Kiwirail Innovation Wins Safety Award

Kiwirail Innovation Wins Safety Award
 
KiwiRail’s innovations to prevent falls have won the the Kensington Swan Best Initiative to Address a Safety Hazard category in last night’s New Zealand Workplace Health and Safety Awards.
 
KiwiRail’s GM Safety and People, Matt Ballard says, “Falls within any industry contribute to an unacceptable number of serious harm incidents.”

“The diversity of KiwiRail business operations presents many different types of challenges and hazards for our people on a daily basis.  Our structures teams required solutions that would enable them to safely complete maintenance and inspection work at heights.”

“Smart thinking, collaboration and dedication to getting it right resulted in two innovative safety systems, which we have introduced to eliminate falls from heights on our rail corridor.”

“The Rail Trolley Anchor and Rail Safety Cage we have designed, trialled and produced  represent leading edge design and technology for our industry.”

He says, “Initiated by a KiwiRail Structures Inspector, the Rail Trolley Anchor is a mobile fall arrest anchorage for rail bridge work where there is any potential for free fall of a worker.  After almost two years of testing and development, KiwiRail now has working prototypes and these are thought to be an international first for the rail industry.”

A further height safety initiative is the Rail Safety Cage.  Mr Ballard says, “This was an initiative of our West Coast track team.  It is an easy to use and transportable barrier system that can be used on small maintenance work on bridges.  Assembled in a safe zone, where there is no risk of falls, it can then be rolled along the track, keeping the workers isolated from fall hazards.”

He says, “We encourage a culture of participation and innovation and these innovations really show the creativity of our people at their best.  They are highly original but also extremely practical and illustrate the type of approach that will enable us to achieve the safe high performance culture we aspire to.”

The winners of the NZ Workplace Health and Safety Awards for 2013 were announced at a gala dinner at SKYCITY Convention Centre in Auckland on 29 May. The awards are organised by Thomson Reuters, publisher of Safeguard magazine and supported by the Ministry of Business, Innovation and Employment (MBIE).

ENDS

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