Bridge contractor wins Health and Safety Award

Bridge contractor takes out Supreme Award at Health and Safety Awards

AUCKLAND, New Zealand, 16 June 2010

Total Bridge Services has won the Supreme Award at this year’s New Zealand Workplace Health and Safety Awards.

With 32 finalists, awards were presented in 11 categories at a gala dinner at SKY CITY Convention Centre in Auckland last night. An audience of 465, including the Minister of Labour Hon Kate Wilkinson, celebrated achievements and best practice in the New Zealand Health and Safety industry.

The awards, now in their sixth year, are organised by Safeguard magazine and supported by the Department of Labour. The awards are judged by an independent panel representing the Department of Labour, ACC, NZ Council of Trade Unions and an industry health and safety practitioner.

Peter Bateman, managing editor of Safeguard magazine said “This year’s Awards received tremendous support with more than 120 high calibre entries from throughout the country. The increasing importance of health and safety issues and a growing desire to adopt best practice is reflected in the wide range of Award recipients”.

The winners were:
The Supreme Award - The Department of Labour/ACC best overall contribution to improving health and safety in New Zealand
Total Bridge Services, Auckland
Total Bridge Services impressed the judges with its comprehensive and detailed approach to protecting the health of 150 workers on the project to strengthen the box girder extensions on the Auckland harbour bridge.

Air New Zealand best initiative to address a safety hazard
Hawkins Environmental, Auckland
A major project to safely clear and dispose of all waste from a huge World War 2 fuel bunker in Canterbury involved risk of explosion from suspected ordnance as well as exposure to banned pesticides and herbicides and general rubbish. The comprehensive approach involved remote work using a crane, staff on the rim behind shields, and an excavator and operator lowered into the pit with rapid extraction procedures in place.

Department of Labour best initiative to address a health hazard
Total Bridge Services, Auckland
The project to strengthen the box girder extensions on the Auckland harbour bridge exposed 150 workers to a variety of health hazards, including high temperatures, harmful fumes, high noise levels, and manual handling of tonnes of steel. The company’s comprehensive approach included changes to shift patterns, installation of portable ventilation and fume extraction systems, changes to paint removal methods to minimise lead absorption, and installing two electric trains to deliver steel through the girders.

OfficeMax best initiative to improve employee wellness
Pernod Ricard New Zealand
Obtained a very high employee participation rate in its wellness programme by surveying staff health perceptions and linking initiatives with existing public health programmes for maximum benefit, resulting in a significant and sustained reduction in days lost to illness.

NZ Safety best initiative to encourage engagement in health & safety
Satara Cooperative Group, Te Puke
Had to deliver a consistent, easily understood health and safety induction message to its highly multicultural seasonal and permanent staff. Developed three engaging induction DVDs using children from a local primary school to direct, shoot and act out safe and unsafe behaviours in the kiwifruit packing sheds.

SICK best design or technology initiative
Otaki Fire Brigade
Designed and built a rapid extraction beam to make it easier and safer for brigade staff to extract injured people from smashed cars. This new device reduces the risk of brigade members being struck by passing traffic. It also better allows medical personnel to attend to the injured while they are being extracted from the wreck.

Transfield Services best health and safety initiative by a small business
G T Liddell Contracting, Greymouth
Used literacy and numeracy as a pathway towards improved staff understanding of health and safety. Developed software using an audio-visual approach to assess each staff member’s understanding and is now sharing this with industry associations.

Impac best significant health and safety initiative by a large organisation
Fonterra Co-Operative Group
Recognised its former New Zealand-oriented approach to health and safety was no longer appropriate for a company with operations around the globe. Launched a new worldwide safety vision and put in place a new global framework which successfully engaged the executive team, management and staff in focusing on safe operations.

ACC best leadership of an industry sector
Douglas Manufacturing, Auckland
The first organisation outside a government agency to create a Group Standard for the management of hazardous substances under the HSNO Act. By pioneering this route, the company has not only assisted its own industry sector – pharmaceuticals – but has demonstrated a procedural pathway which will assist other industry sectors to write their own Group Standards.

Safeguard health and safety practitioner of the year
Jodi Wright, Acrow Ltd, Auckland
She has transformed her employer’s health and safety and injury management methods, and has been a highly effective change agent. She is cited by the company’s managing director as the individual who has had the biggest positive impact on the company’s performance and culture.

Ross Wilson – NZCTU most influential employee
Etuati (Ed) Fili, CHEP New Zealand, Auckland
He has assisted CHEP to excellent results in an external risk management audit, and has led the company’s involvement in an ACC scheme to address injuries to staff outside the workplace. He also champions health and safety in public forums among Manukau’s Pacific community.

A Lifetime Achievement award was made to: Professor Neil Pearce
The director of Massey University’s Centre for Public Health Research in Wellington, Professor Neil Pearce has been active in occupational health research for more than 20 years, specialising in occupational cancers and occupational respiratory disease. He also headed the National Occupational Health and Safety Advisory Committee, which for five years from 2004 produced a series of benchmark reports on the state of occupational health and safety in New Zealand, with recommendations for improvement.

A special commendation was made to: Ballance Agri-Nutrients
For building its own specialist facility for training its staff in safe work at height and in fall arrest, and for making the facility available to the wider community.

ENDS

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