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Winners show innovation and commitment to safety at Transpower safety awards

Winners in the inaugural Transpower STAR Awards recognising achievement and excellence in safety in the electricity transmission industry were announced last night. The STAR Awards are open to all companies and individuals working on the New Zealand national grid high voltage transmission system.

Patrick Strange, CEO of Transpower, has congratulated the winners.  “The winners at the first Transpower STAR Awards have shown what can be achieved when there’s a true commitment to safety at work sites.  They demonstrate the commitment to safety that we are all aspiring to.”

The STAR Awards are part of a multi-faceted campaign designed to build safety into the culture of Transpower and its contractors.  It is set to become a key feature in Transpower’s calendar.

“Part of enhancing our safety culture is the recognition we give to those who help us achieve and promote safety improvements,” said Patrick. 

“We want to get to the point where safety is a natural, first consideration for everyone working for Transpower or on a Transpower site.  The 110 nominations for the STAR Awards show that we’re making good progress towards this goal.

“All the nominees and finalists have shown leadership, innovation and performance in regard to safety and are to be congratulated,” said Patrick.

Winners

Category: Top Project – safety and health maintenance
Winner: Northern Grid Alliance, for work on the North Island Grid Upgrade project, Hamilton
This award recognises the project with the best safety culture and performance record.
The Northern Grid Alliance team, comprising Belfour Beatty, United Group and Transpower, is responsible for one of the largest infrastructure projects in New Zealand since the 1960s. The statistics are stunning: 426 400kV towers to be erected on over 300 landowners’ properties, each tower weighing up to 30 tonnes and the height of a 15-storey building, 460 towers to be dismantled and removed, 300 employees and subcontractors, 10,000 average kilometres travelled per day by project staff.

Equally as important, the Alliance is responsible for the safety of the landowners and communities living and working near the new line during construction.

The judges felt the Alliance team demonstrated outstanding innovation across every aspect of the NIGUP project, which presented a significant range of issues. As a result, the team has established an excellent and genuine positive safety culture, leading to an excellent safety record.

 

Category: Best Safety and Health Performance (Team)
Winner:  ABB Christchurch Substation team
This award recognises teams with a strong collective safety culture that consistently demonstrate a commitment to safety.

This team has demonstrated a strong commitment to safety, applying health and safety systems to an exemplary standard, including training, participation in collaborative health and safety meetings, carrying out safety observation tours and near miss reporting.

The team has an exceptional record of 7 years without a lost time injury, and has set its own stretch target to extend this to 10 years. The judges were highly impressed by the team working together to sustain such a high level of safety performance over a long period of time. Much of this was attributed to a culture of openness, and celebrating successes.

 

Category: Best Safety and Health Performance – Individual
Winner: Remi Emery, Transfield
The purpose of this award is to recognise consistent high performance in safety leadership, whether in the field, at the depot or in the office.

Remi works at the Otahuhu Substation.  He has been instrumental in the founding of the Safety Action Group (SAG) that was set up in 2002 and has either led or sat on the group ever since.

Remi’s nomination was a standout in the category that received the largest number of entries. Amongst the 40 submissions, it was Remi’s uncompromising commitment to improvement, active contribution, mana, passion and enthusiasm to bring others along that made him standout, and which makes him an exceptional leader in safety.

 

Category: Top Depot, Site or Office
Winner: HVDC Pole 3 Project at Benmore; Siemens, Mainzeal and Transpower
This award recognises the best depot, site or office that demonstrates a proactive and collective approach to safety improvement, including an exemplary safety record.

The Benmore site won this award on the basis of the overall excellent quality and thoroughness of the health and safety culture on site. A number of initiatives have been installed on site, responding to the specific requirements and conditions at Benmore.

The judges described Benmore as a standout site. “From the moment you enter the site to when you leave, all aspects of safety are anticipated and addressed. The site is beyond excellent, with facilities and practices of exceptionally high standard which clearly demonstrate the importance placed on onsite safety – and an approach to safety that is shared by all staff managers and site workers.”

 

Category: Best Safety by Design for Projects or Maintenance
Winner: the Design Team, Northern Grid Alliance for the North Island Grid Upgrade
This award recognises the best safety design in the planning stage. It rewards innovation resulting in greater safety, be it for field workers and/or the general public.

The Northern Grid Alliance design team included design engineers, maintenance managers and construction engineers to develop safe solutions for the design of steel monopoles as part of the 400kV line project. Design challenges included access for maintenance – with structures up to 68m tall and electrical clearances requiring longer crossarms, exposing maintenance staff to a potential fall hazard for a longer period of time. The design team devised four features to improve access and reduce the fall risk on the monopoles. As a result, the monopoles are safer, the risk of personnel falling is virtually eliminated and the work environment is more comfortable.

The judges were hugely impressed by the Alliance’s innovation in developing a ground-breaking approach to improving access and reducing fall risk. It was this innovation in safety by design that made them stand out from the others.

 

Category: Apprentice of the Year
Winner: Travis Terry, Electronet
This award celebrates consistent high performance in safety leadership shown by an apprentice, whether in the field, at the depot or in the office.

Travis has consistently displayed proactive leadership in safety across all aspects of his work. He volunteered to join the safety committee, and immediately made an impact with the way he got involved and suggested improvements. He quickly gained the respect of his managers, supervisors and fellow workmates. With these skills, it’s clear he will become a very good line mechanic and valued member of the team.

The judges commended Travis for his leadership in safety.

 

Category: Best Safety Innovation
Winner: HVDC Pole 3 Team, for work at Benmore and Haywards
This award recognises either a team or individual’s safety innovation: the application of an approach, device or process to minimise safety risk in the field.

The HVDC Pole 3 team came up with several innovative and practical solutions to a number of health and safety challenges at both the Benmore and Hayward sites.

The summer heat is a challenge at Benmore, but information on heat stress and how to treat it is provided to workers. A shower block was installed to allow for cool showers and drink bottles and electrolytes are provided. Extra monitoring of workers and breaks was done when temperatures got above 30 degrees.Likewise, the team recognised Benmore’s isolation from a medical centre and established a fully equipped first aid room on site.

The team also recognised the need to establish a hazardous goods storage area at both Benmore and Haywards, and undertake appropriate training. They initiated a ‘yellow card’ system to easily report hazards and near misses around the construction site at Haywards, and established a number of safety stations or ‘dog boxes’ as a one-stop-shop for safety information and equipment.

The achievements of the site team impressed the judges so much they described Benmore as “The Best”: an exemplar of safety leadership, second to none, and quite possibly the best site in the whole industry.

For more information:
Adele Fitzpatrick| Communications Manager | 04 498 2695 | 021 225 6450 

Learn more about the STAR Award winners and finalists