At the opening session of the Convention, Kevin Lester announced the following award recipients:
- Pipeline Industry “˜Legend’ Stephen Ohl was announced as the winner of the Outstanding Contribution to the Industry Award;
- Long-time industry stalwart and fellow “˜Legend’ Phil Venton awarded Honorary Life Membership of the APIA;
- Leighton Contractors Ryan Perez awarded the Young Achievement Award;
- CNC Project Management received the Environment Award; and,
- Fyfe took out the Safety Award.
An outstanding contributor
Announcing Stephen Ohl as this year’s Outstanding Contribution to the Industry award winner, APIA Immediate Past President Kevin Lester said Mr Ohl is one of the founding fathers of the high pressure pipeline industry in Australia, having been involved in it for over 36 years.
“He entered the Australian pipeline industry in 1984 with a degree in mechanical engineering and ten years’ experience in the petrochemical industry with Dow Chemical Company, including international projects in Indonesia, the United States and South Korea,” said Mr Lester.
Over the next 25 years, Mr Ohl held senior roles with Moonie Oil Company, AGL and APA Group, directing the commercial development, construction, expansion, operations and/or maintenance of many of Australia’s most significant gas pipelines and related infrastructure projects.
In his most recent group executive role with APA Group before retiring, he was responsible for all strategic capital works projects, including the significant Mondarra Gas Storage Facility Expansion and the $600 million Diamantina Power Station.
Mr Lester said that throughout his career, Mr Ohl has made and continues to make a sustained contribution to the Australian pipeline industry.
“This award is a fitting recognition for a man who has made an outstanding contribution to the Australian pipeline industry over a significant period of time. Congratulations, and thank you, Stephen,” said Mr Lester.
A lifetime of achievement
An honour only bestowed on 13 others over the course of the industry’s history, Phillip Venton was awarded Honorary Life Membership of the APIA at this year’s Convention.
Mr Lester said Mr Venton had been continuously involved in the pipeline industry for 37 years, and for most of this time has operated at a senior level with companies such as CMPS&F, PG&E, Worley and Duke Energy.
“Phil has played a leading role in the design and construction of many of Australia’s important pipelines, including the Eastern Gas Pipeline, the Tasmanian Pipeline, the SEA Gas Pipeline and numerous pipelines in Papua New Guinea. He is an authority on the design of slurry pipelines,” said Mr Lester.
From 2000 to 2014, Mr Venton has been the Chairman of Standards Australia Committee ME-38, the Petroleum Pipelines Committee, and has been the driving force behind the AS 2885 suite of Standards for the design and construction of high-pressure pipelines which are internationally recognised as “˜world-leading’.
In addition to his work on ME-38, Mr Venton was a foundation member of, and remains a very active member of, the APIA Research and Standards Committee.
“As direct evidence of his outstanding contribution, Phil was awarded the APIA Outstanding Contribution to the Australian pipeline industry award in 2002. In 2008, he was selected by Engineers Australia as one of Australia’s 100 Most Influential Engineers,” said Mr Lester.
“Phil’s sustained promotion of APIA and the industry at all levels has made him an important and well respected ambassador and a worthy recipient of this prestigious award that is only given when the Board believes that, due to its significance, it is appropriate to do so.”
Young Achievement Award
Leighton Contractors’ Ryan Perez deservedly took out the 2014 APIA Young Achievement Award.
Ryan’s contribution to the pipeline industry is truly evident within the high density polyethylene (HDPE) sector.
After 12 years working on high pressure pipelines in Asia and Australia, he joined Leighton Contractors as the Pipeline Manager for the Australia Pacific LNG Upstream Phase 1 Project: Gas Gathering Installations.
Mr Lester said Ryan had applied his high pressure pipeline skills and knowledge to revolutionise the installation, testing and quality assurance of HDPE pipe which has a lasting impact.
“Ryan brings enthusiasm to the pipeline industry that drives his constant pursuit for innovations that not only benefit his projects but also leads to industry change. He develops and improves engineering and construction processes and procedures to ensure effective and efficient construction that result in financial, production and safety benefits,” said Mr Lester.
“Ryan’s leadership potential was recognised early in his career and his quick career progression demonstrates how he continues to go from strength to strength. He was employed as McConnell Dowell’s youngest Construction Manager at age 28 and is currently employed as Leighton Contractors’ first Pipeline Manager.
“He leads his team of 24 engineers to achieve results and they have been recognised for significantly improving the manner in which work is handed over to a client. Despite working on a fly-in fly-out project, Ryan encourages his team to achieve a work/life balance by coordinating early finishes and social activities to recognise his team’s efforts.”
Making safety practices essential
The APIA Safety Award was taken out by Fyfe for its overall safety performance.
The award was presented to Fyfe Managing Director and APIA President Mark Dayman by Mr Lester.
Mr Lester said the five nominations for the 2014 award were rigorously considered by the APIA committee comprising independent professionals which included State regulation experience.
“The five nominations were all excellent and made it a very difficult decision for the committee,” said Mr Lester.
“There can only be one winner, however, and it gives me great pleasure to announce the winner of the 2014 APIA Safety Award to be the nomination from Fyfe Pty Ltd for its overall safety performance.”
Mr Lester said the committee selected Fyfe’s overall safety performance based on consistently excellent safety performance achieved by a strong behavioural-based safety culture and proactive approach to identifying and mitigating risks evident across the whole team, but driven by leadership.
The APIA Safety Award is designed to recognise one or more of the following achievements, all of which aim to improve the safety of the pipeline industry and its personnel:
- Outstanding safety performance in the workplace, whether in office, industrial, project or operations and workplaces;
- A unique innovation or initiative addressing a safety issue; and,
- A new and well-defined safety system procedure or practice.
Previous winners of the APIA Safety Award have been SEA Gas, DBP and WestNet Energy, APA Group, AJ Lucas Group, Nacap Australia and McConnell Dowell.
The best in environmental awareness
Also at the 2014 APIA Convention, CNC Project Management took out the annual APIA Environment Award.
Mr Lester said the winning nomination from CNC Project Management was under the Unique Innovation Addressing an Environment Issue criterion for its Back of the Ute Soil Test Procedure.
The Award is designed to recognise one or more of the following achievements, all of which aim to improve the environment and achieve leading environmental practice:
- Outstanding environmental performance in the workplace, whether in office, industrial, project, or operations and workplaces;
- A unique innovation or initiative addressing an environment issue; and,
- A new and well-defined environment management system, procedure or practice.
Mr Lester said there were five high quality entries ranging from excellent project performance, innovations through to energy efficiency programs.
“The CNC entry was selected as an innovative new method for rapid testing of soil along the Right of Way prior to topsoil stripping. This innovation has the potential to be adopted by the pipeline construction industry resulting in improved management of topsoil and better environmental outcomes,” said Mr Lester.
“Congratulations to everyone involved with the development of the CNC Project Management Back of the Ute Soil Test procedure and well done to all of the other nominees.”
Read more about CNC Project Managements award winning “˜Back of the Ute Soil Test’ on page 64.
