Finalists were today announced for the upcoming Chamber of Minerals and Energy of Western Australia (CME) Safety and Health Innovation Awards.
This year, ten finalists will compete for top honours in three categories. Open to all WA-based resource companies, operations and contractors, the awards showcase the best in creativity and ingenuity with the goal of improving safety and health outcomes at all workplaces.
CME Chief Executive Reg Howard-Smith congratulated all finalists.
“These companies are at the forefront of finding innovative solutions to improve workplace safety and health- industry’s number one priority,” said Mr Howard-Smith.
“The safety performance of the WA resources sector is a focus for the entire industry. It is vital we remain vigilant and look for ways to improve and innovate,” said Mr Howard-Smith.
Finalists now move through to the last round of judging and will present an overview of their programs to delegates at the CME Safety and Health Conference to be held at the Perth Convention and Exhibition Centre on 27-28 July 2015.
Category winners will be announced at the Innovation Awards Dinner held on the first evening of the Safety and Health Conference on 27 July.
The CME Safety and Health Innovation Awards 2015 finalists are:
Engineering Category
BHP Billiton: Mining Area C -Conveyor Belt Replacement Improvement
Conveyor belt replacements are recognised as a hazardous activity. The idea to utilise turning frames to change the way shorter conveyor belts are replaced at BHP Billiton Mining Area C was identified and implemented to safely improve operations whilst making innovative use of existing site equipment by designing a module which can be bolted on to a conveyor’s structure. A testament to the innovation’s success is that it is now used in similar conveyor systems on 4 out of 5 BHP Billiton Iron Ore mines all of which are now enjoying the same benefits of safer and more efficient conveyor belt replacements.
Rio Tinto Dampier Salt Ltd – The Arc Flash Elimination Project
The existing 415V Electrical Switchboard at Dampier’s Operations Pond zero pump station was out dated and posed a significant fatality risk from an arc flash incident. In conjunction with a local Western Australian electrical engineering firm, Dampier Salt designed a new and much safer switchboard with a focus on reducing and containing the risks associated with an arc flash.
The innovate design means the previous requirement to wear a Category Four personal protective equipment (PPE), bomb suit when working on this equipment can be replaced with Category Zero PPE, normal electricians clothing. Rio Tinto is working to incorporate this design in all new switchboards.
Alcoa of Australia – The Bund Safe Trailer
The Bund Safe Trailer provides safe access to haul road bund walls for signage installation, repair and maintenance. Previously, employees had to climb unstable 1 to 2 metre high gravel bund walls and the task had a high risk of slips, trips, falls, sprain and strain injuries. . However, it was not viable to control these risks by building multiple access points due to the extensive, ever-changing network of haul roads. With creative team thinking, the concept of creating mobile access in variable conditions was realised. In addition, the risk ratings associated with bund access have been drastically reduced, improving safety outcomes for employees through this innovative project.
Systems Category
BGC Contracting – Safety Achievers Award
In response to site and client feedback, BGC Contracting reviewed and redesigned the Safety Achievers Award process to incorporate both leading and lagging indicators to measure a site’s safety performance. Using a combination of quantitative and qualitative measures has provided a more accurate measure of safety performance and culture onsite and has re-established the credibility of the Safety Achievers Award process across all BGC Contracting sites. Rather than being a stand-alone one-off safety initiative, the innovate approach has seen the Safety Achievers Award become more dynamic and will ensure it continually challenges management processes as the safety maturity of BGC Contracting evolves.
Fortescue Metals Group Ltd – Unmanned Aerial System for Cloudbreak Mine Site
The Unmanned Aerial System (UAS) is a photogrammetry based system. It uses a mounted camera within the plane to gather spatial information. The innovative implementation of the UAS to undertake stockpile surveys has significantly reduced exposure to health and safety risks encountered by the survey team. Other benefits include; increased productivity and efficiency in survey and mining team activities and increased accuracy in data reporting. As a result of initial success other FMG operational areas are now using UAVs to inspect high risk work areas, removing personnel from high risk tasks altogether.
Bis Industries – VOICE (Virtual, Operational, Insight, Control, Environment)
The Virtual Operational Insight Control Environment (VOICE) provides a centralised platform for monitoring employee and asset performance and maintenance processes to drive safety performance. Through dedicated facilities and staff, VOICE integrates key health and safety operating systems for ease of use across 75 sites, delivering improvements to compliance to standards and policies. The constant and direct interaction with sites allows the key operating systems to maximise potential benefits and provides the business and clients valuable and timely insight into how to enhance safety performance, including incident investigation, fatigue management and driver performance improvements.
People Category
Downer Mining – Enhancing Workforce Health Program
Downer Mining’s Enhancing Workforce Health program is a holistic occupational health program born from the need to raise the profile of workforce health recognising the risks that poor health poses to employee safety. The company needed a structured health program that targeted its priority health risk areas. The solution was a commercial research partnership with Queensland University of Technology’s Institute of Health and Biomedical Innovation through which Downer Mining has been able to work with internationally recognised experts to develop a diversified and continuous-improvement approach to managing its priority health risk areas: obesity and nutrition, musculoskeletal disorder and mental health.
Rio Tinto Iron Ore – A targeted Risk Based approach to improving health and wellbeing on a Fly In-Fly Out site: Yandicoogina
By using comprehensive health risk assessment data Yandicoogina completed a targeted, risk based redesign of our wellness programme. The revised wellness programme initiatives were aimed to counteract the top five health risks at Yandicoogina. These initiatives were then tailored to the highest risk work groups. The revised and innovative wellness programme has proven to materially reduce the health risks of our personnel and significantly reduce the health risk profile of the site, achieving a 20% reduction in the high and moderate risks of the site from 2013 to 2014.
BGC Contracting – Don’t just Change the Way you Drink: Change the way you Think
BGC Contracting has adopted a proactive multi-faceted innovative approach in the prevention of heat stress. The program allows supervisors to monitor environmental conditions in real-time using heat stress monitors and to then implement specific control measures to mitigate heat stress, dependent upon the status of individual employee acclimatisation. The program also supplied the workforce with a range of tools to stimulate conversation and action around thinking differently about heat stress management. Since completing the Heat Stress Management Program in March 2014, the projects that fully adopted the management program did not record a single case of a heat stress related illness.
Rio Tinto Iron Ore – FIVE – Rio Tinto and Disability in the Arts, Disadvantage in the Arts WA (DADAA) Mental Health Project
FIVE has been a highly successful partnership between DADAA, Rio Tinto and the Australia Council for the Arts, supporting the WA Mental Health Commission’s 2020 Strategy. With the wellbeing of Rio Tinto’s employees and their families a significant focus for Rio Tinto, this unique state-wide community project used innovative arts processes to connect people and communities and reduce stigma around mental health. More than 7,200 people from five regional towns participated to create local artworks, a collective digital artwork and a permanent public sculpture that is a unique contribution to Australian public art.
