A big win for Gladstone

A message from our Managing Director, Zoran Bebic… 

At the heart of our culture at Monadelphous is the safety and wellbeing of our people. Led by our safety policy message, The Safe Way is the Only Way, finding the ‘Safe Way’ means we’re always looking for ways to work better and more safely. One important way we continue to improve is through our focus on safety innovation.  

The Managing Director's Safety Innovation Award is our annual Award program, and draws together the best and brightest examples of safety innovation at Monadelphous throughout the year that reduced the risk of harm to our people.  

The winning nomination receives $5,000 to donate to a charity of their choice, with last year’s joint winners supporting two incredible community services, Starick Domestic and Family Violence support services, and Kup of Kindness, who provide food and meals for the homeless. 

We are now in our sixth year of the Award program, and I’m pleased to see our culture of innovation and commitment to finding better ways of working builds year upon year. Well done to all our nominees – I thank you for your enthusiasm to do better, thinking outside the box, and not being afraid to try something new. 

I am excited to announce this year’s winner of the Managing Director's Safety Innovation Award is: 

The Heater Cassette Removal by the Maintenance and Industrial Services, Gladstone Team! 

This team introduced a new method for removing heater cassettes that involves using a thin cut-off disc to seperate one end of the heater, with internal hydraulic cutting of each tube at the other end, and then employing two 150-ton hydraulic rams to extract all 1000 tubes as a consolidated core from the heater. 

This innovation is highly effective in reducing risks by minimising the total exposure hours on hazardous tasks and completely eliminating confined space work involving heat stress, manual handling, cramped conditions, burns, fumes, and exposure to potential caustic residue. 

The changes saw a substantial productivity improvement, with the team recognised for their unwillingness to accept hazards as business-as-usual and for their continual pursuit of finding a better and safer way. 

Congratulations to everyone involved in this very worthy win! 

I’d like to give a special commendation to our EC Mongolia Team for embracing our culture of innovation with two great nominations this year – Remote Emergency Lights supporting faster, more effective emergency responses, and Safety Handles that minimise hand and finger pinch points.  

Also, a special commendation to our M&IS Mount Isa Turnaround Team for “The Armadillo”, a well-engineered and detailed solution to a highly challenging technical execution risk. This innovation was also submitted for the Queensland Work Well Awards, and I look forward to sharing the results in the coming months. 

A key aim of this Award program is to showcase and promote the safety improvements our teams have made throughout the year and to share learnings and practices across projects, sites and teams. I encourage everyone to continue to review their own workplaces, hazards, and work methods to contemplate that next step forward in reducing and eliminating risk, and working safer every day.  

Thank you to all those involved in delivering a fantastic Award program again this year. 

Nominations for the Managing Director’s Safety Innovation Award for 2023-24 are now open. You can find further information on Monocle. 

Stay safe everyone, and remember: the Safe Way is the Only Way!