A Central Queensland mine site took home the top prize at the Queensland Mining Industry Health and Safety Conference (QMIHSC) Health and Innovation Awards gala – the largest health and safety conference of its kind in the southern hemisphere.
The gala took place on the Gold Coast and saw Anglo American Dawson Mine announced as the winner of the Innovation Award category for its ‘Workshop Wheel Chock’ creation.
QMIHSC 2022 Chair, Peter Newman, said Anglo American’s innovation creates a safer and simpler way of working on mining trucks in workshops, while significantly reducing the potential for fatalities and injuries.
“Their solution moves the dial on safety in mine workshops by introducing a hard engineering control to remove the risk of unsafe wheel chock ejection,” Mr Newman said.
The Dawson Mine Maintenance team took home the People’s Choice Award too.
The Queensland Mining Industry Health and Safety Conference is an initiative to promote health and safety in the Queensland mining industry. The four-day conference provides the industry with the opportunity to exchange information, network and foster proactive health and safety management techniques.
The QMIHSC Health and Innovation Awards was developed to recognise creative and practical solutions in the health and safety space to promote their application across the state’s resources industry.
Kestrel Coal Resources was announced as the winner of the Health Awards category for its 2022 Lifestyle Challenge.
Mr Newman commended Kestrel for its commitment to culture improvements and healthy lifestyle changes at its operation through the wellbeing initiative.
“A safe and high performing workforce is one that is healthy and happy in their workplace,” Mr Newman said.
“The workforce behind Queensland’s mining industry, in particular many fly in fly out (FIFO) or drive in drive out (DIDO) workers, work long and physically exhausting shifts, away from the support of their families.
“Kestrel’s initiative is an outstanding example of caring for the workforce and their health,” Mr Newman said.
“Queensland’s mining sector has a long list of global leading ideas to be proud of and conference attendees should be encouraging collaboration across the sector and beyond.”
Award winners and finalists:
Innovation Awards
- Overall Winner: Anglo American Dawson Mine’s ‘Workshop Wheel Chock’
- People’s Choice Winner: Anglo American Dawson Mine’s ‘Workshop Wheel Chock’
Highly Commended: Fitzroy Australia Resources Carborough Downs Coal Mine’s The Gracey Spray
Finalists: CDMI Australia’s Illuminated Guidance System for Day and Night; BHPMitsubishi Alliance (BMA) Hay Point Terminal’s Parted Mooring Line Snapback Protection Barrier; and Sojitz Blue’s Magnetic Base Hydraulic Cylinder Adapter
Health Awards
- Overall Winner: Kestrel Coal Resources’ 2022 Lifestyle Challenge
- Highly Commended: Redpath Australia’s Strength in Numbers – Mental Health and Wellbeing
