Baulderstone secures 100,000-hour safety milestone

Baulderstone has set a new benchmark for safety excellence at the Australian Defence Department’s $35.2 million Enhanced Land Force (ELF) Infrastructure project in Townsville.

Baulderstone and its contractor team have continued to deliver on a copy-book record for project delivery, clocking up more than 100,000 hours without incurring a single lost time injury (LTI).

Up to 100 people have worked on the project at the Lavarack Barracks since work commenced on site in July 2009. At the project’s peak, 85 people, employed across 35 subcontracting companies, worked on the ELF site per week.

Baulderstone’s North Queensland Regional Manager, Gary Butler, said safety is a primary focus for the company and its project partners. He highlighted the importance of recognising safety achievements across both large and small projects, stating: “We set high standards and expectations for safety across all our projects and we share the Federal Safety Commission’s vision of a building and construction industry where no one is harmed. We have a strong responsibility to ensure that safety is an ingrained, active part of daily practice and not a vague ideal.

“Through our ‘Safety Matters’ campaign, we have worked hard to increase awareness of safety hazards in the workplace and we reward great safety behaviour on all our projects, large and small.

“Importantly, we share our OHS expertise with local contractors who commit to our Safety Journey and Zero Harm initiative, and actively deliver best safety practice on each project.”

The project team received national recognition in May for its work on the project, which is a flagship for the rollout of the Australian Government Building and Construction Occupational Health and Safety (OHS) Accreditation Scheme.

“Baulderstone’s safety strategy is consistent and effective,” Butler said. “We have five core steps to safety best practice and the ELF team have really delivered on this project.”

The ELF Infrastructure project works include construction of a new base entrance (including guardhouse and pass-office), a site-wide high-voltage upgrade, new weapons training building, upgrades to medical centre, new 3 km road, sewage and water upgrades and new obstacle course training facility.

Project works are scheduled for completion in December 2010.

Baulderstone’s Top Five Steps to Safety in Construction are:

1. Commitment and understanding by managers and workers of safety responsibilities.
2. Consultation and communication between all trades and contractors on site to ensure safety procedures and decisions are actively implemented.
3. Recognition that safety is a journey that never ends - safe work procedures are constantly reviewed, updated and improved upon.
4. Training and supervision are field based and practical. Supervisors live and breathe safety procedures and are not office-bound. Supervisors conduct CHATS (Construction Hazard Assessment Talks) to ensure everyone on site is aware of safety procedures.
5. Regular reporting of safety success and opportunities for safety improvement. If someone sees something unsafe, work is stopped, the incident reported and the procedure reviewed.