Chamber of Mineral and Energy of WA (CME) members Rio Tinto and Clough were among the companies to take out top honours at the 2019 Work Health and Safety Excellence Awards.
Rio Tinto won the Leadership Excellence category for its ‘Driving leadership excellence in electrical safety’ initiative, while Clough’s ‘A new perspective on working at height’ secured the company the Work Health and Safety Invention of the Year Award.
The awards, hosted by the Department of Mines, Industry Regulation and Safety (DMIRS) recognised outstanding innovations and solutions to specific workplace health and safety issues by individuals, groups or organisations.
CME Chief Executive Paul Everingham said the awards were recognition that health and safety are paramount at all operations across the resources sector.
“In particular it is fantastic to see resource sector companies feature heavily in the finalists, winners and merit award recipients, which is indicative of the industry’s strong commitment to the health and safety of their employees,” Mr Everingham said.
“These companies are at the forefront of finding innovative solutions to improve workplace safety and health.
“I congratulate all finalists and look forward to seeing how their innovations can be used more widely across industries because sharing lessons with each about how we can continue to improve health and safety is critical.”
CME member companies recognised in the awards are outlined below. A full list of the award recipients can be found here.
Work health and safety invention of the year (200 employees of more)
- Clough – A new perspective on working at height (Winner)
- BHP – Self powered proximity switch test box (Finalist)
- BHP Nickel West – Nickel West Kwinana laboratory automation (Finalist)
- Rio Tinto – Tipper truck – Raised body alarm system (Finalist)
- Rio Tinto – Tanks construction working at height elimination (Certificate of Merit).
Best solution to a work health and safety risk
- BHP – Ship loader anti-collision and automation project (Finalist)
- AngloGold Ashanti Australasia – Improving health, safety and productivity outcomes through identifying and supporting individuals with sleep disorders (Finalist)
- Rio Tinto Iron Ore – Ports Dampier idler weight reduction (Finalist).
Best workplace health and wellbeing initiative (200 employees or more)
- BHP – BHP family connection magnets (Certificate of Merit).
Leadership excellence award
- Rio Tinto – Driving leadership excellence in electrical safety (Winner)
- Clough – Preventing construction fatalities through the Major Accident Prevention (MAP) program (Finalist)
- Fortescue Metals Group – Participate to eliminate (Finalist).
Safety and Health Representative of the Year
- Matthew Clements – Fortescue Metals Group (Finalist)
- Megan Rosser – Fortescue Metals Group (Finalist).
The new awards amalgamate the Work Safety Awards Western Australia and the Safety and Health Resources Sector Awards to create new and prestigious awards covering a wider spread of WA’s industries.
