And the winners of the 2024 EC Innovation Awards are … 

Winner: IVMS Franna Safety Override Function Alerts.  

EC Technology and Innovation Manager, Jason Cippitelli announced the 2024 EC Innovation Awards at a ceremony on Monday 7 October at Mandoon Estate, Caversham, in Western Australia.  

The top prize went to the Heavy Lift team behind the IVMS Franna Safety Override Function Alerts. Congratulations to contributors Luke Thompson, Joseph Wong, Travis Gaspar, Marlon Baars, John Castel and Ryan Wood.  

Over the last ten years there have been multiple franna tip over events due to frannas being overrated. The last occurred in 2022 in Monadelphous' Heavy Lift business unit. A key contributing factor to these events is that the operators held the override button for a prolonged period leading up to the roll over.  

The winning innovation is an override notification system through the In-Vehicle Monitoring System (IVMS) that provides supervisors with an immediate email notification.   

Travis Gaspar, HSE Lead, EC Heavy Lift Crane said, “When the project supervisor receives notification of the override button being used, they will follow up with the operator to prevent an immediate unsafe condition, and improve the operators behaviours through training and education.” 

Check out the MProve entry and video below for more info. 

Runner-up prizes were awarded to:  

1. Jail Brake barrier solution by Wade Machar and Christ Chatfield (see MProve); and  

1. Christmas Creek low level module installation method (see MProve) led by Paige Griffiths, Richard Hughes and Michael Gascon with contributors from across the team.  

Check the video highlights.

Most innovative site - Mongolia 

Jason made special mention of the team at Oyu Tolgoi (OT) in Mongolia as this year’s most innovative site. The OT team led by Project Manager Martin Mackay, put forward several innovations throughout the year and showed an exceptional commitment to safety and continuous improvement across multiple aspects of their operations. 

See the video summary of Mongolia’s achievements. 

Well done to all of this year’s nominees and also to the broader EC division for what has been a great year for innovation.  

We look forward to seeing what exciting innovations the next year brings!