Transport company Warwick based Frasers Livestock Transport has won two Queensland Safe Work Awards and will now be eligible to represent Queensland in next year’s national Safe Work Australia Awards.
Queensland’s Attorney-General and Minister for Justice, Jarrod Bleijie, and Safety Ambassador, Mal Meninga announced the winners of the Queensland Safe Work Awards 2013 at a ceremony and where Frasers won Category 2 – Best solution to an identified work health and safety issue and Category 7 – Best individual contribution to work health and safety.
The entries selected as finalists demonstrated innovation, leadership, and a commitment to safety that is making workplaces healthier and safer.
Established in 1944, Frasers Livestock Transport developed from a single-truck operation to a state of the art fleet of 50 prime movers and 150 trailers. Frasers transports more than four million head of livestock and travels ten million kilometres across eastern Australia each year.
Cross-loading (transferring) cattle between trailers is considered one of the most dangerous activities along the cattle transport supply chain, exposing drivers to risks associated with working at heights, in confined spaces, in poor or no light, and with unpredictable livestock. Cross-loading involves reversing two trucks together, and the drivers climbing up the side of the cattle crate (a confined space that exposed the driver to live animals), standing on top of the crate and often inside the crate to move the cattle from one trailer to the next.
Frasers undertook extensive research to design, develop and custom build a cross-loading module that incorporates a series of elevated platforms, over-trailer walkways and sliding gates/barriers. The module removes the need for the driver to work within, climb or stand on the crate. This decreases the risks of falls, trips, and contact with livestock.
Frasers’ first cross-loading module has been a resounding success in terms of staff safety and productivity. Not only has the module created a safe working environment for drivers, but it also created time efficiencies which were seen as a major achievement by management and logistics staff.
Winners of categories 1-4 will represent Queensland in next year’s national Safe Work Australia Awards, competing against winners from all Australian state, territory, SeaCare and Safety, Rehabilitation and Compensation Commission awards.
Check out the YouTube video of a great transport company with safety top of mind.