IHD Engineering Awards submission - Fremantle Ports

FREMANTLE PORTS
Mandatory Judging Criteria
Criteria 1:
Attention to occupational health and safety
Management
The Inner Harbour Deepening and Berth Works project took
place on the doorstep of more than 1.5 million residents
and bordered metropolitan beaches and the Swan River.
Due to the proximity of the works to popular recreational
areas (including swimming beaches, fishing spots and
boating areas) a key project objective was to ensure the
safety not only of employees but also port users and the
community.
To ensure public safety, several access restrictions were
established at various stages throughout the project.
These included:
• signs and notices to direct fisherman to alternative
recreational fishing locations at North Mole
• maritime exclusion zones were advised through
Notices to Mariners
• cessation of dredging and targeted monitoring prior
to the Rottnest Channel Swim event to ensure safety
of competitors
• marker buoys on dredger anchor ropes.
Extensive testing of the material to be dredged was
undertaken before commencing the dredging to ensure
its content posed no risk to human health or the marine
environment. This work demonstrated that although there
may be short-lived visible sediment plumes under certain
wind and tide conditions, waters would be safe
for swimmers.
Design
The project was a brown-field site with ongoing port
operations a priority and Fremantle Ports had a very
tight program to achieve, with multiple stakeholder and
community issues to manage.
Contractors, design engineers and operators participated
in a series of workshops early in the design phase to
identify, and where possible, eliminate interfaces between
contractors and port operations.
Key outcomes were:
• agreements to excise the wharf from the port
operating area
• avoiding the use of floating plant for large scale
demolition and construction activities
2011 Engineering Excellence Awards l Infrastructure and Building Category l Page 5