Member Under the Microscope
Dawn Banner – Principal Consultant, Safer Together
Dawn has always been acutely aware of the importance of safety in the many challenging roles she has tackled in a career spanning 30 years that enabled her to travel the globe before settling in Perth as a Principal Consultant for Safer Together.
Safer Together is a not-for-profit, member-led organisation that strives to improve safety for workers on the frontline through standardisation, providing guidance and knowledge-sharing.
“I am involved in the coordination of resources to support fitness to work and mental health of workers in the oil and gas exploration and production industry operating companies and contract partner companies in Western Australia, Northern Territory and Queensland,” Dawn said.
Hailing from a small farming town in the north east of Scotland, Dawn studied chemical engineering at Strathclyde University, spending a few years in Aberdeen as an engineer before embarking overseas.
“I have been very fortunate to have worked with incredible people from all over the globe and had vast experience in challenging roles in various countries,” Dawn said.
Varying between operational roles, where she was able to gain a strong understanding of working under pressure on the front line, and projects that shaped future developments has provided her experience in the full development life cycle.
In 2003, she became the first female site manager of TotalEnergies operation in Tunu, Indonesia, the largest producer of gas feeding the Bontang LNG trains at the time.
It was there that she achieved one of her greatest accomplishments: “Gaining the respect of the operations team in Indonesia to the extent that they opened up the operational sites to other female engineers.”
From the shallow gas of Indonesia, she moved to a development manager’s role in Luanda, Angola where she was involved in development planning and strategy and all stages of the design and sanctioning of deep-water oil projects.
During her time as part of the senior executive team, she managed and led a team to safely operate mature assets, often with complex simultaneous operations.
Next was a secondment with IFP training in Paris before returning to TotalEnergies to provide input into operating philosophies and development plans for new projects in Asia.
“It was in this role that I first had some input into the Ichthys project back in 2010,” Dawn said. “Following the Ichthys project sanction, I found myself in Perth with, what I believed to be, one of the most exciting jobs on the terrace.
“As GM production support I was responsible for the start-up preparation, production and activity planning, production engineering and the training and competency of the operations staff. This role allowed me to bring together all my experience - technical, leadership and management and be part of the team that brought the world-class facilities to life.”
In her role at Safer Together she is working on Assist & Assure, an initiative that encourages effective safety conversations and reflections by workers before they start the job.
Dawn has been involved in the Energy Club WA for five years and loves that it allows her to meet new people, hear directly from senior representatives as well as participate in the Next Generation program.
“Being involved in the Next Generation program and going to schools to educate the students on our evolving industry and encouraging them to get involved and be part of it,” she said.
Outside work, she enjoys spending quality time with her daughter in various activities such as horse riding and cross-country running.
With COVID restrictions easing, she looks forward to travelling to Scotland more frequently to see her parents and family.