Belt for Purpose

Over the past twelve (12) months, the South West Operations team from M&IS Mining and Minerals Southern Region have reinvigorated their employee reward and recognition program. The program now has a specific focus on innovation, with the goal of fostering an innovative culture that encourages and empowers our people to turn ideas into action.

The Monadelphous team at South 32 (Worsley Alumina) certainly fostered this innovative culture by identifying the task of changing calciner weigh feeder belts as an improvement opportunity, due to its strenuous nature and the potential to cause musculoskeletal and manual handling type injuries.

This task normally requires a scaffold to support the weight of the belt and to provide a surface to aid belt movement. Eight people are then required to manually pull the belt into position using pry bars and vice grips.

To significantly reduce risk, exposure and task duration, the team designed a pre-fabricated, adjustable table, which allowed the new belt to be easily and safely transferred into position. The table can be easily installed, assembled, adjusted and locked together with minimal tooling or resources, and screw jacks are colour coded to suit the specific calciner and the environment.

In recognition for their innovation, the team received the South West Operations’ Quarterly Innovation Award and are now a nominee for the 2021-2022 Managing Director’s Safety Innovation Award. A job well done team.