News » Safety boosted thanks to ingenuity and persistence
 

Safety boosted thanks to ingenuity and persistence

15 March 2010

Minova Australia continually searches for new ways of working that reduce the risk of harm to its employees.

As one of Australia's largest manufacturers of steel and chemical products for the mining industry, Minova is acutely aware of the importance of health and safety in the workplace.

Minova Australia's Environmental, Quality and Safety Systems Manager, Scott Newman, says the company has a very strong safety record, but constantly looks for ways to eliminate or reduce risks.

"I am proud of the fact the ingenuity we so often turn to solving problems for our customers is also being used to create a safer work environment for our own people."

Recent improvements have been made at a number of sites, including Smithfield, Welshpool, Arndell Park, Wyong and Nowra.

Among the improvements:

• the design and development of a new lifter to unload steel coil from delivery trucks, removing risky manual lifting and improving efficiency;
• an automatic safety latch designed and installed on compression weights for forklift drivers (previously, the operator had to remember to get out of his/her seat every time the weight was picked up or dropped off so a safety chain could be manually attached or detached);
• a simple snubber arm designed and installed to keep coiled steel from flying backwards and causing severe or even fatal injury when cutting strap around the coil;
• forklifts fitted with speed limiters to reduce the risk of accident moving around the factory;
• segregation of pedestrians and forklifts through the use of designated walkways and barriers; and
• significant reduction in manual handling with the elimination of 20 litre drums and the introduction of 205 litre drums as part of a product application process.

Newman says even simple ideas can have significant benefits in terms of safety and productivity.

"For example, we used to load palettes of steel bolts on to the back of a delivery truck or through the open tops of shipping containers. Where possible, we now load through the back door of a container, which has cut the hours off loading times and eliminated 10 hazards from the old loading process."

He said the key to achieving improvements was to be open to new ways of doing things.

"Improving safety is much like innovating in any area of your business. You really have to challenge conventional thinking and the accepted way of doing things. With a number of our recent improvements, the initial response was 'It can't be done'. But we got great results by continuing to challenge ourselves."

He said Minova's recent experience showed that it could be extremely helpful to involve suppliers and customers in striving to improve.

"They can be a great source of ideas. And if they share your commitment to do things a better way, it's possible to achieve much more than by acting on your own," Newman said.