Sustainability Report 2011 - Balfour Beatty Rail

42
Looking after our people in the outback
Within Australia, Parsons Brinckerhoff employees are
frequently required to work in extremely remote areas. One of
the key challenges with remote work is to be able to maintain
communication with the home office and to locate remote
workers in the event of an emergency. To overcome this
challenge in the past, satellite phones and emergency locator
beacons were being used. However the former was expensive
and often prone to failure and damage; and the latter were only
to be used in an absolute emergency.
Due to the potentially serious health & safety risks associated
with remote work it was given specific focus as part of
Australia-Pacific’s Zero Harm Journey Plan. From the
consultation done as part of the Zero Harm program, an
innovative product was identified that addressed the above
shortcomings: the GPS SPOT tracker. Within days of the
GPS SPOT tracker being used in the field the following
report of its success was received.
Two Parsons Brinckerhoff employees were monitoring
groundwater bores in an isolated area of Queensland
when they bogged their vehicle attempting a routine creek
crossing. An attempt was made to free the vehicle with
recovery equipment but it was decided this was unsafe and
so a decision was made to instead send an “assistance
required” signal with the GPS SPOT tracker. The employee’s
manager immediately received their distress signal and
arranged for a recovery vehicle to be sent to their precise
location. The bogged vehicle was subsequently recovered
allowing our employees to safely resume their travels.
For more information go online:
balfourbeatty.com/sustainability
health and
safety is
absolutely
paramount
Balfour Beatty Sustainability Report 2011