Safety is increasingly being recognised as a key pillar in helping utilities and the businesses that work with them to deliver their end goals. Mark Dayman, Managing Director of Fyfe, talks about the importance his organisation places on the safety of its staff.
Fyfe is a well-established land, resource and infrastructure development consultancy, specialising in comprehensive engineering, planning and surveying services for Australia’s land development, energy, mining and oil and gas industries.
Fyfe operates throughout Australia with offices in Adelaide, Brisbane and Darwin, as well as regional offices throughout Queensland, South Australia and the Northern Territory.
Fyfe has achieved ISO 9001:2008 Quality management systems accreditation, which has been maintained since 1994. In addition, safety is a major criterion for Fyfe’s staff performance, both on site and off site, and is reflected in an exemplary safety record.
Priorities in order
According to Fyfe Managing Director Mark Dayman, safety is paramount for the organisation. At any one time, a large percentage of Fyfe’s 500-strong workforce, including surveyors, field assistants, engineers, drafters, environmental scientists and ecologists is working on major infrastructure projects in some of Australia’s harshest conditions.
As a result of their commitment to safety, Fyfe was recently recognised with Australia’s top pipeline industry safety award.
The award, presented at the Australian Pipeline Industry Association’s (APIA) annual convention, recognises Fyfe’s robust safety system and the performance of its staff. It’s the first time the highly competitive award has been won by a consultancy.
“This award is widely regarded within the industry and has previously been won by some of the largest pipeline owners and contractors in the country,” said Mr Dayman.
“It’s a great vote of confidence in the stringent safety procedures, training and reporting systems we have in place at Fyfe.
“Our workforce operates in remote regions on major pipeline projects. Our safety system helps mitigate the risks in working in varying conditions such as extreme heat, flooding or where large equipment is in use.
“The safety of all our staff is our top priority – it cannot be compromised.”
Minimising downtime
For nine of the past ten years, Fyfe has reported a lost time incident frequency rate (LTIFR) of zero.
During the past three years, Fyfe has been involved with the installation and maintenance of pipelines and facilities in the Cooper Basin, Kenya, Roma, Brisbane, Darwin and Longford.
Fyfe employees have spent in excess of 200,000 hours per year in the field with minimal injuries or illness.
In bestowing the APIA award, the judges commended Fyfe for having a consistently excellent safety performance across the whole company, driven by a strong safety culture developed by the Fyfe leadership.
APIA Immediate Past President Kevin Lester, who presented the award, noted that the five nominations for the 2014 award were rigorously considered by an APIA committee comprising independent professionals, which included State regulation experience. The committee noted the quality of nominations for the year.
Mr Lester said the committee selected Fyfe’s Overall Safety Performance based on consistently excellent safety performance achieved by a strong behavioural-based safety culture and proactive approach to identifying and mitigating risks evident across the whole team, but driven by the leadership.
On receiving the award, Mr Dayman said, “We are proud of our strong safety record but always looking at ways to improve. This involves working closely with our staff to continuously identify ways in which we can work safer.
“At Fyfe we understand the importance of building and nurturing a strong team,” said Mr Dayman. “To this end we look to employ the very best personnel who are each individually trained by Fyfe and supported by the latest technology and in-house systems.
“Management at Fyfe knows how to organise large projects and has experienced staff to deliver an accurate, safe and efficient product. We continually seek innovative ideas and technology that not only meets our clients’ needs, but does so in a cost effective and sustainable way.”
