CCAA EH&S award winners announced

A sand stockpile ‘dewatering’ system that saves 35 million litres of water a year and a cement agitator stability system designed to reduce the likelihood of rollovers were the big winners at this year’s National CCAA Environment, Health and Safety (EH&S) Awards.

The winners were announced at a dinner held in conjunction with the 2012 Construction Materials Industry Conference in Melbourne.

The awards recognise outstanding examples of industry best practice across the cement, premixed concrete and extractive industries Australia-wide.

This year’s National Environmental Innovation Award went to Hanson for its development of a ‘dewatering’ process at its Golden Grove sand quarry near Adelaide. In the past, washed and processed sand was stored on a concrete slab to dry out before being sold to customers. Apart from taking over a week to dry, a significant quantity of water (estimated at 35 million litres a year) was being lost to evaporation and ground seepage as the runoff passed along open channels to a central storage dam.

To address this problem, the washed sand is stored on a large sloped pit lined with plastic and filled with aggregate, and connected to the dam via a drainage pipe. As water drains from the stockpile, it travels through the aggregate and into the drainage pipe, where it is transferred to the storage dam for re-use in production. Relying on gravity flow rather than electric pumps has further reduced the system’s environmental impact.

The National Health and Safety Innovation Award was this year presented to Boral for the development of an innovative agitator stability system. The system has been designed by Boral and Mack Trucks and involves modifications to a standard Metroliner agitator to improve its stability on corners, offsetting the unique nature of a premixed concrete load and the way it shifts during transit within a revolving mixer.

Electronic sensors on the vehicle detect a range of variables, including roll, pitch, yaw, suspension pressure and brake application. The system reacts if it senses the risk of rollover, applying individual wheel brakes or reducing engine torque to enhance vehicle stability - all in fractions of a second.

According to Boral, the cost of the new stability control package is minimal (about 3% of new vehicle costs) compared to the human and economic costs associated with a vehicle rollover.

CCAA Chief Executive Ken Slattery said this year’s judging panel had a difficult decision, with a high standard of entries from all states.

“The winning submissions demonstrate innovative approaches and practical thinking to industry-wide problems,” he said.

“As such, they set new standards for the rest of the industry to strive towards. Fundamentally, that’s what these awards are about - recognising innovations that encourage industry-wide improvement.”

For more information about the winners, visit the CCAA website.