Altona and Yarraville Terminals supporting safe operations

Mobil Altona and Yarraville Terminals are licensed as Major Hazard Facilities (MHF) under the Occupational Health and Safety Regulations 2017. As part of the MHF licence renewal process, the sites undertake an extensive review of operations every five years.

Both terminals undertook this review process during 2022 and submitted their licence renewal applications to WorkSafe, which includes updated Safety Cases. 

In the months leading up to the submission, a number of detailed technical studies and risk assessment workshops were conducted to support the Safety Case renewal process. The purpose of these studies and workshops is to identify hazards and assess the impact of operations to ensure that the right programs and processes are in place to effectively manage any potential risks. 

The terminals also engaged their workforces and consulted with local stakeholders, including Hobsons Bay City Council, Fire Rescue Victoria, other fuel companies in the local area and members of the community.

Both sites’ Safety Cases have been accepted and subsequently have had their Major Hazard Facility Licences reissued to 2027. 

Safety and OIMS Team Lead Matthew Walker said, “The WorkSafe team were highly complimentary of the Altona team and recognised the unprecedented change the site is navigating with transition from Refinery to Terminal. 

“The reissued licences are an endorsement that Altona Terminal is on the right path and is another milestone success for the Altona team to celebrate!”

Yarraville Terminal acknowledged this significant achievement internally with commemorative keep cups, however the team also remains committed to continually improving processes. 

“Yarraville Terminal has worked diligently to improve process safety performance by eliminating major incident scenarios and strengthening the performance of existing and introducing new major incident controls. WorkSafe has since connected other MHFs with Yarraville to share what we’ve learnt. The focus for us now is to meet our own expectations and look for opportunities to continuously improve.” said Assistant Terminal Manager, David Barker.

The current Safety Cases will be available on the ExxonMobil Australia website and at local libraries.