SA BUSINESSES, WORKERS CELEBRATE SAFETY ACHIEVEMENTS
MEDIA RELEASE
South Australian businesses, organisations and individuals celebrated work health and safety innovation, leadership and commitment at tonight’s 14th annual Safe Work Awards.
This year, more than 60 entrants competed across four award categories, reflecting an ongoing commitment in South Australian workplaces to improve work health and safety standards.
Speaking at the awards, Tom Phillips AM, Presiding Member of the SafeWork SA Advisory
Council, said continuous improvement remained a priority.
“Recognising and rewarding innovative ideas, practices, leadership and commitment to work health and safety is central to ensuring that all of our workers return home safely.”
“South Australia has long been home to innovators and tonight’s eight award winners remind us that this tradition is alive and well,” Mr Phillips said.
Eight entrants won awards for work health and safety excellence with a further six receiving a commendation from the judging panel that comprised representatives from the SafeWork SA Advisory Council, including SafeWork SA, Business SA, SA Unions, WorkCover SA and industry associations
This year’s winners are:
Category one: Best Workplace Health and Safety Management System
Winner: George Weston Foods Tip Top South Australia
Tip Top established a health and safety management system which emphasises a strong commitment to consultation and standards central to achieving a best practice outcome. Their dedication to a positive safety culture, coupled with improvements to bread stack heights and a new service tag system, has led to a 60 per cent reduction in injuries.
Commendation: Leed Engineering and Construction
Category two: Best Solution to an Identified Workplace Health and Safety Issue
Winner: City of Charles Sturt
The City of Charles Sturt eliminated 70 per cent of manual tasks associated with its asphalt patching process by commissioning a purpose-built truck. The remotely
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operated, temperature controlled system features a moveable chute that pours the asphalt directly where its required. There have been no workplace incidents associated with this process since its introduction.
Winner: Flinders Logistics
Flinders Logistics developed a safer system of loading bulk minerals into a ship’s hold, by engineering a fully automated apparatus that eliminated the need for manual work and made wharf operations safer, faster and more efficient.
Winner: SA Water
SA Water developed a practice that removed the need for divers to work in ‘black water’ conditions around heavy steel beams, eliminating health and safety risks to workers.
High commendation: SA Ambulance Service
Category three: Best Workplace Health and Safety Practice/s in a Small
Business
Winner: First in Sports First Aid
This company developed a tailored work health and safety kit specific to its mobile business needs, ensuring that while staff provide first aid services at events. Their safety needs are managed in a constantly changing environment.
Category four: Best Individual Contribution to Workplace Health and Safety
[e.g. worker]
Winner: Tian Oosthuizen, Arrium Mining
Tian’s passion and dedication to improve safety at work sets him apart as a frontrunner in work health and safety, as he promotes a positive safety culture through excellent leadership skills, mentoring, audits, and incident management.
High commendation: Mark Bishop, OneSteel Whyalla
Commendation: Gary Peacock, Heathgate Resources
Category four: Best Individual Contribution to Workplace Health and Safety
[e.g. Manager]
Winner: Mark Burton, Renniks Events
Mark’s widespread consultation has raised the profile of work health and safety as a front of mind issue not just in his own workplace but across the event industry, by opening avenues for discussion about risk management with industry stakeholders.
Commendation: Nicole Pearce, Rosenberg Machinery Group
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For media inquiries, contact swsamedia@sa.gov.au, (08) 8204 9430 or 0401 122 329
Category four: Best Individual Contribution to Workplace Health and Safety
[Health and Safety Representative of the Year] Winner: Carlos Cravo, Coca-Cola Amatil
Carlos is passionate, dedicated, committed, creative, and attentive, and has used these traits to actively achieve safer conditions for workers, contractors and visitors to his workplace.
Commendation: Shaun Russell, Aboriginal Family Support Services
The recipients of the 2013 Augusta Zadow Scholarships, providing funding for further education, research or development of a work health and safety initiative for South Australian working women, were also announced at the Safe Work Awards.
The $10,000 scholarships, named in honour of the state’s first female inspector of factories who secured better conditions for workers, women and children particularly, were awarded to –
1. Dr Joy Penman, Nursing and Rural Health Unit, Centre for Regional Engagement, UniSA: to improve the workplace experience of immigrant nurses in aged care.
2. Dr Claire Jones, Adelaide Centre for Spinal Research, SA Pathology: to evaluate the biomechanics and develop an ‘arm-to-thigh’ technique for one- handed reaching and lifting tasks reducing loads on the knees and the lumbar spine in women.
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