Safety award goes to HVAC specialist

The Brisbane Airport Corporation (BAC) would like to congratulate VAE Group on being awarded its 2018 CEO Safety Award.

The CEO's Safety Award is awarded to a contractor company who best meets BAC's safety vision and values, as nominated by a BAC staff member.

Specifically, this is about delivering world-best health and safety outcomes that:

• are unique, excellent and innovative;
• are building on collaborative relationships with genuine consultation and partnership;
• demonstrate BAC's commitment to a positive safety culture; and
• enable service excellence.
   

VAE is currently engaged to design and upgrade the air-conditioning units in multiple plant rooms on Level 3 and upgrade the air distribution network on Level 2 of the Brisbane Airport Domestic Terminal.

VAE was chosen to receive this award for the innovation and personal commitment shown by VAE's project manager, James Szach, by introducing a safety procedure adopted from the Take 5 process to engage workers on all levels to take responsibility for their own safety.

From the beginning of the project, BAC engaged with Szach to implement a Take 5 safety policy for the duration of the works. Szach took this request to the safety manager for review and consideration. Though VAE identified this process to be reasonably different from its current approved safety procedures, the company found a way to implement certain elements of the Take 5 procedure and introduced it as part of the pre-start toolbox talks.

This entailed a procedure whereby each worker identified the top hazards as part of the works scheduled for the shift. The objective of this was to engage with the individual workers to take ownership of their personal safety. The outcome was monitored and assessed throughout the construction phase.

This safety procedure demonstrated its efficacy when two non-construction workers entered the worksite without following the required procedure. A sheet metal worker noticed the presence of the two occupants and immediate suspended works in the plant room and informed the two occupants that they had entered a VAE worksite and that they needed to wait until the VAE project manager could arrange the required PPE for them and escort them safely to their destination.