FMG roller crew hits 4 years injury free.

Excitement has been building within the Conveyors Team at FMG’s Port Hedland Operations for the past few weeks and today they achieved the epic milestone of 4 years Recordable Injury Free. With ZERO Medical treatment injuries and ZERO Lost Time injuries, the result is testament to their great reporting culture.

The team, who are responsible for replacing idlers – which is the biggest injury risk during any shutdown – have brought new thinking and developed an effective safety culture over the last 4 years, with the previous contractor having a concerning safety record.

“When we took over the task of replacing rollers in 2016, it was recognised that safety could be significantly improved,” said Al Peddie, FMG Area Manager.

“Our team of Rafa & Rocky, supported by Brad and Fernando and more recently Katie and Mark, were tasked with the challenge of eliminating the number of injuries occurred during this task and the shift of their focus towards safety as a priority and NOT on the number of rollers changed per shift has been critical in building a new and effective safety culture.”

Improving safety has the added benefit of increasing plant reliability and reduced costs which also supports the long term relationship with FMG.

A number of safety initiatives have also been implemented by this team:

• Stringer pads – to eliminate the steel on steel pinch point when handing idlers out to the walkways, a previous cause of injury
• Lightweight engineered aluminium belt lifters – gone from a 54kg belt lifter to 7kgs
• Lightweight aluminium spreader bars
• Idler carrying handles
• Working with the Port engineering team to provide solutions to hard to access idlers
• Identified areas for lightweight poly roller installs
• Shoulder pads for carrying idlers
• “Trev the Trolley” – idler handling trolley for transporting idlers between CV922-927
• “Murray Chute” – Idler transfer chute under CV922 – no longer have to man handle idlers 400m
• Set up the roller truck as a quick response vehicle, to respond rapidly to break downs
• Trialled and implemented impact gloves

This team does not accept “That accidents happen” they believe that “every incident is preventable”, if you implement the appropriate controls. With over twenty exposures to risk for each roller replaced, it goes to show that their approach to complete their task safely is a perfect example of this.

Congratulations to everyone involved in reaching this wonderful milestone.