaminated sludge
  in tanks/vessels/separators?

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Questions

• What are other EP organisations doing?
• Are we all going down the same path?