With COVID19 restrictions lifting around Australia, our teams are still working from home and recently been heading into the office one day a week for product planning, reviewing work in progress, solution implementation projects, system efficiencies, lesson learnt sessions and the opportunity to reconnect with colleagues has been greatly appreciated by all. When decisions are made with respect to any of these initiatives and their impact, we will communicate them as soon as we can.
June saw US going the extra distance in our 10th year of supporting the MS Brissie to Bay in our #projectMAD “30 for 30 Challenge”. Our team of 57 MAD participants from Mipela, Partners (DBYD Qld, ISGQ, MC Global, Powered, Sentanil Systems), Suppliers and Colleagues committed to a virtual trip of 25,760km around the coastline of Australia #makeeverykmcount raising awareness of Multiple Sclerosis and funds to MAKE A DIFFERENCE for those living with this debilitating disorder. To check on how they went, read the article further through this newsletter.
Please reach out to us if you have any questions, let us know what we have done well or not so well in these last three intensive months. Personally, for me it has been a time to be reflective, adaptive and I want to continue to be proactive. It goes without saying that we take nothing for granted and are grateful for your ongoing support.
Australia’s largest gas pipeline network owner and operator, APA Group is responsible for more than $21 billion of energy assets across Australia.
Under Australian Standard AS2885, APA Group are required to conduct Safety Management Studies (SMS) on all pipelines to ensure compliance and that key management personnel are fully informed of the operational risks associated with the operating assets.
In 2018, APA Group started using Mipela’s X-Info SMS suite to automate this process. X-Info SMS suite is specifically designed to provide pipeline owners with a comprehensive system that can manage their tasks associated with the operation, maintenance, suspension of operation, decommissioning and abandonment along with all their proposed transmission pipeline asset projects AS2885 workflows, quality control and reporting. Where a threat is identified as “credible” and failure is possible, the risk must be managed to ALARP (As Low as Reasonably Possible). X-Info SMS suite guides participants through an Initial Risk Assessment workflow and Residual Risk Assessment to reach ALARP.
Since that first project, APA Group have completed 12 workshops for more than twenty pipelines using X-Info SMS suite. The design SMS workshop for the Western Outer Ring Main project (Victoria) was the latest to be undertaken. APA Group have also loaded over 300 pipeline assets into the SMS database in preparation for the next round of workshops.
“Using a proven methodology and sound system like X-Info SMS suite not only saves a considerable amount of time from study to study but the automated reporting and reminders are critical in managing any identified threats,” said Phill King, Manager Systems and Assurance at APA Group. “Being able to quickly reference and analyse the status of our threats enables us to also to better resource plan and minimise the risk for all,” King added.
Moving forward, the next steps in the APA SMS story is to plan and “flatten the curve” for the upcoming SMS reviews.
The Australian Pipeline and Gas Association (APGA) has moved its Knowledgebase to a new platform – ours!
As part of a strategic move by APGA to consolidate its applications, the following membership systems – Knowledgebase, Pipeline Engineering Competency System (PECS) and Tools/Resources will join the Pipeline Operators Group (POG) incident database using Mipela’s X-Info Suite. Users will be able to access these tools from links on the APGA website via a secure browser based portal.
“The new platform offers easier operation and straightforward searching for APGA members on a more robust platform,” APGA CEO Steve Davies said in an email to members. “Building and supporting industry capability is one of APGA’s strategic aims and has been our core business for more than 50 years. The APGA Knowledgebase is the central location for APGA technical material.”
“The APGA Knowledgebase is the first section of what will eventually become the central point for accessing APGA technical material. The next section to be transferred will be the APGA PECS which will happen later this year. We are excited to be able to make this material available on a purpose-built platform.”
The Knowledgebase is a major reference recourse for the pipeline industry, collecting knowledge, experience and lessons learned over decades. It contains more than 1,600 items of technical and other information from seminars and conferences in the pipeline industry, as well as working documents from major projects, collected over many decades. It has become an important reference for members working on projects or who simply have an interest in the technical aspects of the industry. It is easily searchable via a number of search terms.