Celebrating Health and Safety

Celebrating Health and Safety

Businesses and individuals leading the way in health and safety have been recognised at the Site Safe Evening of Celebration, held at Alexandra Park in Auckland on November 8.

The annual event attracted more than 300 guests and announced the winners of the 2017 Site Safe Construction Health and Safety Awards, as well as hosting the Site Safe Certificate in Construction Site Safety graduation.

Mach3 was awarded the Kensington Swan Safety Leadership Award for owner Anna Chapman’s dedication to embedding health and safety into the business.

The judges commented they were impressed by Anna’s positive, hands-on approach, which has made health and safety central to Mach3’s approach.

Via their engaging practices, Mach3 have brought about a change in culture and have embraced health and safety in a practical and positive way. Mach3 have also gone the extra mile to share their learnings with other companies and to challenge themselves to continuously improve.

Anna said the company’s accomplishments would not have been possible without the support of the team.

“The boys always support me in my ideas and motivate us to get better and always keep lifting the standard.”

It was great to see so many small businesses being recognised, she said.

“This just shows that small business can lead the way in health and safety.”

Aaron Billing took out the WorkSafe Safety Contribution Award for leading and inspiring a dramatic culture change at Upright Scaffolding.

The judges said it was great to see individuals like Aaron stepping up and speaking up - Aaron’s courage, enthusiasm and drive helped to inspire a dramatic culture change, where health and safety always comes first.

Aaron has challenged staff and management to change the way they operate the company and to become the "All Blacks Standard" of the scaffolding industry. As a result, the company has changed their mindset from being scaffolders to being a team that is there to look out for each other.

Health and Safety Manager Aaron said he tried to instil a culture where everyone on the team aspired to be the best they could be.

“My approach is that we should not be a led team, but a team of leaders…and slowly but surely we are building the culture where we want to be the beacon in the industry for health and safety, the standard that everyone aspires to.”

Designerscope scooped the Unitec Safety Innovation Award for small to medium organisations for their cabinet levelling system.

The judges’ commented that they were impressed by how deceptively simple this innovative idea was – making the task easier, safer and faster and significantly reducing the risk of injury.

The Auckland-based business created a trademarked system which eliminates the need for cabinetry installers to lie down, sprawled across hard floors with no external visibility, to level cabinets. Instead they can sit comfortably and upright, with full visibility of their surroundings while they work.

Designerscope’s Chief Executive Robyn de Bruin-Judge said the idea simply sprang from a “no, there must be a better way of doing the job” moment.

“And we hope that this inspires some of you to do the same.”

PK Steel received a Judge’s Special Mention in this category for their hydraulic lifting device developed to safely install large steel loads at height.

Fulton Hogan HEB Joint Venture won the Vertical Horizonz Safety Innovation Award for large organisations with its innovative pipe lifting beam and truck deck fall restraint system.

The judges said the clever idea was a simple and effective solution which challenges standard practice and has already produced significant benefits, helping to eliminate risks and improve health and safety outcomes.

The system, which was developed for the Waikato Expressway project, eliminates the need for Hiab drivers to work at heights while unloading large pipes from their trucks. It also includes a new truck deck fall restraint system for preventing falls while loading or unloading smaller pipes.

Project Manager Tony Adams said one of the biggest risks they faced on the project was workers using ladders on truck decks.

“It was an accident waiting to happen.”

“We made some simple improvements and invented this practical approach to what has historically been common risk.”

This year Site Safe had a record of more than 240 graduates, many of whom attended the official graduation ceremony at Alexandra Park. By participating in a range of Site Safe courses, students earn NZQA credits towards the Certificate in Construction Site Safety qualification, which leads to lifelong learning and the development of leadership skills in health and safety.

The event also recognised Site Safe’s newest Life Member and former chairman, Peter Mayow, who was presented with a special trophy celebrating his life-long contribution to health and safety.

Site Safe would like to acknowledge event sponsors Hawkins, Fletcher Construction, Unitec, Dominion Constructors, Cassidy Construction, Geeves Scaffolding, EdenFX, Perception Group, Vertical Horizonz, Kensington Swan and Worksafe NZ, without whom this event would not be possible.

© Scoop Media