A facility cannot be constructed, installed, operated, modified or decommissioned without a safety case in force for that stage in the life of the facility. The operator of a facility must submit the safety case to NOPSEMA with a covering letter stating that it is being submitted for assessment. Since it is the operator that must submit the safety case, registration of the operator must be completed prior to safety case submission.

The Offshore Petroleum and Greenhouse Gas Storage (Safety) Regulations 2009 [OPGGS(S)] set out the requirements for the contents of safety cases.

The Offshore Petroleum and Greenhouse Gas Storage (Safety) Regulations 2009 state that NOPSEMA may, by notice in writing, require the operator of a proposed facility or an existing facility, to provide a validation in respect of the proposed facility or in respect of a proposed significant change to an existing facility.

In order to deliver a consistent approach to validation of proposed facilities or to significant change to existing facilities, NOPSEMA has recently reviewed and reinforced its internal processes to ensure that an administrative process is in place that is accurately aligned with the requirements of the legislation. NOPSEMA has developed a policy on Validation and there is further information available.

Once a validation is requested by NOPSEMA, an operator may not submit the safety case for a facility before the operator and NOPSEMA have agreed on the scope of validation for the proposed facility or proposed significant change to an existing facility.

In general, the regulations impose safety case assessment time frames on NOPSEMA. NOPSEMA has 90 days in which to complete the assessment of a new safety case, and 30 days for a revised safety case. In all cases NOPSEMA may extend the assessment period by setting out an alternate timetable for assessment.

If the initially submitted safety case is not acceptable, NOPSEMA will notify the operator and seek clarification. NOPSEMA must accept or reject the safety case as set out in legislation.

Further information on the Safety Case Approach is available, including background to the use of Safety Cases.

Safety case approach What is a safety case Validation Safety case guidance Submission and assessment