Award-winning collaboration uses innovative 3D modelling

Transpower congratulates its collaboration partners CPB HEB Joint Venture on their win at Tuesday night’s 2019 New Zealand Workplace Health and Safety Awards.

Transpower worked with the Transmission Gully construction team and developed the 3D modelling that played a role in ensuring the safety of the public and workers on the project.

The project won CPB HEB Joint Venture the 3M award for Best use of innovative New Zealand design or technology to eliminate or manage a risk.

Transpower GM Projects Cobus Nel said Transpower is proud to have been part of the project that prioritised safety.

“We congratulate our colleagues on this prestigious award,” he said. “This is a great example of industry collaboration and clever use of technology to enable CPB HEB Joint Venture’s team to operate safely in a complex and high-risk environment.”

CPB HEB Joint Venture Structures Manager Rudolf Joubert said working with project partners to develop this innovative solution to keep workers safe under live, high voltage powerlines shows the project team’s commitment to achieving excellence in health and safety in New Zealand.

“With a number of challenges faced by the team working on Bridge 20, the Transmission Gully motorway structures project team should feel proud of their achievement,” said Rudolf Joubert.

To ensure the safety of workers and the public, Transpower’s engineering team created 3D models of the four-metre safety envelope (safe operating distance) around overhead transmission lines where CPB HEB was using cranes to erect bridges on the new Transmission Gully route.

Two crawler cranes were equipped with dual mast GPS receivers and the latest Trimble Marine Construction (TMC) software that uses real-time kinematic GPS (RTK) to map the position of the crane’s main boom, fixed jib and main body to within 30mm accuracy.

Onboard, a touch screen shows the driver a 3D view of the crane boom’s proximity to the closest conductor and the closest section of the safety envelope, ensuring safe operation near the live lines. Trimble Marine Construction has confirmed that this is a world first use of this system in this application.

Cobus Nel said this is one example of how Transpower is actively working with industry to ensure the safety of workers around its lines.

“Public safety is a priority for us, and crane operation near our lines brings with it serious risks,” he said.

“We are engaging with crane companies to ensure their workers understand the risks and know how to operate safely around our lines – by working together we can help ensure people go home safe every day.”

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