Getting a handle on safety

During a Monadelphous hand and finger safety campaign onsite in Mongolia, crews were asked to review their work activities to identify hand and finger hazards and see if there was a safer way to carry out the tasks.  

The team identified an area for improvement in working with a 7-meter metal template used to line up drill hole positions along steel beams. 

The work involves the team lifting and lowering the metal template into position onto the steel beams. This is a repetitive and high-risk task, frequently exposing their hands and fingers to pinch points each time they lower the template onto the beams. 

As part of the safety campaign, the work crew engineered the solution of adding handles to the metal template, allowing them to easily lift and lower it into position. The handles were fabricated and welded onto the template, effectively eliminating the pinch point hazard and improving the manual handling position by reducing the travel distance to the steel beam.   

In recognition of their clever innovation, the team have been nominated for the 2022-2023 Managing Director’s Safety Innovation Award.