Environment, health and safety

Key messages

Oil spill response

Each of the companies involved in production of crude oil and in refining and distribution of petroleum products has major programs in place to minimise the risk of a marine oil spill. Company personnel are also trained to respond to any oil spill so as to minimise any environmental impact. These petroleum industry activities form part of Australia's national oil spill response arrangements coordinated by the Australian Maritime Safety Authority (AMSA).

Additional industry expertise and resources are provided through the Australian Marine Oil Spill Centre (AMOSC) at Geelong (Victoria). AMOSC was set up in 1991 as a wholly owned subsidiary of AIP. Its roles are:

• provision of equipment and personnel on a 24-hour basis to respond to a major oil spill
• provision of oil spill response training
• provision of advice on spill equipment.

Waste management and recycling

Lubricants are not completely consumed in use and result in waste oil that needs to be collected and recycled. AIP members have adopted a product stewardship role for their products and are actively supporting the collection and recycling of waste oil and its packaging.

The Australian Government has introduced a product stewardship scheme for waste oil to support recycling, funded through an excise on sales of lubricants. AIP is also a signatory to the National Packaging Covenant. AIP on behalf of its member companies has established a collection and recycling program for used plastic oil containers across Australia.

Health Watch

Since 1980 AIP has sponsored the development and operation of an epidemiological study called Health Watch which tracks the health of over 19 000 present and past employees of the Australian petroleum industry. The information from the Health Watch study is important in identifying factors within the industry that may be a risk to the health of the industry workforce and ways in which these risks may be addressed.

Health Watch has always been conducted independently, first at the University of Melbourne and then, from 1998, at the University of Adelaide. In 2005 the study was transferred to the Monash Centre for Occupational and Environmental Health, a leading international centre for epidemiological programs and collaborative research at Monash University. AIP is continuing to support Health Watch because it is highly valued by the petroleum companies and their employees and is an internationally respected study. The study also provides a robust scientific basis for the community to understand the health impacts of exposure to petroleum products.

The results of the latest Health Watch report (the 13th report) were most encouraging. They clearly show that petroleum industry employees represented in Health Watch have better health than the general community.

• The death rate for both men and women in the petroleum industry is significantly lower than in the general Australian population (once age differences are taken into account).
• The death rate for men in all major disease categories is also significantly lower than in the general Australian population. This includes death from diseases like heart disease, cancer and respiratory disease and deaths from external causes such as accidents or violence.
• The latest analysis shows that the risk of leukaemia of all types is no greater than in the general population and has fallen compared to previous Health Watch reports. This is true even of acute non-lymphatic leukaemia, which has in the past been associated with exposure to benzene. The industry has taken significant steps to reduce employee exposure to benzene and to petroleum products in general.
• Higher reported rates of melanoma (skin cancer) are unlikely to be caused by any workplace factor and the death rate from this cancer is the same as that for the general population.
• Where conditions relating to exposure to asbestos were reported it was concluded that such exposure was likely to have occurred in refineries before 1970 while in other cases the condition resulted from exposure before entering the petroleum industry.
• The latest study shows lower rates of bladder cancer and prostate cancer compared with previous reports.
• Higher than expected rates of kidney cancer were reported for tanker drivers, but the risk is lower than in previous reports. However, the small number of cases does not allow meaningful analysis of possible contributing factors. This will continue to be monitored.
• The latest analysis also shows that smoking has a powerful influence on ill health and mortality and quitting smoking noticeably reduces the risks.

Fuel for Aboriginal communities

Petrol sniffing is a major concern in remote Aboriginal communities.

Since the early 1990s Comgas, a form of aviation fuel suitable for automobiles, has been available in many Aboriginal communities. While Comgas was very low in aromatics, it had a high lead content.

At the beginning of 2005 BP began production of a new form of unleaded fuel, Opal, which contains low levels of aromatics. This fuel is the first of its kind in the market place and is available from all suppliers to the communities under the Petrol Sniffing Prevention Program.

Since 2005 the Australian Government has extended financial assistance to an increasing number of remote communities to facilitate the more widespread availability and use of Opal fuel. AIP member companies continue to work closely with federal, state and territory governments to help tackle petrol sniffing in Aboriginal communities.