Our safety record stacks up

Over in Port Hedland, you’ll find a team of over fifty of our people working on the Balance Machine Defect Elimination Project at BHP’s Nelson Point. They are completing structural remediation, blast and paint, scaffolding and mechanical repairs on stackers, reclaimers and shiploaders at the port.

The team was recently commended for achieving over three years recordable injury free, which is an incredible milestone. We caught up with Project Manager, Dean Marlow, to understand what’s driving the team’s success.  

“The key factor that has contributed to the success of the project so far has been having a disciplined and structured approach to the planning phase of each shutdown, including strict adherence to our Port Hedland operational plan,” he said.  

Our Port Hedland plan was developed off the back of a few incidents in the region a number of years ago, which saw the Port Hedland branch reset and focus on issues that were contributing to their safety performance.  

“The plan includes pre-shut readiness, ensuring that everyone understands the scope, plan and associated risks in executing the works. It also outlines how our people should be engaged with, ensuring there is clear communication with each crew before mobilising and once on site.”  

“It’s important everyone is really clear on the scope and understand expected safety and behavioral expectation, which is driven by our site leadership team.”  

“I’m really proud of our safety performance. It’s a testament to our people continuously prioritising safety and following the procedures in place to ensure everyone is executing work safely. I look forward to keeping up this performance,” he finished.